The Running Man Essay

In Stephen King’s, The Running Man, Ben Richards goes to the greatest lengths to do everything he can to save his daughter Catherine Sarah, who is sick. The Richards family is in the lower class population, so he needs to find a way to get the money so that he can take care of his daughter. Ben then takes it upon himself to sign up for a reality TV show that is called The Running Man. The purpose of this show is to kill the participants, and the viewers of the show can receive money if they tell “The Games People” about the participant’s whereabouts. Throughout the show he will get paid $100 for every hour he is alive and additional money if he kills any law enforcement, and if he survives he will receive a grand prize of $1 billion dollars.

One being the love that a father has for his daughter. Ben, the father to Catherine Sarah is willing to risk his life on this horrible TV show that puts the world against him. Anyone can turn you in for money, so making friends and relying on others is very hard for the participants. Although Ben finds a way to do this and gets lucky with who he has chosen to trust. Leaning on others to do things and having those people not turn Ben is something that is very important in the games. Being able to rely on friends was another theme found in the story. It was very important that Ben learn who to trust and who not to trust during this

This is one of the themes found throughout the story. Ben continued to think of his daughter and tell others along his path why he was doing this, always explaining that his daughter Catherine Sarah was at home and has very little access to the pharmaceutical drugs to take care of her illness. When Bradley asks why he was doing this show he replies “My little girl’s name is Cathy…Younger than Cassie. Pneumonia. She cries all the time, too.” (King 1) Ben had tried everything he could to provide what was needed for his daughter but at this point he was saying “I went for the money the only way I could.” (King 1) The other theme throughout the novel is lean on friends. Richards had been walking in the alley and ran into Stacey, a young African American boy. Stacey then took Richards to his home, and even risked being caught with him. Upon their arrival at Stacey’s home they were greeted by Bradley, Stacey’s brother. After talking a bit, Stacey and Bradley had come up with a plan to get Richards out of Boston secretly. Through the use of help of others, he made the trip in the trunk of a car without getting