The Running Man

“She looked at her husband. He was seated at the table, staring up at the Free-Vee with steady, vacant concentration. He had been watching it for weeks now. It wasn’t like him. He hated it, always had. Of course, every Development apartment had one—it was the law—but it was still legal to turn them off.”

Sheila’s observation about Ben reveals one of his key characteristics—he hates Free-Vee, even before he understands the role it is playing in suppressing the pollution narrative. He watches because he is losing hope in generating money for them in any other way than becoming a Games contestant. When his daughter gets sick, Ben abandons his hope of avoiding the Games. The above passage, at the opening of the novel, creates a sense of tension and foreboding.

“Uptown there was only one function for a man in baggy gray pants and a cheap bowl haircut and sunken eyes. That purpose was the Games.”

Ben doesn’t have to justify his presence Uptown, and no police bother him as he approaches the Games Building. They assume, correctly, that he is only there to become fodder for the Network. Uptown has nothing else to offer to people like Ben.

“You have a nice night tonight […] You go out and have a nice six-course meal with whoever you’re sleeping with this week and think about my kid dying of flu in a shitty three-room Development apartment.”

Ben takes every chance to antagonize and implicate the people giving the Games examination. In this case, he reminds the beautiful woman conducting three of his written exams why he is there—to support his family and sick child. She is doing her job, is well paid, and would never have to resort to the Games for money. Ben reminds her that not everyone is so fortunate, a