SOURCE: "Limited Man," in The Limping Hero: Grotesques in Literature, New York University Press, 1971, pp. 166-71.

In this excerpt, Hays demonstrates how Styron's language and symbolism make Mannix a mythic figure comparable to Prometheus and Christ.

William Styron's The Long March presents us with three views of rebellion: as seen by the authoritarian establishment, by the passionate rebel, and by the involved but relatively objective observer caught between the two. The novella is about life in a Marine training camp during the Korean War, especially as experienced by Lieutenant Culver and Captain Al Mannix, two World War II veterans who have been recalled from civilian life. Their upset and displacement, and a short mortar round that drops on a chow line and kills eight young soldiers, set the tone of the novel, its sense of uneasiness and horrible, futile waste. The balance of the story concerns a thirty-six...