"The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" is a short story written by Alan Sillitoe and published in 1959 as part of a collection of short stories under the same title. It's about a boy called Colin from a working class background in Nottingham who is sent to a Borstal (Young offenders institute) due to his partisipance in petty crimes.
Whilst in the Borstal Colin takes up running as a method of escape from both the emotional and physical state of his situation. The situation Colin finds himself in this story is similar to that of Offred in 'The Handmaid's Tale.' Both characters are constantly having to hide their true feelings because otherwise they would be punished by the people above them. In Colin's case this is the Governer of the Borstal who is relying on Colin to win the Long Distance running competition in order to make himself look good.
Towards the beginning of the story Colin tells himself about the people who are running the Borstal: "They can spy on us all day to see if we're pulling our puddings and if we're working hard or doing our 'athletics' but they can't make an X-ray of our guts to see what we're telling ourselves." Although the Governer of the Borstal is confident Colin will win the race, he decides to finish as runner-up on purpose. This is an example of a feeling Colin has which is kept private because of the consequences. Similarly Offred uses thoughts to keep herself sane when she is reduced to just the role of a handmaid.
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