The Running Man By Michael Gerard Bauer

In Michael Gerard Bauer’s book “The Running man” released in January 2004, is a great book about marginalized characters and shows many examples of what society misfits deal with and what goes through the character’s mind during the story. In the book it shows the experiences of these 2 characters named Tom Leyton and Joseph Davidson during the book. The contents of the novel show and reveal how an outsider starts from the bottom and goes through experiences to regenerate their confidence and be included in society or find their part in society, the author represents this in his structure in three parts, first how all their lives are in boxes, how they are separated from society, second in dream too deep revealing in his deep dreams that he

It’s quite evident that Joseph Davidson and Tom Leyton are marginalized characters because they are basically hiding themselves away in a room as they refer in the part’s title “All their lives in a box.” Throughout the part it reveals the main characters and their history, from this part we get to know why the characters Tom Leyton who was a Vietnam war veteran and Joseph Davidson’s damaged relationship with his father who is absent, To add in this part we get to know a new character who is know as “The Running Man”. Joseph is a talented artist and in this part Caroline Leyton (Tom Leyton’s Sister) suggests her brother (Tom Leyton) as a subject for his drawing, at first Joseph was at unease but later on he made up his mind to draw Tom as his project. Due to this Tom and Joseph hide away in their own little worlds as known as boxes separating themselves away from society, as seen in the next part’s title, in dream too

In the part in dream too deep is mainly about Tom, The running man and Joseph and how the childhood nightmare had come back and repeats. At the beginning of the part it starts by Joseph hoping to look for the “real Tom Leyton” hidden in boxes located in the Leyton’s underground room, as Joseph finds the good memories from before Tom joined the army and before he was sent to fight in the Vietnam war. Downstairs in Leyton’s underground room Joseph finds two photographs of Tom, in these two photo’s it shows a different person than the “current Tom Leyton”, the “real Tom Leyton” appears fairly untroubled opposed to the “current Tom” who is characterless and lost in society hiding himself away in his room. Joseph and Tom get to meet each other and start building a relationship, as Joseph gets to understand what Tom had gone through in his past Joseph gets to know what is troubling him, because of this we get to know why Tom had hidden himself away from society in his own little world which makes us feel very sympathetic for him. Because of Tom Leyton attending the Vietnam war, it is utterly evident that the war has changed Tom Leyton not just emotionally but it has changed him from