Riddley Walker

“Our woal life is a idear we dint think of nor we dont know what it is.”

Riddley is a 12-year-old boy in a brutal world. Unlike most of the people around him, however, he reflects on abstract ideas. Whereas most people are focused on food, tools, or the makeshift religion they have invented, Riddley’s thought processes become more metaphysical. He claims that life is an idea that no one has thought about, nor knows what it is. While most people are content with simply staying alive, Riddley begins to think about the nature of life itself. In spite of his young age, his thoughts are more intellectual and complex than many of his elders.

“You stil dont know where you begun.”

As a narrator, Riddley may not know about the technical aspects of storytelling, but he has a natural sense of how stories function. He begins his own narration long after the collapse of society and just before his father dies. Riddley may not know where he “begun,” but he recognizes that these events shaped his life in untold ways. The death of his father and the death of the old world are equally impactful events. One is felt on a personal level, and one is felt on a global level.