The Paris AtlasCharting the artists, works, and places worth returning to.

A character in They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?

Harry Kline

An older contestant whose death is absorbed into the show.

What they want

To keep moving despite physical danger.

The book

Cover of They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? by Horace McCoy
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?Horace McCoy, 1935

A Depression-era dance marathon turns hunger and exhaustion into paid entertainment.

View the book

At a glance

Role
an aging marathon dancer
Pressure
An older contestant whose death is absorbed into the show.
Goal
To keep moving despite physical danger.
Story turn
He dies during the marathon, which continues.

Who they are in the book

Spoiler-free

Harry Kline is an aging marathon dancer. An older contestant whose death is absorbed into the show.

The character wants to keep moving despite physical danger.. That desire is tested by a contest whose rules reward spectacle rather than care.

He dies during the marathon, which continues. The outcome clarifies what the marathon takes from people and what its organizers can turn into entertainment.

How the book draws them

Appearance, manner, and tone — as the book sketches them, in our words.

  • Rolean aging marathon dancer
  • PressureAn older contestant whose death is absorbed into the show.
  • GoalTo keep moving despite physical danger.
  • Story turnHe dies during the marathon, which continues.
What happens to Harry KlineHow the book leaves them, what happened after, and what the record says. Open when you're ready.

He dies during the marathon, which continues.

If you like They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?

Four books that share themes, tone, or setting with this one.

If you like Horace McCoy

Explore authors with a similar voice, perspective, and influence.

  • Illustrated portrait of Charles Bukowski

    Charles Bukowski

    American poet and novelist of Los Angeles rooming houses, racetracks and the post office, who quit his job to write when a publisher offered him a hundred dollars a month. He came to Paris once, in September 1978, drank his way through a live television book programme and walked off the set — and French television has been replaying it ever since.

    View author
  • Illustrated portrait of Henry Miller

    Henry Miller

    The Brooklyn dropout who arrived in Paris broke at thirty-eight and wrote the exuberant, banned books that ended American censorship.

    View author
  • Illustrated portrait of Sherwood Anderson

    Sherwood Anderson

    The Ohio ad man who walked out of his office, wrote Winesburg, Ohio, and sent the young Hemingway to Paris with letters of introduction.

    View author