Going Out for a Walk (Detailed Summary) Plus One

Going Out for a Walk

Max Beerbohm

Detailed Summary (Incomplete)

          “Going Out for a Walk” is an essay which is written by Max Beerbohm. The writer says that he does not like to go for a walk. But so many people have taken him for a walk though he does not like it. Even when he was a small baby, he did not like when the nurse had taken him outside. When he is in London, nobody asks him to go for a walk because London is a city where one will encounter “endless noise”, “hustle”, “smoky air” and dirt. On the other hand, when he is in the country, somebody will ask him to accompany that person for a walk. The writer tells a lot of reasons to avoid this.

          Then the writer tells the excuses he used to tell to people to escape from their walking proposals. If an old friend invites the writer to accompany him for a walk, he will say, “No”. If a “mere acquaintance” asks him, he will say “ I have some letters to write”. But this lie won't be an effect on Sundays. Also, the person won't be believed easily. Also, it forces the writer to go to his writing table and pretend to write a letter even if he does not have anything to write.

          In terms of physical exercise, it is good to do walking. But as the author mentions that one's brain won't work if one goes for a walk. For proving that the writer shares his experience. Many of his guests can instruct or entertain him while they are sitting on a chair or standing on a hearth-rug. But the same person forgets that topic, his knowledge, his imagination or his entertaining ability once they go for a walk.

          The writer tells that when a person goes for a walk, he starts to observe the surrounding. To prove this, he shares an experience. Once he went for a walk with his friend. When he saw a man, he said the usual sentences such as “A.  ... is a good fellow” and “ ... A. Is one of the best fellows he has ever met”. When he saw a woman, he praised her. Then they passed an inn and he shouted, “The King's Arms”. Likewise, whatever he observed, he would tell it to the writer in the rest of their walk. But the writer observed all these. When the writer left him, the 'walk monger' would take another person to accompany him. With that person, the 'walk monger' would be criticising the writer.  Thus the writer proves that one's brain, that is, reason wouldn't work when people go for a walk.