Long Way Down Summary. Teachers and parents! Never ironed out. Learn about Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds. Though Pop, Uncle Mark, Shawn, and Frick all died in the process of following the Rules and exacting revenge (and the novel implies that Danis death was also the result of a revenge killing gone awry), all of them suggest that this kind of loyalty required by the Rules doesnt actually do much good. She adds to his growing doubt by asking him, What if you miss? (p.142), a possibility that Will hadnt really considered before. [] I thought about this when the man withthe gold chains got on and checked to see if theL button was already glowing. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. The best thing to do in the face of constant violence, Will says, is to become invisible. The next best approach is to become dangerous enough to frighten predators away. If he did not kill Buck, he would not have died. In the elevator, he learns of the trail of revenge that has led up to this moment. The author can choose to leave the storyboard public or mark it as Unlisted. To add to this chilling description, Wills mother warns him, when youre walking in the nighttime, make sure the nighttime aint walking into you (p.40). Will cried all night, a very natural reaction, but his brother told him that there is no place for such responses in the hostile environment they inhabit. I write about a lot of things, but it usually all comes back to storytelling. Complete your free account to access notes and highlights. Revenge killing, family .. are themes. As the elevator stops on the sixth floor, on comes Buck. And the Rules in Will's neighborhood state that you have to take revenge when someone in your family is killed. Cooper, James ed. The novel ends with Will considering whether he wants to cross that boundary and join the elevator ghosts in the afterlife. The Rules are simple: no crying, no snitching (to the police), and if a friend or family member is killed, the survivor must avenge their loved ones death by killing their killer. Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. Uncertainty is a dominant theme in Long Way Down. A piece. Will says that The Rules, which define what it is to be a man, do not come from any man in particular. Two things began to turn Reynolds onto literature and poetry: rap music in the form of Queen Latifahs album. Passed to him.Passed them to his little brother.Passed to my older brother.Passed to me. Will takes its off-centeredness as a sign to set things straight (p.48). 2023 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1715 titles we cover. The issues dealt with in the novel are very real: violence, familial loyalty, and revenge. LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Long Way Down, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. Loyalty, in this sense, is the very reason families in Wills community are fractured in the first placeWill suggests that if someone doesnt avenge their loved ones death, theyre considered disloyal and effectively betray their loved ones memory by doing nothing. The novel's close-up examination of the motivation and cyclical nature of shootings among young people is a thought-provoking foray into an important slice of our cultural reality. An unbroken chain that gets passed down and inherited (p.27), it weighs down heavily on Will, who has been heavily affected by it and has to decide whether or not to further it himself. Instead, the men he encounters demonstrate what has happened to them as a result of following The Rules. Its the only thing ever out of place on Shawns side (p.38) and its where Will finds Shawns gun. Log in here. GradeSaver, 3 November 2022 Web. He makes a painful piercing sound (p.300), as if hes mourning, until the elevator finally stops. PDF downloads of all 1715 LitCharts literature guides, and of every new one we publish. An error occurred trying to load this video. Jason Reynolds, Long Way Down. lessons in math, English, science, history, and more. Read a summary of the verse novel, find an in-depth analysis of its plot, and understand its ending. Long Way Down suggests that while love for and loyalty to ones family (whether biological or chosen) can be admirable, these convictions can also manifest violentlysomething the novel suggests is an incredibly dangerous and unacceptable way of defending loved ones. Struggling with distance learning? Its a terrifying moment for Will and it shows him how hed feel if he were in Riggs place. In the form in which they appear to Will, they have continued to grow and change as though they were living. purchase. My students love how organized the handouts are and enjoy tracking the themes as a class., Requesting a new guide requires a free LitCharts account. Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1715 titles we cover. I'm a writer and blogger who enjoys writing in a variety of genres. he murmured, looking at Buck,motioning for a light. Went downinto me and chewed on everythinginside as ifI had somehowswallowedmy own teethand they weresharper thanId ever known. As he journeys to the ground floor, Will continues to make anagrams up until he meets the penultimate ghost: Frick. In the absence of a biological father or stand-in father figure, Shawn played the most important role in Wills life, showing him how he needed to behave and teaching him how the world works, just as Buck did for Shawn. that I didlike he told me,like Buck told him,like our grandfather toldour uncle, like our uncletold our dad. He asks, what you think you should do? (p.210). And as a kidI always figuredhis heartwas forreal brokenlike an arm or a toy, wouldve been totell Buck how importantthat soap was. But for men, crying is a sign of weakness, not a way to cope with grief. "My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." The first anagram we are introduced to has been hastily scribbled on his wall, reading: SCARE=CARES (p.36). The cycle of violence is the strongest theme that Reynolds book explores. While its not made clear exactly when Will wrote this on his wall, it seems to highlight the relationship between his fears and anxieties and his love for Shawn. But each of the ghosts presents, in its own way, the futility of revenge. And thats not just because shes the only female ghost. Instant PDF downloads. Download the entire Long Way Down study guide as a printable PDF! Its possible that he regrets teaching Will The Rules and blames himself. -Graham S. Below you will find the important quotes in, Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. Bethany is a certified Special Education and Elementary teacher with 11 years experience teaching Special Education from grades PK through 5. read analysis of Grief, Fear, and Cycles of Violence, read analysis of Masculinity and Coming of Age. Went downinto me and chewed on everythinginside as ifI had somehowswallowedmy own teethand they weresharper thanId ever known. By presenting a story in which the wisdom of the dead takes center stage, Reynolds poses a compelling thought experiment: what might happen if someone in Wills position had this unencumbered access to information that, in reality, is usually lost forever when someone, At 15 years old, Will is on the brink of coming of age, even before his brother Shawn is shot and killed. BUCK IS DEAD. This is linked to The Rules, which have been passed down for so long that Will cant even name who came up with them in the first place The Rules have always ruled. Its heavily implied that the nighttime is a metaphor for the collection of dark emotions that can overcome a person after someone they love has been killed. Long Way Down also explores the concept of truth. They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!, This is absolutely THE best teacher resource I have ever purchased. Detailed quotes explanations with page numbers for every important quote on the site. Riggs probably killed Will's brother, Shawn, the day before yesterday. This is only the first part of Will's . around knew. 2 pages at 400 words per page) View a FREE sample. When Will's older brother Shawn is shot dead on the playground outside their building, Will takes Shawn's gun and sets out to . My students love how organized the handouts are and enjoy tracking the themes as a class., Requesting a new guide requires a free LitCharts account. Revenge. All rights reserved. Its worth considering that while Wills elevator ride is supernatural and enlightens him to information that he couldnt have gotten without the ghosts, the simple act of thinking about the dead and what secrets they may have taken to their graves can still be a useful exercise. that it stopped Mom fromscraping loose a riverof wounds. eNotes.com We know the spirits of the dead exit the elevator at the lobby (along with the cigarette smoke) and Shawn's spirit asks Will if he's "coming" with them. Fricks story doesnt line up with what Will believes is true, and as a result, he is unable to make sensible connections anymore.. Wills use of anagrams to figure out truth and make connections with the information he has gives the reader an insight into how he sees the world. 20 comments. It's impossible to ignore the supernatural aspect of Long Way Down all the individuals who share the elevator with Will on his way to avenge his . The second is the date of Which character in Long Way Down has the largest impact on Will? Any literary elements can be conveyed through characters, setting, dialogue, plot, or a combination. Will's father and brother both engaged in acts of revenge and may have lost their own lives in consequence. Uncle Mark said,all chuckle, chuckle.He leaned toward Buck. Will didnt know that Shawn had ever actually USED his gun. The greatest challenge comes when Will's father holds a handgun to Will's head, prompting a physiological expression of fear as Will involuntarily wets his pants. The soundtrack of an epic motorbike adventure from John O'Groats to Cape Town. Hinton | Themes, Analysis & Quotes, Nike, Greek Goddess | Mythology, Symbol & Facts, Death by Scrabble: Irony, Point of View & Language, Of Mice & Men by John Steinbeck | Motifs & Analysis, Citing Textual Evidence to Support Analysis, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie | Summary & Themes, A Dip in the Pool by Roald Dahl: Summary, Theme & Analysis. Robert DeLong's new album In The Cards is available now:Download - http://smarturl.it/inthecardsStream - http://smarturl.it/InTheCardsStreaminghttp://robertd. publication in traditional print. Will Holloman. Thus, Wills decision over whether to seek vengeance carries a moral weight beyond just himself and Riggs: he has the ability to halt the cycle of violence in which he has been implicated. They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!, This is absolutely THE best teacher resource I have ever purchased. Always too big. In Jason Reynolds' novel ''Long Way Down,'' published in 2017, a young man seeking revenge for his brother's death is visited by ghosts during an elevator ride. As Will says, after Shawns death, crying / is against / The Rules (30). From the new EP Long Way Down available now!Download: http://smarturl.it/longwaydownepStream: http://smarturl.it/LongWayDownStreamhttp://robertdelong.comhttp. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. Without further ado, lets dive in. Fear is another important theme in Long Way Down. walking me to the store,teaching me how todo a Penny Drop. Additionally, my opinions may not align with yours and thats cool, too. A heater. An ode to Put the Damn Guns Down, this is New York Times bestseller Jason Reynoldss fiercely stunning novel that takes place in sixty potent secondsthe time it takes a kid to decide whether or not hes going to murder the guy who killed his brother. When recounting Shawn's shooting, Will casually details how he initially reacted to the sounds of gunshots as though it was any other shooting. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. A cannon. Frick is where Wills conviction that Riggs killed Shawn is put to the test. Here, Ill be quickly analyzing each character and what they bring to the elevator. 912 reviews 13.8k followers. date the date you are citing the material. The novel shows how the violence in Wills neighborhood is constant in large part because it is cyclical, with each act of violence spurring a vengeful response. Uncle Mark brings self-reflectionto the table and forces Will to ask himself if he is capable of murder. And stray bullets had cut through the playground, and Will had tried to cover her, but she was hit anyway, and so what she wants to know, on that fifth floor elevator stop, is, what if Will, Will with the gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, MISSES. Indeed, the narrative traces the chain of violent acts connected to Wills decision to avenge Shawn: Will intends to kill Riggs for (presumably) having killed Shawn, Riggs killed Shawn for having killed Frick, Shawn killed Frick for having killed Buck, and so on. Were doing this so that we can link the symbols back later. The same goes for Buck, Shawns mentor who died a few years ago, as well as for Uncle Martin, who was killed before Will was born. As compelling as Danis question might be to the reader, Will doesnt truly begin to question the righteousness of what hes doing until he comes face to face with Pop, who was killed when Will was three, and therefore isnt someone Will remembers. Interestingly, each of the six ghosts asks Will a question that pushes him to reconsider killing Riggs. Refine any search. Last Updated on June 14, 2021, by eNotes Editorial. Book Summary. Identify the themes from the story that you wish to include and type them in the title box at the top. Uncle Mark quietly corrects him: its never the end (p.194), coming back to the cycle of violence and the consequences of following The Rules. Refine any search. I will be spoiling almost everything in this book as I analyse it, so I would highly recommend reading it first before continuing. As ifI had somehowswallowedmy own teethand they weresharper thanId ever known what you think you should do Riggs. Its own Way, the futility of revenge and may have lost their own lives in.. Own teethand they weresharper thanId ever known made it through AP literature without the printable PDFs definitions and of... In acts of revenge and may have lost their own lives in consequence title box at the top our our... Below you Will find the important quotes in, would not have made through! Choose to leave the storyboard public or Mark it as Unlisted literary elements can be conveyed characters... Have gone through the roof. with in the elevator analyze literature like long way down theme does on... 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That it stopped Mom fromscraping loose a riverof wounds for a light change as though they were living its as.

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