Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. No snitching. Additionally, Will meets the ghost of a man named Frick, who Will is shocked to discover murdered Buck. Since he pulled the trigger on Buck, a trigger was pulled on him by Shawn. Illustrate each and write a short description below each cell. A cannon. Its possible hes disappointed in Will for following in his footsteps. around the grip, placingthem over Shawnsprints like littlebrother holding bigbrothers hand again. eNotes Editorial. Because of this, Will thinks he has no choice but to kill Carlson Riggs, the man who he believes killed Shawn. His question gets Will to begin reevaluating his decisions, but his confident you aint got it in you is what truly hits Will. Most storyboard cells help to show the symbols but some storyboard cells are difficult to understand. She adds to his growing doubt by asking him, What if you miss? (p.142), a possibility that Will hadnt really considered before. Storyboard cells do not help in understanding the symbols. Thank you for sticking with me on this extremely long analysis! Pop admits that when he went out to kill Uncle Marks killer, he got the wrong guy. With this act of vengeance, Will assumes he will even the score and be better able to accept Shawn's death. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. "My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." Have students think creatively and "fill in the blanks" of conversation between Will and the other characters. Will says that when he heard gunshots, he and everyone around him did what they had been trained to do, following a drill that is all too frequently required. Its like a teacher waved a magic wand and did the work for me. When Will tells him about Shawns murder, Uncle Mark encourages him to imagine what hell do once he gets off the elevator and play it out like a movie (p.175). All Will knows about Pop is the story Shawn told him: Pop went out to avenge the murder of his brother, Uncle Mark, and was later shot at a payphone. Start your 48-hour free trial to get access to more than 30,000 additional guides and more than 350,000 Homework Help questions answered by our experts. However, The Rules are restrictive, stating that a man must not cry and therefore show fear or weakness. The cycle of violence would continue to carry on. The first anagram we are introduced to has been hastily scribbled on his wall, reading: SCARE=CARES (p.36). Essentially, Dani is asking Will to consider whether following through on his communitys Rules of revenge is guaranteed to have its desired effect. LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Long Way Down, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. When Will finds Shawns gun, he immediately thinks of it as a tool for carrying out the third of these Rules, the only one that is active rather than prohibitive. It is a bit of a long post, so in Bucks words, Might as well relaxits a long way down (p.97). The Genius of Elizabeth Weins Code Name Verity [SPOILERS], Three-Act Story Structure Study: Neal Shustermans Scythe, MG & YA Books by POC Authors + representation chat. A heater. Always too big. What Will learns in the elevator is that this story is far more complicated than just that of two menPop and his killerseeking revenge. In Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds, Will is a young man on an elevator ride on his way to shoot a guy named Riggs. 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. Revenge seems inevitable; none of the ghosts on the elevator who were killed by someone seeking revenge seem angered by this, merely resigned. "My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." Robert DeLong's new album In The Cards is available now:Download - http://smarturl.it/inthecardsStream - http://smarturl.it/InTheCardsStreaminghttp://robertd. And so it goes, the whole long way down, as the elevator stops on each floor, and at each stop someone connected to his brother gets on to give Will a piece to a bigger story than the one he thinks he knows. As such, his idea of what a man should be is informed by the examples set by Shawn and Buck, who in turn learned from Mikey and Uncle Mark. Not affiliated with Harvard College. After clicking "Copy Activity", update the instructions on the Edit Tab of the assignment.). "My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." He tells Will that he couldnt kiss [Wills] mother, couldnt kiss [his] boys good night (p.216). Rule No.3 states simply: "Get revenge." 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 original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. Through this, and through the discrepancies between what Will thought was true and what the ghosts tell him actually is true, Long Way Down suggests that there can be major differences between whats believed and whats true in realityand that questioning the validity of ones perspective or beliefs is, at once, one of the hardest and most meaningful thing a person can do. L ong Way Down by Jason Reynolds is a 2017 verse novel about Will Holloman, a fifteen-year-old boy grieving over the death of his brother.. Will's older brother, Shawn . The novel is a clear example of magical realism as it examines the issues of violence, loyalty, and revenge through a supernatural element. A teenage girl gets on, waves away the smoke from Dead Bucks cigarette. A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. Most examples fit the identified symbols. LitCharts Teacher Editions. The ghosts in the elevator are definitely one of the highlights in Long Way Down. He then discusses the Things That Always Happen Whenever Someone Is Killed Around Here. Wills brother, father, uncle, and closest childhood friend have all been killed in violent incidentstwo of which Will witnessed himself. Finally, I found Wills fascination with anagrams interesting, especially since there are five (maybe six) anagrams scattered across the book. Mixed into Will's determination to abide by The Rules and avenge his brother's death is a strong sense of moral obligation to make sure Shawn's killer suffers consequences. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member. Will says that The Rules, which define what it is to be a man, do not come from any man in particular. Long Way Down falls into the category of magical realism, which deals in real issues by using some supernatural yet unquestioned elements. Never ironed out. Teachers may ask students to illustrate multiple examples of a single theme, symbol, or motif, or illustrate one example for each. Struggling with distance learning? I'm a writer and blogger who enjoys writing in a variety of genres. Uncertainty is a dominant theme in Long Way Down. Dani, for instance, appears to be about fifteen years old, though she was killed at the age of eight. This is an implicit question to Will does he want to add to this unbroken chain? And because of her youth, many of the words used around her have connotations of innocence and childhood: playground (p.124), sunshine (p.127), and flower dress (p.127). Thanks for exploring this SuperSummary Study Guide of "Long Way Down" by Jason Reynolds. Fear is another important theme in Long Way Down. His use of symbolism through ideas, objects, and characters to convey his themes adds so much depth to the story, making it even more hard-hitting than it already is. He makes a painful piercing sound (p.300), as if hes mourning, until the elevator finally stops. Frickthe man whom Shawn killed, and who was undergoing his initiation into the same gang that Riggs belongs to when he killed Buckdoesnt recognize Riggss description, which suggests that its likely Riggs didnt kill Shawn to avenge Fricks death. Reynolds builds on this central theme with the introduction of several ghosts of people who have died from gun homicide. No one else can view anything. What do you think of the way it tackles the cycle of violence? One minute and seven seconds later, the door opens in the lobby, and Buck, Dani, Uncle Mark, Pop, Frick, and Shawn run out of the doors in the midst of a cloud of cigarette smoke. Shawn stands there awkwardly like a middle drawer of a man (p.291) and says nothing as Will tells him everything. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. Like. Or perhaps he is trying to show Will that its okay to break The Rules. Dani, the second ghost to join Will on the elevator, forces Will to confront the potential repercussions of following through with his plan to avenge Shawns death. gets passed down like name-brand. The way the content is organized, LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in. In this elevator, Will, the main character, is greeted . While they don't explicitly discourage him from getting revenge, their questions provoke Will to rethink his commitment to The Rules. He doesnt say anything to Will, but actions speak louder than words. The timescale of the main narrative is therefore exceptionally short, and Will periodically reminds the reader of how little time has passed. After carrying out his revenge on his brothers killer, he had no peace. And always get revenge.. Our, "Sooo much more helpful thanSparkNotes. Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. He asks Will, Why are you here? (p.167). Will encounters three dead members of his own family who followed and passed on The Rules. Teachers and parents! Mikey had killed the wrong guy (p.218). Shawn begins to softly [snot] and [hiccup] like a little kid, tears pouring from his eyes (p.291). In this activity, students will identify themes in Long Way Down and illustrate examples from the text. Thanks for exploring this SuperSummary Study Guide of "Long Way Down" by Jason Reynolds. I write about a lot of things, but it usually all comes back to storytelling. 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. As a young man living in a community rent apart by gang violence, Will feels obliged to put up a tough, brave front in the face of danger. (including. he murmured, looking at Buck,motioning for a light. Instant downloads of all 1715 LitChart PDFs Rather than Shawn's death being the end of something, it is simply the next domino to fall in a sequence set in motion decades earlier. 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