You'll be able to access your notes and highlights, make requests, and get updates on new titles. Any literary elements can be conveyed through characters, setting, dialogue, plot, or a combination. The novel never confirms one way or the other whether Will is correct that Carlson Riggs, a former friend of Shawns, is indeed the one who killed Shawn. Read a summary of the verse novel, find an in-depth analysis of its plot, and understand its ending. The Rules are short and simple: no crying, no snitching (which Will defines as talking to the police), and revenge, which Will says means, If someone you love / gets killed, / find the person / who killed / them and / kill them. Though Will presents the Rules as inarguable, nonnegotiable facts, both he (seemingly, Its impossible to ignore the supernatural aspect of Long Way Downall the individuals who share the elevator with Will on his way to avenge his brother Shawns death are ghosts. Loyalty and Revenge Theme Analysis. 2023 . Long Way Down is the story of 15 year old Will, whose older brother was just killed. So Mikey represents Will if he kills Riggs. The nighttime had wormed its way into him. She adds to his growing doubt by asking him, What if you miss? (p.142), a possibility that Will hadnt really considered before. Olson, Maxwell. Storyboard cells clearly show connection with the symbols and help with understanding. Reynolds subtly builds on the theme whenever Will speaks admiringly of Shawn or mentions how he wears Shawn's cologne and oversized hand-me-down clothing. Its not made clear exactly what it is, but its said that itll snatch your teaching from you, put a gun in your hand, a grumble in your gut, and some sharp in your teeth (p.249). Went downinto me and chewed on everythinginside as ifI had somehowswallowedmy own teethand they weresharper thanId ever known. It is also a bildungsroman novel, showing Will's passage from childhood to adulthood in the grip of an impossible decision. Refine any search. In interviews, he's spoken candidly about the fact that he and his other friends were angry enough to go out, hunt down, and kill the person they believed was their . 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. 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. Complete your free account to access notes and highlights. 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. I would definitely recommend Study.com to my colleagues. Revenge killing, family .. are themes. Hardcover, 320 pages. 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. 2 pages at 400 words per page) View a FREE sample. Will also understands how mentorship was important to Shawn himself, who learned how to be a man in the world from Buck, who himself stepped in to be a mentor when Shawn's and Will's father was killed. Write a description of each of the examples in the black text box. Always too big. killed my dad.Thats what my motheralways said. He asks, what you think you should do? (p.210). 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. When Will sees Shawn crying, his tears . Or does he? Then he begins to tell Will how he really died, and in doing so, unpacks a number of important elements. He reveals to Will that the gun that hes planning on using to shoot Riggs had once belonged to him, adding depth to the history of this particular gun. The family Will has left then, is his mother and, until the day before the novel begins, his big brother Shawn. The next important thing in Mikeys story is a link to the theme of truth. His question asks Will if he is going to follow through with killing Riggs, and thus follow the ghosts into death when someone comes after Will. Create a storyboard that identifies symbolism in the story. Uncertainty is a dominant theme in Long Way Down. In the elevator, he learns of the trail of revenge that has led up to this moment. The end (p.194). While Will sees it as a signal to follow Rule #3, its awkwardness actually serves to draw attention to the wrongness of tracking Riggs down and killing him to avenge Shawn. 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. 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). Warning: major spoilers. 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. But for men, crying is a sign of weakness, not a way to cope with grief. What is the moral or message of Long Way Down? Complete your free account to request a guide. Complete your free account to request a guide. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. All symbols are correctly identified as objects that represent something else at a higher level in the story. When recounting Shawn's shooting, Will casually details how he initially reacted to the sounds of gunshots as though it was any other shooting. Struggling with distance learning? As the other elevator occupants gradually expand Wills understanding of the events leading up to Shawns death, the novel makes it clear that loyalty and love motivated all of these killings. Time is up, and Will has to make a decision. They are so reluctant to talk to the police that only new police recruits ask questions as though they are expecting an answer. The cycle of violence would continue to carry on. 5 years ago. Bethany is a certified Special Education and Elementary teacher with 11 years experience teaching Special Education from grades PK through 5. Loyalty and Revenge. At two seconds past 9:08 a.m., Buck enters the elevator on the seventh floor. Real World Records has been working closely with the Long Way Down production to provide the soundtrack to the journey. 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. If Will becomes a killer, he will either have to live the rest of his life with the consequences of his act or die because of it. Cooper, James ed. Storyboard cells do not help in understanding the symbols. Struggling with distance learning? Last Updated on June 14, 2021, by eNotes Editorial. The first thing that Mikey brings is guilt. Most storyboard cells help to show the symbols but some storyboard cells are difficult to understand. To take a broader look at Danis question and the effects of an unintended death like hers, its worth considering what happened to Will as a result of Danis death. By the end of the novel, Will faces the question of whether he is going to be the one to stop the cycle of violence that claimed Shawn. Detailed quotes explanations with page numbers for every important quote on the site. This is only the first part of Wills journeyonce he reaches the lobby, his plan is to avenge the death of his older brother, Shawn, who was shot the night before in what was likely a gang-related incident. The man is Buck, a man who used to be like a big brother to Shawn, the man who gave Shawn the gun Will now carries, and a man . Without further ado, lets dive in. In the end, the ghosts of Will's mentors appear so they may teach him one more important lesson. When Will answers, Buck says, you aint got it in you (p.101). Objective Summary Steps & Examples | What is an Objective Summary? Dani is the reminder of Wills childhood and the seed for the cycle of violence to begin in him. Unlike a fictional narrative, real time does not stop at some arbitrary point. Passed to him.Passed them to his little brother.Passed to my older brother.Passed to me. Teachers and parents! Long Way Down thoroughly explores the theme of revenge. An error occurred trying to load this video. Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1715 titles we cover. Jason Reynolds, Long Way Down. To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member. And Will knows the rules. Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. With this act of vengeance, Will assumes he will even the score and be better able to accept Shawn's death. I wondered if he knewthat in me and Shawns world, Id already chosen to be. And always get revenge.. A cannon. Or does he choose to break The Rules and stop the cycle of violence? Long Way Down thoroughly explores the theme of revenge. A strap. Ultimately, the novel depicts a young man grappling with grief in an instance where the socially sanctioned form of mourning for males is to focus on their anger while denying any feelings that would expose them as weak or vulnerable. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. Our, "Sooo much more helpful thanSparkNotes. Already a member? Through this, he is able to deliver a compelling yet intense tale about the cycle of violence and its terrible consequences. Theres so much packed within these two simple words. T he main themes in Long Way Down are everyday violence, the rules of masculinity, and the passage of time.. Download the entire Long Way Down study guide as a printable PDF! An ode to Put the Damn Guns Down, this is New York Times bestseller Jason Reynolds's fiercely stunning novel that takes place in sixty potent secondsthe time it takes a kid to decide whether or not he's going to murder the guy who killed his brother. Refine any search. A Long Way Gone is Ishmael Beah's noteworthy memoir published in 2007.Beah gives a firsthand account of his experiences as a child soldier during the Sierra Leone civil war in the 1990s. 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. The middle drawer is on Shawns side of the brothers bedroom. Will has thought about what he intends to do in seeking revenge, but, as Uncle Mark points out, he has not given any thought to what might happen after that. There are Rules, and the Rules must be followed. I recently finishedLong Way Downby Jason Reynolds, and it was absolutely fantastic in more ways than one. Shawn had been able to carry out what Will is preparing to do, and because of this, someone else had killed him. Nothing but a mass of evidence showing the results of following them will be persuasive. This sets the tone for the story, which requires quite a bit of suspension of disbelief, given that Wills journey happens over a single minute and contains A Christmas Carol type interactions with ghosts. I followed The Rules.At least the first two. around the grip, placingthem over Shawnsprints like littlebrother holding bigbrothers hand again. Because of this, most of his booksincluding, Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. Long Way Down also explores the concept of truth. PDF downloads of all 1715 LitCharts literature guides, and of every new one we publish. Everyone on the elevator with Will is dead, offering advice from the perspective of experience. Copyright 1999 - 2023 GradeSaver LLC. More books than SparkNotes. It is a bit of a long post, so in Bucks words, Might as well relaxits a long way down (p.97). Will knows, however, that seeking revenge will seriously hurt his momnow his only living family member. LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Long Way Down, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. eNotes.com Will didnt know that Shawn had ever actually USED his gun. The theme arises early in the novel when Will states that his brother Shawn was killed two days earlier. A piece. Its possible that he regrets teaching Will The Rules and blames himself. Women are clearly allowed to cry over sudden losses: Wills mother cries all night, and Leticia, Shawns girlfriend, screams in the street over his fallen body. BEEF. Thanks for exploring this SuperSummary Study Guide of "Long Way Down" by Jason Reynolds. All storyboards are public and can be viewed and copied by anyone. https://www.storyboardthat.com/lesson-plans/long-way-down-by-jason-reynolds/themes, This Storyboard That activity is part of the lesson plans for. Griefdeep sorrow caused by someone's deathis a major theme in Long Way Down. online is the same, and will be the first date in the citation. This is only the first part of Will's journeyonce he reaches the lobby, his plan is to avenge the death of his older brother, Shawn, who was shot the night before in what was likely a gang-related incident. The elevator moves impossibly slowly, giving Will ample time to speak . The way the content is organized, LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in. date the date you are citing the material. The book opens with, Dont nobody believe nothing these days (p.1) as Will tries to convince the reader that the events in the book actually happened. The main themes in Long Way Down are everyday violence, the rules of masculinity, and the passage of time. I said,after listening tomy father admitwhat I had alreadyknown, wouldve been totell Buck how importantthat soap was. Interestingly, each of the six ghosts asks Will a question that pushes him to reconsider killing Riggs. This section contains 532 words. 120 Likes, 6 Comments - Seraphim Starseed (@starseed_777) on Instagram: "Posted @withregram @a_girl_in_the_universe ANOTHER BIG NIGHT OF ASCENSION ENERGIES! This is why one bullet is missing from Wills gun. Unlisted storyboards can be shared via a link, but otherwise will remain hidden. Will Holloman. Ed. No snitching. Descriptions clearly say why examples are significant. Additionally, Will meets the ghost of a man named Frick, who Will is shocked to discover murdered Buck. eNotes.com, Inc. Two things began to turn Reynolds onto literature and poetry: rap music in the form of Queen Latifahs album. -Graham S. Below you will find the important quotes in, Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. Will is introduced to The Rules at the age of eight by Shawn just after having seen his friend Dani shot dead. "My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." Even then, the author does not, in this work, offer any alternative code of behavior. This gets both the reader and Will to question if Riggs death really is the right answer. A gat. I write about a lot of things, but it usually all comes back to storytelling. Jason Reynolds' new novel Long Way Down is focused on a moment of decision. 10 likes. In the form in which they appear to Will, they have continued to grow and change as though they were living. All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. 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. When Shawn found out, he stuck to The Rules (p.267). Its a terrifying moment for Will and it shows him how hed feel if he were in Riggs place. Teachers and parents! In Long Way Down, Jason Reynolds does an amazing job incorporating important themes and powerful messages into a riveting story. Just as Buck started the cycle of violence in Shawn by teaching him The Rules, he starts doubt within Will. The Question and Answer section for Long Way Down is a great date the date you are citing the material. A strap. You'll be able to access your notes and highlights, make requests, and get updates on new titles. Will's father and brother both engaged in acts of revenge and may have lost their own lives in consequence. By making this clear to Will, the ghosts in the elevator ask him to consider if his plan to kill Riggs is actually the right course of action, and if Will is actually behaving loyally by following through with it. Due to the nature of the cycle of violence, many of the ghosts stories are intertwined. (including. Huh. Long Way Down tells the story of Will, a 15-year-old boy riding the elevator in his apartment building down to the lobby. publication online or last modification online. Detailed quotes explanations with page numbers for every important quote on the site. Were doing this so that we can link the symbols back later. 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. 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. Reynolds doesnt explicitly tell us. Long Way Down was inspired by Reynolds's experiences working with incarcerated youth, whose fates, he acknowledges, could've easily been his own. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. While they don't explicitly discourage him from getting revenge, their questions provoke Will to rethink his commitment to The Rules. Long Way Down study guide contains a biography of Jason Reynolds, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. The novel's themes are the inevitability and futility of revenge and the element of choice, asking the question how much choice does Will actually have? Get unlimited access to over 88,000 lessons. Book Summary. Detailed quotes explanations with page numbers for every important quote on the site. A fifteen-year-old Black teen, Will has grown up in an unnamed impoverished neighborhood with a high incidence of gun violence, drug abuse, and gang activity. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. Bigger huh. 111 lessons. After clicking "Copy Activity", update the instructions on the Edit Tab of the assignment.). As the ghosts file out of the elevator, Shawn turns back and asks, you coming? (p.306). Teachers may opt to lower the security if they want to allow sharing. "My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." that it stopped Mom fromscraping loose a riverof wounds. It is written in poem form, so it can be considered a verse novel. The timescale of the main narrative is therefore exceptionally short, and Will periodically reminds the reader of how little time has passed. copyright 2003-2023 Study.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. Revengethe action of inflicting hurt as retribution for a wrong sufferedenters the narrative when Will lays out The Rules. The author seems to regard The Rules as being so deeply inculcated in men that it would be futile simply to say that they are destructive. The ghostly figures from the past have a strange relationship with time. Long Way Down has one main setting in this story, an elevator. Therefore, the very fact that Will is still willing to arm himself and avenge Shawns death suggests that Will prioritizes his loyalty to the dead over his loyalty to the living, even if the living will be the ones who get hurt. I will be spoiling almost everything in this book as I analyse it, so I would highly recommend reading it first before continuing. 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. Bubble gum and blood (p.133). The third poem of Long Way Down reveals that Wills brother, Shawn, has just been shot and killed, and the poems that immediately follow it describe Wills shock and sadness at this tragedy. Tom Odell - Long Way Down (Official Audio)New album "Best Day Of My Life" out 28th October 2022Pre-order or pre-save album now - https://ffm.to/bestdayofmyli. 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. Most examples fit the identified symbols. Most important, however, are Wills reactions to the questions and thought experiments that the ghosts pose: its clear that hes never been asked to think about these questions before. 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. It is when Will sees his brother lying dead that the shooting becomes something out of the ordinary. 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. Enter your email address to subscribe to my site and receive email notifications every time I post new content. It is a follow-up to the Long Way Round of 2004, when the pair rode east from London to New York via Eurasia and North America. The second is the date of I couldnt see himas anything lessthan my brother, Instant downloads of all 1715 LitChart PDFs And thats not just because shes the only female ghost. Finally, I found Wills fascination with anagrams interesting, especially since there are five (maybe six) anagrams scattered across the book. Another major theme in the novel is revenge and its disastrous consequences. The header on page 55 reads Reasons I thought (knew) Riggs killed Shawn. While Will tries to follow The Rules, the ghosts put up repeated challenges to his masculine posturing until Will breaks. Novels and poetry often have a variety of themes throughout that students can identify and analyze. Told in short, fierce staccato narrative verse, Long Way Down is a fast and furious, dazzlingly brilliant look at teenage gun violence, as could only be told by Jason Reynolds. Its impossible to ignore the supernatural aspect of Long Way Downall the individuals who share the elevator with Will on his way to avenge his brother Shawns death are ghosts. Will takes its off-centeredness as a sign to set things straight (p.48). 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. If there are two dates, the date of publication and appearance 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. Wills determined to believe that he can pinpoint the blame on Riggs, but deep down, hes not sure if this belief is truth, as implied with the brackets (parentheses?) On the elevator ride, Will is visited by a series of ghosts who lay out for him a gruesome look at what revenge can do. Comment. The person that shot Shawn had to be someone who knew Frick, but when Dani describes Riggs to Frick, he responds, Who? (p.275). He makes a painful piercing sound (p.300), as if hes mourning, until the elevator finally stops. We see fragments of his memories and thought processes as he meets different people from his life. 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. Revenge. Fear is another important theme in Long Way Down. The ghosts in the elevator are definitely one of the highlights in Long Way Down. 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. Find related themes, quotes, symbols, characters, and more. Create your account. Teachers and parents! While its important to not diminish the importance of the relationship between Will and Shawn (Shawn is the reason Will plans to kill someone, after all), the fact that it was just the two of them and their mother speaks to the fractured nature of families in Wills community, which partially explains the importance of loyalty to that community. Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1715 titles we cover. Shawn is the embodiment of Wills pain, his death the catalyst to why Will is in the elevator in the first place. The soundtrack of an epic motorbike adventure from John O'Groats to Cape Town. Frick is where Wills conviction that Riggs killed Shawn is put to the test. Perspective and Reality. As a member, you'll also get unlimited access to over 88,000 But it also suggests that such emotions, and the violent actions that Will and others like him want to take as an expression of that loyalty, have irrevocable consequences for all parties involved. In the elevator, Will comes face to face with the ghosts of Buck, Pop, his Uncle Mark, Shawn, and Dani, a childhood friend who was accidentally shot and killed as an eight-year-old. 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. Teachers can view all of their students storyboards, but students can only view their own. 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. Thank you for sticking with me on this extremely long analysis! Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. I was only three.And I dont remember that.Ive always wanted to. In Long Way Down, Will is on his way to follow the Rules of his neighborhood that dictate that he take revenge for the death of his brother. Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1715 titles we cover. -Graham S. Below you will find the important quotes in, Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. Long Way Down Summary. Over the course of the minute in which Will is in the elevator, ghosts of other people (many of them family members) who died as a result of similar violent incidents join Will. his face was wetwith tears he wasntsupposed to crywhen he was alive. With his brother's gun, Will sets out to kill the man he believes shot Shawn. Among the ghosts are Will's father and Shawn, both of whom sought to follow The Rules when feeling grief over Uncle Mark and Buck, respectively. PDF downloads of all 1715 LitCharts literature guides, and of every new one we publish. (approx. Its like a teacher waved a magic wand and did the work for me. This confuses Will and, understandably, prevents him from recognizing her. No Snitching. All storyboards and images are private and secure. "But if the blood inside you is on the inside of someone else, you never want to see it on the outside of them.". "My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." 3. Here, Ill be quickly analyzing each character and what they bring to the elevator. Find related themes, quotes, symbols, characters, and more. At only fifteen, Will assumes this responsibility as though it is a rite of passage into manhood. Frick doesnt know Riggs, and because of this, he becomes the final attack on Wills certainty. You'll be able to access your notes and highlights, make requests, and get updates on new titles. 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 . 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. The ubiquity of violence has led Will and the others in his neighborhood to develop various survival strategies. Uncertainty. 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. First the guilt, then the grief that comes with discovering the truth, and finally death as one of Riggs loved ones follows through with The Rules and kills Will. The novel ends with Will considering whether he wants to cross that boundary and join the elevator ghosts in the afterlife. Buck, Will finds out, is who gave Shawn the gun before Will took the gun. He asks them all, most insistently Shawn, if The Rules are right. -Graham S. Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. The six ghosts have little more than a minute in which to dissuade the fifteen-year-old protagonist from pursuing revenge. Past present future forever (p.174).
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