No Snitching. Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1715 titles we cover. All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. 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). When Shawn found out, he stuck to The Rules (p.267). At only fifteen, Will assumes this responsibility as though it is a rite of passage into manhood. eNotes Editorial. walking me to the store,teaching me how todo a Penny Drop. 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. 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. Find related themes, quotes, symbols, characters, and more. Shawn introduced Will to the concept of loyalty by introducing him to the Rules, which are three rules that govern life in their neighborhood. (including. "I got scared. The theme arises early in the novel when Will states that his brother Shawn was killed two days earlier. it was like the wordcame out and at the same timetime went in. Will and Shawn are connected by blood, but many of the others tales are linked in the too-long chain of who-shot-who and the need to follow The Rules. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. This is the final line of the book and quite possibly the most powerful. 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. Is he going to shoot Riggs, and further the cycle of violence? Now that he's at the Lobby level and the elevator doors are open . Always too big. BEEF. 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 issues dealt with in the novel are very real: violence, familial loyalty, and revenge. The first thing that Mikey brings is guilt. However, the surety Will begins the elevator ride with is steadily worn down by the ghosts who challenge him to reconsider his decision. "My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." Its the only thing ever out of place on Shawns side (p.38) and its where Will finds Shawns gun. Shawn, however, refuses to answer, letting Will writhe in the agony of not knowing what to do. 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). Ed. Hey there! 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. Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. eNotes.com will help you with any book or any question. like. (I found this mildly confusing because where I live, the penultimate level is generally called level 1, but here, its level 2.) All storyboards are private and secure to the portal using enterprise-class file security hosted by Microsoft Azure. Long Way Down study guide contains a biography of Jason Reynolds, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. In addition, any storyboard can be made sharable, where a private link to the storyboard can be shared externally. Learn about Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds. 20 comments. BIG . Multitasking. 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. Passed to him.Passed them to his little brother.Passed to my older brother.Passed to me. The second date is today's Complete your free account to request a guide. I couldnt see himas anything lessthan my brother, Instant downloads of all 1715 LitChart PDFs The Rules stem from principles of masculinity that suppress vulnerability, and most of the novels characters follow The Rules. Bubble gum and blood (p.133). 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. Most examples do not fit the identified symbols. A strap. Most symbols are correctly identified, but some objects are missing or are incorrectly identified as significant symbols. Create a storyboard that identifies symbolism in the story. Given that the dead in the novel know everything, this suggests that one of the most important things a still-living person can do is realize that they dont know everythingand because of this, shouldnt take irreversible actions like killing someone. Refine any search. . Long Way Down Summary. They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!, This is absolutely THE best teacher resource I have ever purchased. Comment. Thats what fifteen-year-old Will has shoved in the back waistband of his jeans. 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. Jason Reynolds, Long Way Down. LitCharts Teacher Editions. While they don't explicitly discourage him from getting revenge, their questions provoke Will to rethink his commitment to The Rules. Jason Reynolds' new novel Long Way Down is focused on a moment of decision. 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 dies? 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. PDF downloads of all 1715 LitCharts literature guides, and of every new one we publish. In the climactic scene with Shawn, Will wants the mute ghost of his brother to tell him if he is duty-bound to kill Riggs. 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. that it stopped Mom fromscraping loose a riverof wounds. 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. This depiction of the ghosts serves to underscore the wasted potentialthe stolen timeof those whose lives are cut short by violence. Complete your free account to access notes and highlights. Reynolds also emphasizes the importance of mentorship with Will's strong desire to commit to The Rules, the only remaining guidance he has from Shawn, who in turn inherited them from Buck and Mikey and Mark. Some of Reynolds first successful works were partially written during slow times at the Rag and Bone store he managed. Reynolds uses connotation to reveal the grievance of Will after going through the loss of a loved one. Reynolds doesnt explicitly tell us. Print Word PDF. killed my dad.Thats what my motheralways said. date the date you are citing the material. Creating notes and highlights requires a free LitCharts account. Long Way Down also explores the concept of truth. Just as Wills trying to think this through, the door to the next floor opens. The way the content is organized, LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in, Compare and contrast themes from other texts to this theme, The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Perspective and Reality appears in each chapter of. Below you will find the important quotes in Long Way Down related to the theme of Grief, Fear, and Cycles of Violence. All storyboards are public and can be viewed and copied by anyone. Teachers may ask students to illustrate multiple examples of a single theme, symbol, or motif, or illustrate one example for each. I followed The Rules.At least the first two. Or does he choose to break The Rules and stop the cycle of violence? At two seconds past 9:08 a.m., Buck enters the elevator on the seventh floor. 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. PDF downloads of all 1715 LitCharts literature guides, and of every new one we publish. 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. The simple question carries a deep significance: While it appears as though Shawn is asking if Will is going to leave the elevator with the others, Shawn is actually asking Will if he is going to join them . Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1715 titles we cover. The novel is a clear example of magical realism as it examines the issues of violence, loyalty, and revenge through a supernatural element. Interestingly, each of the six ghosts asks Will a question that pushes him to reconsider killing Riggs. You'll also get updates on new titles we publish and the ability to save highlights and notes. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. He challenges what Will believes to be true, and as a result, Will is no longer sure of Riggs involvement in Shawns death. Will didnt know that Shawn had ever actually USED his gun. He asks Will what happens after he shoots Riggs, to which Will replies, thats it. With Will's decision to shoot Riggs for presumably shooting Shawn, Reynolds shows how gun violence is perpetuated in communities like Will's. Complete your free account to access notes and highlights. 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. Read a summary of the verse novel, find an in-depth analysis of its plot, and understand its ending. A chopper. Much of how Will conceptualizes manhood has to do with acting appropriately masculinethat is, as, Instant downloads of all 1715 LitChart PDFs Through this, he is able to deliver a compelling yet intense tale about the cycle of violence and its terrible consequences. PDFs of modern translations of every Shakespeare play and poem. Hed shot the guy because his brothers death hurt, but he kept shooting because he was angry (p.213). Shawn begins to softly [snot] and [hiccup] like a little kid, tears pouring from his eyes (p.291). 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). (These instructions are completely customizable. Long Way Down tells the story of Will, a 15-year-old boy riding the elevator in his apartment building down to the lobby. 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. 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. The main themes in Long Way Down are everyday violence, the rules of masculinity, and the passage of time. Long Way Down was inspired by Reynolds's experiences working with incarcerated youth, whose fates, he acknowledges, could've easily been his own. Will must decide if he'll follow neighborhood code . Crochet, hes said, taught him the value of going slowly and taking life one stepor one stitchat a time. 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. Never ironed out. Shawn is the embodiment of Wills pain, his death the catalyst to why Will is in the elevator in the first place. Long Way Down is the story of 15 year old Will, whose older brother was just killed. Buck tells Will to check that the gun is even loaded. Over the course of the minute in which Will is in the elevator, Early on in the novel, Will introduces the reader to the Rules which guide life in his violent neighborhood. T-shirts around here. 912 reviews 13.8k followers. See, his brother Shawn was just murdered. So I pulled the trigger." is a quote said by Frick, a character from Long Way Down. He makes a painful piercing sound (p.300), as if hes mourning, until the elevator finally stops. 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. Despite the front he puts up, Will's fear gradually surfaces, and it becomes apparent that he is more affected by disturbing things than it would be 'manly,' in his view, to admit. His question gets Will to begin reevaluating his decisions, but his confident you aint got it in you is what truly hits Will. Will and Shawn, p. 319-320. "My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." 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. 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. A piece. When someone else joins him, the elevator ride begins to get strange. Next up is Uncle Mark. Or perhaps he is trying to show Will that its okay to break The Rules. 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. 3. succeed. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. 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. 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. Have students think creatively and "fill in the blanks" of conversation between Will and the other characters. 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. Most storyboard cells help to show the symbols but some storyboard cells are difficult to understand. Went downinto me and chewed on everythinginside as ifI had somehowswallowedmy own teethand they weresharper thanId ever known. 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. Within the portal, all users can view and copy all storyboards. 120 Likes, 6 Comments - Seraphim Starseed (@starseed_777) on Instagram: "Posted @withregram @a_girl_in_the_universe ANOTHER BIG NIGHT OF ASCENSION ENERGIES! Two things began to turn Reynolds onto literature and poetry: rap music in the form of Queen Latifahs album. You'll also get updates on new titles we publish and the ability to save highlights and notes. You'll be able to access your notes and highlights, make requests, and get updates on new titles. I feel like its a lifeline. Griefdeep sorrow caused by someone's deathis a major theme in Long Way Down. Creating notes and highlights requires a free LitCharts account. In the elevator, he is visited by several ghosts who relate their experiences with revenge, including his father, who killed the wrong guy when trying to avenge his brother. 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. A strap. Were doing this so that we can link the symbols back later. Create your account. (including. And as a kidI always figuredhis heartwas forreal brokenlike an arm or a toy, wouldve been totell Buck how importantthat soap was. The novel looks at both the inevitability and the futility of revenge. Thank you for sticking with me on this extremely long analysis! Fear is another important theme in Long Way Down. Composed by Masafumi TakadaVocals by Gary NumanLyrics:Find myself withinDarkness twisting me aroundThere is nothing I can doThis world doesn't spinIt just tu. He asks Will, Why are you here? (p.167). 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. A cannon. Instant PDF downloads. Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1715 titles we cover. Since he pulled the trigger on Buck, a trigger was pulled on him by Shawn. Revenge. [] I thought about this when the man withthe gold chains got on and checked to see if theL button was already glowing. Unlike a fictional narrative, real time does not stop at some arbitrary point. Due to the nature of the cycle of violence, many of the ghosts stories are intertwined. 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. Detailed quotes explanations with page numbers for every important quote on the site. Another major theme in the novel is revenge and its disastrous consequences. When Dani was killed, Will remembers seeing her with her mouth, open. gets passed down like name-brand. Loyalty and Revenge. 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). "But if the blood inside you is on the inside of someone else, you never want to see it on the outside of them.". The fourth ghost who steps into the elevator is Mikey, Wills dad. However, The Rules are restrictive, stating that a man must not cry and therefore show fear or weakness. PDFs of modern translations of every Shakespeare play and poem. No word is wasted in this book, and one thing it does brilliantly is symbolism. Will is introduced to The Rules at the age of eight by Shawn just after having seen his friend Dani shot dead. Which character in Long Way Down has the largest impact on Will? The ghosts in the elevator are definitely one of the highlights in Long Way Down. The clearest symbol of vulnerability in this novel is crying; it is the first Rule, and the act that most clearly expresses weakness. In this sense, its possible to argue that Pop wasnt properly loyalhe didnt actually avenge Uncle Marks death, after alland that he himself then died needlessly. Ultimately, the novel shows how The Rules encourage Will to imitate preconceived notions of masculinity that are emotionally harmful and lead to acts that harm both the individuals trying to live up to expectations and the society that must live with the consequences of their actions. 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 . Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. 18 Apr. Will Holloman. The ones that I want to highlight are the middle drawer, the nighttime, and Wills use of anagrams. Additionally, my opinions may not align with yours and thats cool, too. 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. Like. Time is up, and Will has to make a decision. Complete your free account to request a guide. 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." I write about a lot of things, but it usually all comes back to storytelling. An error occurred trying to load this video. Students can explore by identifying these elements themselves or in an " envelope activity ", where they are given one or more to track . In other words, everyone in Wills life has encouraged him to view the Rules in a highly simplified and glorified way rather than to truly think about their potential consequences. I found a number of recurring symbols that either represented an idea and/or added to the books themes. around the grip, placingthem over Shawnsprints like littlebrother holding bigbrothers hand again. Teachers can view all of their students storyboards, but students can only view their own. 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. 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. Because of this, he didnt read a novel until he was 17. , fear, and get updates on new titles My older brother.Passed to me, Will. Will has to make a decision 's decision to shoot Riggs for presumably shooting Shawn, however refuses! Said, taught him the value of going slowly and taking life one stepor one a!, familial loyalty, and Will has to make a decision LitCharts account theL button was already glowing get.! Reynolds & # x27 ; s at the Lobby through the loss of a loved.. 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