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An introduction to the book "Long Way Down" by Jason Reynolds, including a brief summary and key themes. Provides a foundational understanding of the book's premise and main themes.

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Read 18.1k reviews from the world's largest community for readers. A cannon. A strap. A piece. A biscuit. A burner. A heater. A chopper. A gat. A hammer A ...

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Watch an engaging interview with Jason Reynolds as he discusses "Long Way Down" and his writing process.

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Kennedy Center Education Digital Learning

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Analyze how "Long Way Down" deals with the theme of grief through its protagonist, Will.

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LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Long Way Down, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.

Early on in the novel, Will introduces the reader to "the Rules" which guide life in his violent neighborhood. 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 unwittingly) and others in the elevator (very purposefully) suggest that this isn't actually the case. Rather, the novel proposes that the Rules are only nonnegotiable for individuals who are ruled by negative, destructive emotions, namely grief. The cycle of violence can potentially be broken if an individual can learn to see that the Rules are the reason the cycle exists in the first place, and then come up with a healthier way to cope with grief.

Will presents the Rules as a way of life that's been passed down from generation to generation, creating a chain reaction of violence that's impossible to escape. The ghosts who join Will on his way to avenge his brother, Shawn's, killer confirm this idea by making the chain of violence extremely clear: Buck's killer, Frick, joins the ghosts midway down, and Shawn killed Frick. Similarly, Uncle Mark and Pop's deaths are related to each other: while Uncle Mark was killed due to a disagreement over drug-dealing turf, Pop set out to avenge Uncle Mark's death, per the Rules, and was later killed as a result. Will knows all of this-at least, he knows the broad strokes of who killed whom, and why-and so it's very easy for him to genuinely believe that he has no choice but to continue in the footsteps of his mentors and family members by avenging Shawn's death. Relying on this idea that what he's going to do is inevitable allows Will to largely ignore his grief and chaotic emotions in the wake of losing Shawn.

When considering the role of emotion in the Rules, it's important to compare the first and final rules: no crying, and seek revenge. The idea that those who adhere to the Rules cannot cry very purposefully deprives adherents-overwhelmingly men-of a normal and natural way of releasing emotion. This makes it clear that there are appropriate and inappropriate ways of dealing with grief within Will's community. The accepted way to deal with grief isn't through introspection, time, or venting one's emotions-the only correct course of action, per the Rules, is to seek violent revenge. Indeed, Will even says outright that the Rules "weren't meant to be broken. / They were meant for the broken / to follow." With this, he suggests that the Rules are supposed to be a way for individuals experiencing emotional turmoil ("the broken") to cope. But while Will expresses his stubborn belief that the Rules are successful in doing this, his actions and parts of his inner monologue suggest that this is just wishful thinking. Will is terrified at the thought of killing Shawn's supposed killer, Carlson Riggs, who's also Shawn's former friend and a member of the rival Dark Suns gang. When the ghost of Uncle Mark (who was an aspiring filmmaker in life) tries to get Will to walk through the "scene of what will happen"-getting off the elevator, going to Riggs's apartment, and pulling the trigger-Will physically and mentally chokes when he imagines doing this. What Will experiences at the thought of killing Riggs is, more than anything, fear. Fear, the novel suggests, supplants grief as a person's primary emotion as they stare down seeking revenge. The Rules, in combination with human nature, make it impossible to effectively cope with grief.

Alongside the ghosts' implication that the Rules are ineffective at doing what they're supposed to do, Will also provides evidence that the Rules might not be as inarguable as he'd like to think. He notes that crying a single tear doesn't count as crying or showing weakness-even though crying a single tear is still technically crying, and the way in which Will frames this suggests that he's trying to excuse his own past episodes of crying a single tear. Similarly, Will suggests that his best friend, Tyler's, habit of talking publically about everything and anything sensitive or confidential doesn't technically count as snitching, though again, it's very possible to argue that Tyler is indeed talking about things that the Rules forbid. Clearly, the Rules do contain some nuance when it's most convenient for Will, whereas Will sees them as inarguable when he needs to justify his planned revenge killing. In other words, the meaning of the Rules is, to a degree, up to individual interpretations-offering some hope that Will might be able to rethink or reinterpret the Rules and come to a healthier choice about what he's going to do, and a healthier mindset about Shawn's death.

All of this begins to suggest that the Rules simply throw individuals into a cycle of pain and violence from which they feel they can never escape. While Will does seem to gradually recognize this as the novel progresses, what's most compelling for him is seeing Shawn enter the elevator and cry-not just one tear, but many. Will realizes that while he's supposed to hate Shawn for breaking the Rules, seeing Shawn cry doesn't make him love Shawn any less. This incident shows that the Rules can actually be broken, and that breaking them won't bring about the disastrous loss of face that Will fears. While the novel leaves it up to the reader to decide whether Will gets off the elevator to go kill Riggs or whether he rides it back up to grieve with his mother, Will nevertheless has to face the truth in front of him: the Rules won't give him the results he wants. Killing Riggs will become yet another traumatizing experience that, in all likelihood, will do nothing to help Will handle his grief. Instead, doing so will only turn Will into a target for someone else who also believes in the necessity of following through with the Rules.

Grief, Fear, and Cycles of Violence ThemeTracker

The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Grief, Fear, and Cycles of Violence appears in each chapter of Long Way Down. Click or tap on any chapter to read its Summary & Analysis.

Grief, Fear, and Cycles of Violence Quotes in Long Way Down

Below you will find the important quotes in Long Way Down related to the theme of Grief, Fear, and Cycles of Violence.

BEEF

gets passed down like name-brand
T-shirts around here. Always too big.
Never ironed out.

gets inherited like a trunk of fool's
gold or a treasure map leading
to nowhere.

Explanation and Analysis:

ANOTHER THING ABOUT THE RULES

They weren't meant to be broken.
They were meant for the broken

to follow.

NO. 1.1: SURVIVAL TACTICS (made plain)

Get
down
with
some
body

or

get
beat
down
by
some
body.

[...] I thought about this when the man with
the gold chains got on and checked to see if the
L button was already glowing. I wondered if he knew
that in me and Shawn's world, I'd already chosen to be

a loser.

SHE BRUSHED HER HAND AGAINST MINE

to get my attention,
which on any other
occasion would've
been the perfect
open for me to flirt
or at least try to do
my best impression of Shawn,

which was
his best impression of Buck.

WHEN THEY SAID

you were gone,
I cried all night,

I confessed.

And the next morning,
over hard-boiled eggs
and sugar cereal,
Shawn taught me
Rule Number One-

no crying.

I stood in the shower
the next morning
after Shawn taught me
the first rule,
no crying,
feeling like
I wanted to scratch
my skin off scratch
my eyes out punch
through something,
a wall,
a face,
anything,
so something else
could have
a hole.

So I explained them to
her so she wouldn't think
less of me for following
them

[...]

So that she knew I had
purpose

and that this was about
family

and had I known
The Rules when we
were kids I would've
done the same thing

for her.

Fly.
Like Shawn.
Foreshadowing the flash.

BUT TO EXPLAIN MYSELF

I said,

The Rules are
the rules.

He knew them
like I knew them.

Passed to him.
Passed them to his little brother.
Passed to my older brother.
Passed to me.

The Rules
have always ruled.

past present future forever.

it was like the word
came out and at the same time
time went in.

Went down
into me and
chewed on everything
inside as if
I had somehow
swallowed
my own teeth
and they were
sharper than
I'd ever known.

The end?

he murmured,
looking at Buck,
motioning for a light.

It's never the end,

Uncle Mark said,
all chuckle, chuckle.
He leaned toward Buck.

Never.

A BROKEN HEART

killed my dad.
That's what my mother
always said.

And as a kid
I always figured
his heart
was forreal broken
like an arm
or a toy

or the middle drawer.

WHAT YOU THINK YOU SHOULD DO?

he asked.

Follow the Rules,

I said
just like I told
everybody else.

Just like you did.

BUT YOU DID WHAT YOU HAD TO DO,

I said,
after listening to
my father admit
what I had already
known,

The Rules
are the rules.

I didn't know
he wasn't the right guy,

Pop said,
a tremble in
his throat.

I was sure that was Mark's killer.

Had
to
be.

A DUMB THING TO SAY

would've been to
tell Buck how important
that soap was

that it stopped Mom from
scraping loose a river
of wounds.

But instead
I just said,

Riggs.

I TOLD HIM

about the
drawer,
the gun,

that I did
like he told me,
like Buck told him,
like our grandfather told
our uncle, like our uncle
told our dad.

I followed The Rules.
At least the first two.

AND EVEN THOUGH

his face was wet
with tears he wasn't
supposed to cry
when he was alive,

I couldn't see him
as anything less
than my brother,

my favorite,
my only.

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LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Long Way Down, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. Early on in the novel, Will introduces the reader to "the Rules" which guide life in his violent neighborhood.

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Explore the cycle of violence depicted in the story and how it affects the characters and their decisions.

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The Cyclical Trap of Violence

Throughout the novel, characters are trapped within a cycle of violence that is difficult to escape. Violence begets violence in Will's world, as each murder leads to another and another in a chain of pain and loss. The Rules serve to codify the cycle of violence, requiring that each murder leads to another murder. The prohibition against snitching means that the community does not rely on the police to address murder, and it's implied that this is because the police have not proven themselves to be trustworthy protectors or arbiters of justice. As a result, a system of vigilante justice prevails instead, and this justice takes the form of violence. What's more, because the community is denied more traditional forms of advancement, many people find themselves caught up in gang life.

For example, Uncle Mark struggles to find a more traditional or legal way to make money to earn his camera to make films but finds that his only recourse is to sell drugs on the corner. For a community that has been systemically oppressed, extralegal activities provide a reliable source of income and many in Will's community and family join gangs to earn money and find protection. As a result, the gangs perpetrate violence and ensnare innocents in their turf wars. The combination of violence-based community rules, lack of support from civic institutions, systematic oppression, and gang proliferation means that the people in Will's community again and again struggle to escape the clutches of violence.

The Disorienting Power of Grief

Through the novel, characters struggle with the massive grief created by the cycle of violence and struggle to find clarity in the fog of their mourning. In the beginning of the novel, Will describes the shock of his brother's death, noting that he struggles to even say that his brother has died. Just two days after his brother's death, Will's pain and grief are fresh, as illustrated by his use of the tooth metaphor. Will describes grief in terms of a stranger ripping a tooth out of the back of one's mouth and the pain and bewilderment of searching the socket with one's tongue. This parallels how the loss of Shawn is a loss of a part of Will's self and illustrates that Will is still searching for his brother, unable to fully accept that he is gone. The sense that something essential is missing is palpable. It's in this atmosphere that Will attempts to make the life-changing decision about whether or not to commit murder in order to get revenge for Shawn's death.

Unable to see clearly himself, Will, instead, is guided by the dead, who meet him within his grief to dissuade him from the destructive path he's on. The dead emerge from the clouds of increasingly thick smoke, which parallel the fog of grief that Will is steeped in. They show him what he, in his youth and in his grief, cannot see: that he is not capable of committing murder, that he may have the wrong idea about who killed his brother, and that, more than anything, he's caught in a cycle of violence which could lead him to an early grave, just like his uncle, father, and brother.

The Pain of Toxic Masculinity

Toxic masculinity prevents the masculine-identifying characters in the book from fully expressing their emotions, which leads to pain and violence. Here, toxic masculinity mirrors the socio-cultural idea that "big boys don't cry" and that prohibits men in particular from showing or even having a vocabulary for their inherent pain and vulnerability beyond anger and reactivity. The Rules require that men do not cry under any circumstances, leaving them with an inability to express their emotions directly. Will describes being unable to cry in violent terms, saying that, preventing himself from crying after his brother dies feels like being punched and kicked from within. In addition, in the wake of Dani's death when he was 8 years old, Will, freshly learning the rule that prohibits crying, says that it feels like he wanted to rip his skin off or punch something so there would be a hole in something other than Dani. This illustrates that Will experiences his repressed emotions immediately as violence, both violence enacted within his own body and violence that he wants to express on the world.

The energy of emotion needs to be released and grasping for violence is a way to restore balance in the absence of crying or other direct expressions. The tenet of emotional repression is passed down from father to son, from brother to brother, suggesting that this is a form of intergenerational trauma. It is telling that Will's father can only express his concern for Will's safety and well-being by drawing a gun and holding it to Will's head to terrify and humiliate him. Unable to express himself emotionally or to articulate his complex emotions, he teaches Will a lesson through the threat of violence, which is painful and even traumatic for Will.

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A summary of Themes in Jason Reynolds's Long Way Down.

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Discover how Jason Reynolds uses poetry to convey emotions and messages in "Long Way Down."

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Exploring Poetry through Jason Reynolds' Long Way Down

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Select the parts of your Learning Plan you'd like to print. If your Tasks or Strategies have PDF handouts, they'll need to be printed separately. These are listed on the left side of each Task or Strategy page.

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Excellent Resource to Intro Graphic Novels

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Excellent Resource to Intro Graphic Novels

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If you plan to use the graphic novel version, begin your unit with this How To Read a Graphic Novel Introduction Lesson! Prepare students for discussing any graphic novel by teaching them important terms like "panels," "gutters," "spreads," and more with this visually appealing resource.

Students will learn important graphic novel terms, comic book history, reading tips, and more.

Then, students will practice identifying the parts of a comic and using visual information to answer some simple questions.

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Begin any graphic novel or comic book unit with this How To Read a Graphic Novel Introduction Lesson! Prepare students for discussing any graphic novel by teaching them important terms like "panels," "gutters," "spreads," and more with this visually appealing resource.

You'll first teach students using the included How to Read a Graphic Novel presentation. Students will learn important graphic novel terms, comic book history, reading tips, and more. Use the blank slide at the end to add your own information or after-lesson directions.

Students will use the included guided notes to stay engaged as they listen. These fill-in-the-blank style notes can be used as a student reference for the remainder of your unit.

Then, students will practice identifying the parts of a comic and using visual information to answer some simple questions. They will do the included Parts of a Graphic Novel or Comic Book Labeling Activity to help absorb the information they just learned.

Every student resource includes a printable and digital version for flexible instruction.
This Resource Includes:

How to Read a Graphic Novel Slideshow (NON-EDITABLE Google Slides)

Guided Notes

NON-EDITABLE PDF

EDITABLE Google Form

Parts of a Graphic Novel or Comic Book Labeling Activity

NON-EDITABLE PDF

NON-EDITABLE Google Slides Worksheet

Answer Keys for Guided Notes and Labeling Activity

Teacher's Guide

Please note that only the resources marked editable can be modified. Please look at the preview, which includes all the major components of this resource, prior to purchase to be sure this lesson is right for you and your students.
Teaching a graphic novel? You Might Also Like:
***This resource consists of NON-EDITABLE PDF and Google files within a Google Folder. In order to access your purchase, you will need to give Teachers Pay Teachers access to your Google Drive. Before purchasing, please review the preview to make sure this resource supports your and your students' needs. The whole resource, with the exception of any answer keys, is included in the preview.

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How to Read a Graphic Novel Introduction Lesson: Slideshow, Notes, & Activity

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Begin any graphic novel or comic book unit with this How To Read a Graphic Novel Introduction Lesson! Prepare students for discussing any graphic novel by teaching them important terms like "panels," "gutters," "spreads," and more with this visually appealing resource. You'll first teach students us...

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A look into the portrayal of gun violence in "Long Way Down" and its impact on youth.

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IN JASON REYNOLDS'S new novel in verse Long Way Down, it all began with The Rules.

No.1: Crying
Don't.
No matter what.
Don't.

No. 2: Snitching
Don't.
No matter what.
Don't.

Will's brother Shawn has just been shot. Knowing that it is his responsibility to honor the rules of his community, Will goes in search of the man who ended his brother's life, carrying Shawn's gun to complete the deed. In the elevator of the building where Will is supposed to find Shawn's killer, he is visited by ghosts from his past, all of whom have suffered a similar fate at the hands of a man with a gun. As the elevator descends, and the ghosts all reveal the circumstances surrounding their deaths, the reader is dragged down through the chaos of Will's grief-stricken mind.

Something ached inside me when I finished this novel, a quiet pain that still hasn't quite left. Even now, I can feel its presence when I sit down to write, the way someone might gingerly touch the new skin of a healing wound. Perhaps it is just the universal feeling of grief that overpowers us when we lose a family member, because we have lost a piece of ourselves.

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 feeling of helplessness was too familiar, because even though the rules that govern my own life are different, I can still see their power in Will's world. I can see how they wind their way around a person, especially a young person, cutting off his options and obscuring his view.

"Every community has rules," says Reynolds. "Rules that are blindly followed. Codes of conduct that come from police brutality and poverty that make necessary certain rules, because they are put in place for safety." Safety from the people who are supposed to protect us, safety that is actually an illusion because no one is ever really safe, which is the greatest tragedy of this story.

Shortly after the novel was published, I asked the author how he spoke to young people about the subject matter of his work, especially those whose stories were not unlike Will's. "I talk to them about things that matter to them," he said. "That actually have nothing to do with my books. Sometimes my childhood. Sneakers, ice cream trucks, swimming pools..." He adds: "Even though this book is an obvious warning against gun violence, it is also meant to humanize young people in the midst of all of this" - an important message because it has become too easy to look away from tragedy when it isn't happening in our own families.

But of course we understand the pain of loss very well, as it is one of those uniquely human things that unites us regardless of circumstances. We may not live by Will's rules, but we can empathize with a grieving brother, and our blood still runs cold at the thought of our own mother experiencing the loss of a child:

She sat in the kitchen, sobbing
into her palms, which she peeled
away only to lift glass to mouth

With each sip came a brief
silence, and with each brief
silence I snuck in a breath.

Long Way Down inspires empathy by forcing readers to experience the protagonist's anguish. It reveals what Reynolds calls the "feeling of anger when you're so upset and don't know where to put the pain." Grief replaces rationality with uncontrolled rage and creates a tidal wave of emotion that demands to be felt. The excruciating sensations of loss and anger and responsibility overwhelms all other thoughts. You can't escape it. You are trapped in your own destructive sadness, which is what makes the elevator setting of this story so appropriate. It is like grief itself: once you are in it, you are trapped until it releases you - until the doors clang open and you can think freely again.

"It's a physical space that directly mimics the feeling of trauma," says Reynolds. "And when we think about pain, it's closed in, slow. I chose a space that mimics the psychosis of intense pain."

He accomplishes this with a genuine love for the rhythms of his story, which led me to ask how he felt about narrating the audiobook version. "Weird, but good," he said. "Poetry was my first love and medium. Reading this felt natural for me," which is why he felt a certain degree of responsibility to record it himself. "If you miss a beat, you ruin a page."

In fact, the whole story follows a series of well-timed beats, as the elevator doors open to expose the deaths that haunt Will's looming choice - to follow the rules or walk away. The first ghost, Buck, "the only big brother Shawn had ever had," doesn't seem surprised that his life was cut short by a gun. As a street dealer, he lived with the prospect of violence every day: he followed the rules, and he died by them. Then comes Dani, a childhood friend, appearing eight years older than she was when she was killed. Will remembers her flower dress, but more importantly he remembers a time when they had been happy, before the rules applied to them. And as the elevator descends further, we feel the bittersweet loss of childhood as he tells her what he needs to do and she asks, "What if you miss?"

The story was written and rewritten until Reynolds was satisfied that it was ready. "It was originally written in vignettes," he told me. "I knew the characters and the plot points. I knew I needed different kinds of visitors. Good Guys. Bad Guys. I rewrote in verse and found the language, but only the necessary language. For me that was the most rewarding part. Trimming the fat and only using the language that served the story best. Over and over and over again."

This obsession with detail is obvious to anyone who picks up the novel. Reynolds insists that this is a "novel-in-verse," not "a novel in poems," which is probably another reason I was able to connect more easily with his words. Even though Reynolds might not classify this work as poetry, he admits that the white space on the page serves as "an entrée to poetry," which is comforting to readers who might be anxious about tackling a novel in verse.

It also speaks to the author's own arrival to this level of craft because his journey as a writer was not a smooth one. While he might be a New York Times best-selling author, a National Book Award Honoree, a Kirkus Award winner, a Walter Dean Myers Award winner, an NAACP Image Award Winner, and the recipient of multiple Coretta Scott King honors, there was a time when Reynolds felt shut out by the world of literature. During his childhood in Washington, DC, Reynolds felt that books were about other people and their problems, which made it difficult for him to connect. This struggle to find himself on the page led him to set books aside at the age of nine; he would not discover them again until he was a teenager. At the University of Maryland, he earned a BA in English with a concentration in writing and rhetoric. Yet, were it not for the influence of Queen Latifah's 1993 album Black Rain, he might never have found his own voice - the language that led him to poetry and then ultimately to the heartbreaking prose of Long Way Down:

Uncle Mark and My Father

looked at me with hollow eyes
dancing somewhere between
guilt and grief,
which I couldn't make sense of
until my father admitted

that he had killed

the wrong guy.

These lines - detailing an accidental murder that occurred in the service of rules no one can escape - struck me the hardest. Will's father's ghost is trying to explain the circumstances surrounding his death so his son will not repeat his mistakes. It was a painful reminder of the price of revenge - that it isn't always justice and the result not always what we intend. I was destroyed by the agony in the father's voice and the truth spoken as he watched his son with "hollow eyes."

Family is a powerful force in this story. Reynolds is very sensitive to the loss of innocence that comes with losing the last of our protectors - father, brother - leaving us alone to battle a desperate grief. Long Way Down is an elegantly crafted work by a writer who understands the tragedy of this subject.

¤

Julia Walton is the author of the young-adult novel Words on Bathroom Walls published by Random House in July 2017. She lives in Huntington Beach, California. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @Jwaltonwrites.

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The Ghosts of Gun Violence: Jason Reynold's "Long Way Down" | Los Angeles Review of Books

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Julia Walton on a new novel in verse about trauma and family tragedy....

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Examine the complex family relationships in the book and how they influence the characters' actions.

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Long Way Down follows fifteen-year-old Will Holloman as he mourns the recent death of his beloved older brother, who was killed in a gang-related shooting. As the story begins, Will is in shock, struggling with how to move forward in the wake of his profound loss. Throughout the novel, Will grapples with following The Rules, the set of cultural expectations that guide men in his community, and pushes himself to abide them and seek revenge for his brother's death. This imperative wars with the realities of Will's innocence, inexperience with violence, and the disorientation of his fresh grief. Will embarks on an otherworldly, Dickensian elevator ride where on each floor he is visited by six dead people whose lives were stolen due to an unending, generational cycle of violence and retribution. As each of the dead attempts to dissuade Will from his plan, Will is confronted by the underbelly of his community's prevailing ethos and must face the grim realities of grief and loss in order to reach for the possibility of a new beginning.

The inciting incident occurs when Will's teenage older brother Shawn is shot while Will speaks to a friend nearby on the basketball court. The scene is told in flashback, as Will struggles to understand the loss of his brother and how to move forward from the tragedy. Will's mind is thick with grief, and his loss is so fresh that he still has trouble articulating what happened to his brother or wrapping his mind around his death. Isolated in his and Shawn's room, Will aches for his aggrieved mother, who he can hear loudly weeping and drinking in the other room, expressing the emotions that Will struggles to avoid expressing. From this fog of grief and pain, Will recites The Rules of his community to himself, rules that he clings to in order to guide his actions and to ideally assuage his suffering. Codifying the toxic masculinity that has led to the death of not only Will's brother but his uncle and father, too, The Rules require him not to cry, not to snitch, and to seek revenge. Retrieving his brother's gun from the askew middle drawer of his dresser where Shawn stowed it away, Will sets out to kill the boy he thinks murdered his brother, a former friend of Shawn's by the name of Carlton Riggs.

The novel is told in verse, with over 250 short, powerful poems following Will through his journey down into the underworld of grief, violence, and pain. These poems move back and forth between Will's present, mourning his brother and riding down the elevator with the dead, and the past, in which he recounts the stories of the dead and how their lives came to end too soon. This structure mirrors Will's journey, as he travels to the past with the dead in between each floor. Each poem occupies a slim column on the page, and the reader's eyes travel down the page much in the same way Will travels down the elevator. Equally, the brevity in language via poetics mirrors the brief suspension of time that occurs between floors. As a result, each page mimics the sense of descent, and Will travels down as though he is going through a kind of hell or to L, as Will and Shawn used to think of it, the loser destination.

The rising action occurs when Will meets his first ghost, Buck, who gets on the elevator on the seventh floor. As soon as Will encounters Buck, the reality of Will's life begins to change. He is shocked to talk to the dead and fears that it signifies his own impending death. This suggests that Will's journey in the elevator is a confrontation with his deepest fears and with his relationship to death itself. Through Buck, and the other dead people yet to come, Will starts to understand that there is a thin veil between life and death, as reflected in one of his anagrams, ALIVE = A VEIL. Each of the dead teach Will something that was inaccessible to him in life and in his fractured state in the wake of his brother's death. Buck, for example, goads Will into considering whether he has what it takes to kill someone, literally wrestling the gun out of Will's waistband and making him fight for it. Dani makes Will reconsider whether he even knows who his brother's true killer is. The ghosts also fill the elevator with a fog of cigarette smoke, which makes it hard for Will to breathe. In the same way, Will's grief obscures his perception of reality and brings him that much closer to death.

Then, Will sees his father for the first time, learns his father killed the wrong man, and crumbles when his father pulls a gun on him. This encounter shakes Will to his core. Seeing his father is an opportunity for Will to know the man who never got a chance to raise him, and at first, when he sees his father, he's flooded with love. Their first embrace is a comfort to Will, and he feels as though the wounds of grief are soothed through his father's love. However, when he learns that his father killed the wrong man, he is disappointed, not because he lost his father for a senseless reason, but because his father failed to successfully get revenge on his brother's murderer. This disappointment is uncomfortable for him and furthers his process of questioning his own revenge plan. In the second embrace, Will's father pulls a gun on him and puts it to Will's temple. Instead of talking to his son with the same love he experienced in their first embrace or relying on an emotional appeal to change Will's mind, Pops results to violence, a display of brute force, and humiliation. Will wets himself in front of the other dead people and lashes out at his father in rage when he lowers the gun. Though Pops is attempting to save his son, he does so using the only language accessible to him, the language of violence.

The climax of the novel occurs when Will finally sees his brother Shawn, and Shawn begins to weep and keen in mourning. Instead of speaking directly to Will or trying to convince him through violence or words to choose a different path, Shawn simply begins to cry, violating the first Rule. By violating The Rules, Shawn shows Will with his actions that The Rules need to be broken, that the only way forward is to set aside the set of expectations that leads to unending death and heartache and find a different path, rooted in true emotion and letting go. When Shawn begins to moan like the machinery of the elevator, from his mouth and his belly, he expresses what has before been inexpressible: the overwhelming pain of loss, the brokenness of the system of vigilante justice, and the regret he has for the dead and living alike. In the wake of Shawn's emotional display, nothing can be the same for the brothers.

In the falling action, the dead leave the elevator. The smoke dissipates, mirroring how Will can now see more clearly even through his grief. He is left alone on the elevator as the dead move forward into the world, further emphasizing the thin veil between life and death. Finally, Shawn speaks to Will for the first time, and asks "You coming?" This is an invitation for Will to join in the wisdom of the dead, to use what he has learned in the elevator to forge a different path for himself. Shawn's emotional display has the potential to set Will free, and Will, able to see that he was headed down a treacherous path, has the opportunity to take his brother's invitation to lead a different kind of life than the other men in his family.

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Long Way Down: Full Book Analysis | SparkNotes

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An in-depth examination of the events in Long Way Down and what they mean.

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Explore all of Jason Reynolds' published stories and texts.

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Jason Reynolds is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, a Newbery Award Honoree, a Printz Award Honoree, a two-time National Book Award finalist, a Kirkus Award winner, a Carnegie Medal winner, a two-time Walter Dean Myers Award winner, an NAACP Image Award Winner, and the recipient of multiple Coretta Scott King honors. He's also the 2020-2021 National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. His many books include All American Boys (cowritten with Brendan Kiely), When I Was the Greatest, The Boy in the Black Suit, Stamped, As Brave as You, For Every One, the Track series ( Ghost, Patina, Sunny, and Lu), Look Both Ways, and Long Way Down, which received a Newbery Honor, a Printz Honor, and a Coretta Scott King Honor. He lives in Washington, DC. You can find his ramblings at JasonWritesBooks.com.

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Jason Reynolds is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, a Newbery Award Honoree, a Printz Award Honoree, a two-time National Book Award finalist, a Kirkus Award winner, a Carnegie Medal winner, a two-time Walter Dean Myers Award winner, an NAACP Image Award Winner, and the recipient of multiple Coretta Scott King honors.

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Excellent Resource to Introduce to Students

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Excellent Resource to Introduce to Students

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There are three different stations included in this activity, and each station comes with its own task, directions card, and table card to display the location of the station. There is also a student handout for easy recording.

STATION 1: Meet Jason Reynolds

STATION 2: Poetic Devices - students look up the definitions to key poetic devices.

STATION 3: Read about gun violence in America.

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Long Way Down Novel Introduction Station Activity

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This introductory Long Way Down station activity is the perfect way to introduce your students to Jason Reynolds' verse novel, Long Way Down!There are three different stations included in this activity, and each station comes with its own task, directions card, and table card to display the location...

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A video book trailer for "Long Way Down" to introduce students to the book in a dynamic way

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Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds BookTrailer

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Dive into the development of the protagonist, Will, and other characters in the novel.

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William (Will) Holloman

The 15-year-old protagonist and narrator of the novel-the story is told through poems in Will's voice. Will is sensitive, perceptive, and loves language,-but he also desperately wants to grow up and be a man like... read analysis of William (Will) Holloman

Shawn Holloman

Will's older brother. Shawn is about 19 or 20 at the time of his death in a gang-related incident the day before the novel begins. Will idolizes Shawn, as he was Will's only brother... read analysis of Shawn Holloman

Buck

Buck was Shawn's mentor after Pop died. He's tall and slim, has no facial hair, and wears gold chains around his neck. When Will meets Buck's ghost in the elevator, Buck is wearing... read analysis of Buck

Pop

Will and Shawn's father who died when Will was three years old and Shawn was seven. In life, Pop was a romantic and a jokester, though he started out life as an extremely uncool... read analysis of Pop

Will's Mother

Will and Shawn's mother, and Pop's widow. She isn't a particularly prevalent character in the novel-when Will talks about his mother, he focuses mainly on her grief over losing Shawn, which is all-consuming... read analysis of Will's Mother

Uncle Mark

Uncle Mark was Will and Shawn's uncle and Pop's brother, who died sometime when Will was a toddler. As Pop's older brother, Uncle Mark was the one to pass on "the Rules" of... read analysis of Uncle Mark

Carlson Riggs

Shawn's former friend, who Will thinks murdered Shawn. Will believes this because Riggs recently moved and joined a rival gang, the Dark Suns, and Shawn was killed in Dark Suns territory while on an... read analysis of Carlson Riggs

Dani

Dani was Will's childhood best friend until she was accidentally killed at eight years old in a revenge shooting gone wrong. The ghost of Dani gets on the elevator with Will on the sixth... read analysis of Dani

Frick

Frick was shot and killed by Shawn in retaliation for Frick killing Buck. And, if Will's assumptions are correct, Frick may be the man whom Carlson Riggs was avenging by killing Shawn-though there's... read analysis of Frick

Tony

One of Will's best friends. Tony is a great basketball player despite being very short. Because of this, he practices his jumps and hopes that his growth spurt will come soon. Tony spends much... read analysis of Tony

Shawn's girlfriend. She's distraught when Shawn dies.

The neighborhood "know-it-all" whom the police question at the scene of Shawn's death. Marcus tells the police he didn't see anything.

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The 15-year-old protagonist and narrator of the novel-the story is told through poems in Will's voice. Will is sensitive, perceptive, and loves language,-but he also desperately wants to grow up and be a man like... read analysis of William (Will) Holloman Will's older brother.

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In this activity, students will identify themes in Long Way Down and illustrate examples from the text. Students can explore by identifying these elements themselves or in an “envelope activity”, where they are given one or more to track throughout their reading. Then, they'll create a spider map illustrating what they found!

StoryboardThat is an excellent resource for creating engaging and visually appealing storyboards that enhance student comprehension and creativity. This particular link offers a valuable rubric, premade templates, and comprehensive guides, making it easy for teachers to integrate storyboard activities into their lesson plans seamlessly. The provided rubric ensures clear assessment criteria, helping students understand expectations and achieve learning objectives.

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Activity Overview

Novels and poetry often have a variety of themes throughout that students can identify and analyze. Any literary elements can be conveyed through characters, setting, dialogue, plot, or a combination. In this activity, students will identify themes in Long Way Down and illustrate examples from the text. Students can explore by identifying these elements themselves or in an " envelope activity ", where they are given one or more to track throughout their reading. Then, they'll create a spider map illustrating what they found! Teachers may ask students to illustrate multiple examples of a single theme, symbol, or motif, or illustrate one example for each.

Examples of Themes in Long Way Down

Due Date:
Objective: Create a storyboard that identifies themes found in the story. Illustrate each and write a short description below each cell.
Student Instructions:

1. Click "Start Assignment".

2. Identify the themes from the story that you wish to include and type them in the title box at the top.

3. Create an image for examples that represent each symbol using appropriate scenes, characters and items.

4. Write a description of each of the examples in the black text box.

5. Save and exit when you're finished.

Create a storyboard that identifies symbolism in the story. Illustrate instances of each and write a short description that explains the example's significance.

All symbols are correctly identified as objects that represent something else at a higher level in the story.

Most symbols are correctly identified, but some objects are missing or are incorrectly identified as significant symbols.

No symbols are correctly identified.

All examples support the identified symbols. Descriptions clearly say why examples are significant.

Most examples fit the identified symbols. Descriptions say why examples are significant.

Most examples do not fit the identified symbols. Descriptions are unclear.

Storyboard cells clearly show connection with the symbols and help with understanding.

Most storyboard cells help to show the symbols but some storyboard cells are difficult to understand.

Storyboard cells do not help in understanding the symbols.

How To Facilitate a Discussion on the Themes Present in "Long Way Down"

Frequently Asked Questions About the Themes in "Long Way Down"

How is the theme of grief and loss expressed in the story?

Grief and loss is portrayed as an experience deeply personal to the characters. The book explores the various ways in which characters deal with loss, providing a sophisticated analysis of the psychological fallout from tragic events. Students can analyze the impacts of grief on a person and how it can result in everlasting consequences.

In what ways does "Long Way Down" illustrate the vicious cycle of violence?

The idea that violence is cyclical is a recurrent theme that shows how violent tendencies can be passed down through the generations. The stories of the characters represent the cycle's wider effects. Students can reflect on the impacts and consequences of this violent cycle by analyzing the psychological state and actions of the characters.

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Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds | Theme Analysis Activity

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Analyze themes in Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds & discover examples with StoryboardThat's free activities. Explore relevant lesson plans for classrooms!

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This storyboard activity invites students to create their own movie poster, allowing them to creatively engage with the material and demonstrate their understanding in a visual format. Aligned with New York State learning standards, the activity includes a detailed lesson plan, rubric, and assessment criteria to ensure clear guidelines and expectations. This project is an excellent way to integrate artistic skills with analytical thinking, fostering deeper comprehension and making learning more dynamic and interactive.

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Activity Overview

Movie posters are a fun way for students to boil down the most important aspects of a novel. After reading Long Way Down, students will create a movie poster that showcases the setting, characters, and a chosen scene or overarching themes of the story. Students can include the title and author of the book, a catchy tagline, and a "critic's review" informing the audience why they should go to see the movie and briefly describing the compelling story.

To make this a class assignment, consider giving each student a different chapter or scene to focus on. When students complete their posters, they can be printed out and hung in the classroom. Students should be prepared to present on the choices they made during the creation process.

For additional templates to add to this assignment, check out our movie poster templates!

Due Date:
Objective: Create a movie poster for the book Long Way Down.
Student Instructions:

1. Identify scenes, characters, items and /or animals appropriate to Long Way Down and arrange them artfully on the poster. You may choose to showcase a particular scene in the book or an overarching theme.

2. Add the title and author of the book as well as a catchy slogan or introduction.

3. Add a "critic's review": one to three sentences describing why the audience should go to see this movie and what is compelling about the story.

Pretend that your book is being made into a blockbuster movie! Create a Movie Poster that showcases the setting, character and a chosen scene or overarching theme of the story. Include the title and author of the book as well as a catchy slogan and a "critic's review" informing the audience why they should go to see the movie and briefly describing the story.

Includes Title, Author, catchy slogan and a 1-3 sentence critic's review that accurately describes the story and why people should go to see the movie.

Missing one element of text.

Missing two or more elements of text.

Illustrations depict a scene or theme of the story with clear visuals including an appropriate scene, character, items, etc.

Illustrations depict a scene or theme from the story but are unclear or incomplete.

Illustrations do not depict a scene or theme from the story.

How To Help Students Incorporate the Critic's Review in Their Movie Posters for "Long Way Down"

Frequently Asked Questions About Creating a Movie Poster for "Long Way Down"

How can students make sure the visuals on their posters catch the eye of viewers?

By utilizing a balanced arrangement, selecting complementary colors, and adding attention-grabbing visuals, students may guarantee an eye-catching poster. To help readers navigate the poster's elements, students can also think about the visual hierarchy. It is also important to consider the target audience when designing the movie poster as their preferences differ based on age, gender, and demographics.

Can students add their own thoughts about the book to the poster?

Of course! Students can creatively and succinctly incorporate any personal views or insights they may have regarding the novel on the poster. This can be done subtly with the help of visuals such as adding images that help convey their own ideas or giving brief taglines with correspond with their ideas.

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Create a Movie Poster for Long Way Down | Free Activity

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Help students design a movie poster for Long Way Down with StoryboardThat. Showcase themes, characters & settings using our free activities & lesson plans.

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In 'Long Way Down,' The Ghosts Of Gun Violence Chill A Plan For Revenge

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In 'Long Way Down,' The Ghosts Of Gun Violence Chill A Plan For Revenge

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The NPR article "In 'Long Way Down,' The Ghosts Of Gun Violence Chill A Plan For Revenge" discusses Jason Reynolds' novel "Long Way Down," which follows the story of a teenager named Will who grapples with the cycle of gun violence after his brother is killed. The book, written in free verse, portrays Will's internal struggle as he encounters the ghosts of people affected by gun violence during an elevator ride, challenging his plans for revenge and highlighting the consequences of such actions.

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Jason Reynolds' new novel Long Way Down is focused on a moment of decision. It happens in an elevator - teenaged Will is on his way to take revenge for the murder of his brother, but his plan is interrupted by a few visitors on the way down to the ground floor.

"Will is growing up in a community where there are certain rules," Reynolds says. "There's a code of conduct, and what those rules are is number one, no crying, number two, no snitching, and number three, always seek revenge."

Those rules ring true to Reynold's own experience: At 19, one of his best friends was murdered, and he considered revenge himself.

"I'm grateful that we didn't do the thing that we thought we were going to do," Reynolds says. "When you start to sort of work through those things and you come back to reality ... you're, like, 'Whoa, my entire life could have changed.' "

Interview Highlights
On the ghosts who visit Will
What I wanted to do in telling a tale about gun violence is not create one-dimensional characters that fall into cliches, and so I think what we can do with devices, like using ghosts of the past, is we can create a space where the writer, the author - quote-unquote me - doesn't have to teach a lesson. Instead, it's about us, a community, thinking about those of our family members and our friends who we've already lost to this thing, and allow their haunting to be the thing that creates our psyche and our conscience.
On the clichés and misconceptions Reynolds wanted to avoid
One, that young people who engage in this, especially the back and forth, the revenge, that there is a fearlessness, that these young people are sort of without feelings, without emotion, that they're cold as ice, right? The truth is that everyone who's ever been around anyone who has been in these environments knows that the people who pull the triggers are terrified.
On his own experience of pain and revenge
I was 19, I got a phone call at two o'clock in the morning from one of my best friends, who informed me that another one of our best friends was murdered ... the news hit like a Mack truck. I'll never forget the next day, being at his mom's house, overrun with anger and having to admit to myself that in that moment, I was fully aware that we could all leave that house, go in search for whoever we think may have done this, and end their lives. And that I would have been able to go home that night and sleep like a baby. Because what happens is when you feel that kind of pain, time suspends itself, and you believe that you'll be 19 forever, you believe that the way you feel in this moment will last forever. And I remember his mother standing in front of us and telling us that no other mother needs to feel what she feels in that moment, and because of respect for her, all of us sort of standing down.

... when you feel that kind of pain, time suspends itself, and you believe that you'll be 19 forever, you believe that the way you feel in this moment will last forever.
On why the book is written as poetry
I need my young brothers who are living in these environments, I need the kids who are not living in these environments to have no excuses not to read the book. The truth of the matter is that I recognize that I write prose, and I love prose, and I want everybody to read prose, but I'm also not - I would never, sort of, deny the fact that like, literacy in America is not the highest, especially amongst young men, especially amongst young men of color. It's something that we've all been working very hard on, and my job is not to sort of critique or judge that. My job is to do something to help that, and to know you can finish this in 45 minutes means the world to me, so that we can get more young people reading it and thinking and having discussion about what this book is actually about.
This story was edited for radio by Justin Richmond and Jacob Conrad, and adapted for the Web by Sydnee Monday and Petra Mayer.

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In 'Long Way Down,' The Ghosts Of Gun Violence Chill A Plan For Revenge

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Jason Reynolds' new book follows a 15-year-old who must make a crucial decision after the murder of his brother, all in the time it takes for an elevator to travel 60 seconds to the ground floor.

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Code of the Streets and Flipgrid Project

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Code of the Streets and Flipgrid Project

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Students discuss the "Code of the Streets" and watch a short video. They then discuss the following questions before completing a Flipgrid assignment with the following prompt:

"Considering your own personal knowledge about life, what you learned from "Code of the Streets,” and what you know about Will as a character, make a flipgrid where you explain what you think Will decides to do at the end of the book. Make sure to support your answer with examples from the book. (1-2 minutes)"

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Revenge is a strong motif in Long Way Down, and a great way to have students explore this concept is to have them read about and discuss the concept of revenge vs. justice. This article about revenge vs. justice is a great starting point for students. Students can read the article in partners in class and then discuss the key differences between revenge and justice.

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The terms revenge and justice often get muddled. And that's hardly surprising. In the course of history, the two have been frequently used interchangeably. You may even be familiar with the phrase "just revenge." Still, as meanings alter and evolve over time, the connotations of these two words have increasingly diverged. It's now uncommon to see them used synonymously. And doubtless, revenge has borne the brunt of the various semantic changes that have transpired.

Yet certain overlaps between-and ambiguities within -the two terms do exist. Before delineating the chief distinctions that can usefully be made to separate them, let me at least hint at what some of these inconsistencies might be.

It would be convenient to advance the claim that justice is fair and revenge is not. But as the words "just revenge" suggest, revenge-depending on its underlying conditions, motivations, and execution-might be either just or unjust, fair or (frankly) outrageously out of proportion to the wrong originally done. There seems to be equivocality tightly woven into the term that's less perceptible in the related concept of justice. All the same, the well-known phrase " miscarriage of justice" warns us to be careful about distinguishing between concepts that, finally, must be understood as both relative and subjective.

Although I believe that the differences between revenge and justice enumerated below generally hold true, I'd emphasize that they are generalizations, so you'll probably be able to think of some exceptions. There are instances when revenge can legitimately be understood as a type of justice, and justice a kind of revenge. Moreover, as discrete as I've tried to make each of the five categories below, a certain amount of resemblance and repetition has been unavoidable. That is, my "dividing lines" may at times seem a bit arbitrary.

1. Revenge is predominantly emotional; justice primarily rational. Revenge is mostly about "acting out" (typically through violence) markedly negative emotions. At its worst, it expresses a hot, overwhelming desire for bloodshed. As perverse as it may seem, there's actual pleasure experienced in causing others to suffer for the hurt they've caused the avenger, or self-perceived victim (cf. the less personal Schadenfreude).

Justice-as logically, legally, and ethically defined-isn't really about "getting even" or experiencing a spiteful joy in retaliation. Instead, it's about righting a wrong that most members of society (as opposed to simply the alleged victim) would agree is morally culpable. And the presumably unbiased (i.e., un emotional) moral rightness of such justice is based on cultural or community standards of fairness and equity. Whereas revenge has a certain selfish quality to it, "cool" justice is selfless in that it relies on non-self-interested, established law.

2. Revenge is, by nature, personal; justice is impersonal, impartial, and both a social and legal phenomenon. The driving impetus behind revenge is to get even, to carry out a private vendetta, or to achieve what, subjectively, might be described as personal justice. If successful, the party perceiving itself as gravely injured experiences considerable gratification: their retaliatory goal has been achieved-the other side vanquished, or brought to its knees. Just or not, the avenger feels justified. Their quest for revenge has "re-empowered" them and, from their biased viewpoint, it's something they're fully entitled to.

On the other hand, social justice is impersonal. It revolves around moral correction in situations where certain ethical and culturally vital principles have been violated. When justice is successfully meted out, the particular retribution benefits or protects both the individual and society-which can operate effectively only when certain acceptable behavioral guidelines are followed.

3. Revenge is an act of vindictiveness; justice, of vindication. The intense effort to avenge oneself or others can easily become corrupting, morally reducing the avenger's status to that of the perpetrator. Two wrongs do not make a right and (ethically speaking) never can. Degrading another only ends up further degrading oneself. Even if a kind of justice might be served through an act of revenge, it could still be argued that there's nothing particularly admirable or evolved in retaliating against a wrong by committing a "like" wrong. Or to behave vengefully is, at best, to take the low road to justice.

In opposition, justice is grounded in assumptions, conventions, and doctrines having to do with honor, fairness, and virtue. Its purpose really isn't vindictive. That is, bloodthirstiness has no part-or should have no part-in precepts of justice, at least not in the way the term is presently employed. It's based on established law, and its proceedings are designed to dispense to individuals precisely what is deserved: nothing more, and nothing less.

4. Revenge is about cycles; justice is about closure. Revenge has a way of relentlessly repeating itself (as in interminable feuds, such as the Hatfields and McCoys)-and ever more maliciously. Revenge typically begets more revenge. Whether it's an individual or an entire nation, it takes place within a closed system that seems able to feed on itself indefinitely. Unlike tic-tac-toe, tit for tat is a game without end. One side gets satisfaction, then the other is driven to get its satisfaction, and then, theoretically, ad infinitum. There can be no resolution, no compromise. Each faction (say, Israel and Palestine) has its own agenda, its own sense of right and wrong. And the righteous rigidity of each side usually demands that some trusted outsider intervene if matters are ever to be settled.

Justice, in contrast, is designed (by individuals or officials generally not linked to the two opposing camps) to offer a resolution far more likely to eventuate in closure-especially if, in fact, it is just (equitable). And when justice is done so is the conflict that led up to it. Beyond that, punishments for wrongdoing carry an agreed-upon authority lacking in personal vengeful acts, which are calculated solely to "get back" at the assumed perpetrator. Technically speaking, so-called "vigilante justice" isn't really justice, or social justice, at all-though at times it may appear to be. Taking matters into one's own hands may sometimes seem justified, but it hardly meets the more rigorous criteria for consensual, or community, justice.

5. Revenge is about retaliation; justice is about restoring balance. The motive of revenge has mostly to do with expressing rage, hatred, or spite. It's a protest or payback, and its foremost intent is to harm. In and of itself, it's not primarily about justice but about victims' affirming their inborn (but non-legal) right to retaliate against some wrong done to them.

And because it's so impassioned, it's typically disproportionate to the original injury-meaning that it usually can't be viewed as just. The punishment may fit the crime, but it's often an exaggerated response to another's perceived offense.

On the contrary, justice is concerned with dispassionately restoring balance by bringing about equality-or better, equity. It centers on proportion as it equates to fairness. Not driven by emotion, restorative justice-meted out by a court of law-seeks to be as objective and evenhanded as possible. It's not, as is so much of revenge, about doing the other side "one better" but about equitably-or properly-punishing wrongdoing. In fact, the ancient "law of the 'talion'" (an ethical standard originating in Babylonian law and present as well in the Bible and early Roman law) focuses on what is commonly known (but, hopefully, only metaphorically!) as the "eye for an eye" conception of justice. In brief, the kind or magnitude of justice meted out is contrived to "correspond" as exactly as possible to the gravity of the original injury.

© 2014 Leon F. Seltzer, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved.

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Don't Confuse Revenge With Justice: Five Key Differences

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The terms revenge and justice often get muddled. And that's hardly surprising. In the course of history, the two have been frequently used interchangeably. You may even be familiar with the phrase "just revenge." Still, as meanings alter and evolve over time, the connotations of these two words have increasingly diverged.

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Explore the numerous reviews of the novel that has received over 100,00 ratings at 4.26 stars.

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Read 18.1k reviews from the world's largest community for readers. A cannon. A strap. A piece. A biscuit. A burner. A heater. A chopper. A gat. A hammer A ...

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Teachers can use this rationale created by my department to advocate for the inclusion of "Long Way Down" in the curriculum by emphasizing its relevance to the diverse experiences of students. Highlighting the novel's ability to engage students through its relatable themes and accessible narrative style can demonstrate its educational value. By addressing potential concerns sensitively and offering alternative resources for deeper exploration of sensitive topics, educators can build a compelling case for integrating the novel, fostering empathy, critical thinking, and academic skills among students.