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. An ode to Put the Damn Guns Down, this is National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestseller Jason Reynolds's fiercely stunning novel that takes place in sixty potent seconds - the time it takes a kid to decide whether or not he's going to murder the guy who killed his brother. 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. 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. His question gets Will to begin reevaluating his decisions, but his confident you aint got it in you is what truly hits Will. purchase. Complete your free account to access notes and highlights. As a member, you'll also get unlimited access to over 88,000 And always get revenge.. Before Will can register it, Mikey pulls Wills gun from his waistband and [puts] it to [Wills] head (p.224). Descriptions are unclear. Instead, the men he encounters demonstrate what has happened to them as a result of following The Rules. 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. 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. All examples support the identified symbols. LitCharts Teacher Editions. 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? Illustrate each and write a short description below each cell. Instant PDF downloads. Long Way Down also explores the concept of truth. At only fifteen, Will assumes this responsibility as though it is a rite of passage into manhood. gets passed down like name-brand. Riggs probably killed Will's brother, Shawn, the day before yesterday. Teachers and parents! Will never gets a direct answer to this question. In the form in which they appear to Will, they have continued to grow and change as though they were living. . Pop admits that when he went out to kill Uncle Marks killer, he got the wrong guy. Will must decide if he'll follow neighborhood code . 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. They will also appear in Google search results. Mikey had killed the wrong guy (p.218). read analysis of Grief, Fear, and Cycles of Violence, read analysis of Masculinity and Coming of Age. This is an implicit question to Will does he want to add to this unbroken chain? Always too big. 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). 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. While Will hopes to live by the same rules that led to the murders of so many loved ones, he comes to realize that if he is to live by The Rules, he will invariably die by The Rules. I feel like its a lifeline. 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. Hey, I'm Germaine: writer, artist, and more. Without further ado, lets dive in. If Riggs didnt actually kill Shawn and Will shoots him anyway, he will go through exactly what his father experienced. Whitney Atkinson. -Graham S. Reynolds has been upfront about the purpose of his books: to speak to young readers who dont often see themselves represented in book characters. Teachers may ask students to illustrate multiple examples of a single theme, symbol, or motif, or illustrate one example for each. Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1715 titles we cover. Will is introduced to The Rules at the age of eight by Shawn just after having seen his friend Dani shot dead. that I didlike he told me,like Buck told him,like our grandfather toldour uncle, like our uncletold our dad. Try refreshing the page, or contact customer support. She has a Bachelor's degree in Special Education, Elementary Education, and English from Gordon College and a Master's degree in Special Education from Salem State University. Find related themes, quotes, symbols, characters, and more. Long Way Down was inspired by Reynolds's experiences working with incarcerated youth, whose fates, he acknowledges, could've easily been his own. I highly recommend you use this site! Our summaries and analyses are written by experts, and your questions are answered by real teachers. This is why one bullet is missing from Wills gun. And stray bullets had cut through the playground, and Will had tried to cover her, but she was hit anyway, and so what she wants to know, on that fifth floor elevator stop, is, what if Will, Will with the gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, MISSES. I couldnt see himas anything lessthan my brother, Instant downloads of all 1715 LitChart PDFs PDFs of modern translations of every Shakespeare play and poem. The novel ends with Will considering whether he wants to cross that boundary and join the elevator ghosts in the afterlife. Long Way Down Themes. An error occurred trying to load this video. He asks, what you think you should do? (p.210). Storyboard cells clearly show connection with the symbols and help with understanding. Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. When Reynolds was 19, one of his best friends was murdered on the street. In Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds, Will is a young man on an elevator ride on his way to shoot a guy named Riggs. No crying. Here, Ill be quickly analyzing each character and what they bring to the elevator. Rule No.3 states simply: "Get revenge." The questions and admissions of Pop and Dani force Will to contend with the possibility that the Rules dont work as well as theyre supposed totheyre no guarantee that an avenger is going to exact revenge; they simply guarantee that someone is going to die. 2 pages at 400 words per page) View a FREE sample. 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. When Frick discloses his story how he was killed Will thinks, I wish I knew an anagram for POSER (p.276). This is just how I interpreted the book. Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1715 titles we cover. Within the portal, all users can view and copy all storyboards. he murmured, looking at Buck,motioning for a light. After Will tells Buck about Shawns death, Buck responds: So what you bout to do? (p.94). 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 timescale of the main narrative is therefore exceptionally short, and Will periodically reminds the reader of how little time has passed. like. 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. In particular, Pop illuminates the fundamental flaw in the Rules and how they play out: he thought he shot Uncle Marks killer, but realizes now that he made a mistake and killed the wrong man. BUCK IS DEAD. The first thing that Mikey brings is guilt. Went downinto me and chewed on everythinginside as ifI had somehowswallowedmy own teethand they weresharper thanId ever known. LitCharts Teacher Editions. When recounting Shawn's shooting, Will casually details how he initially reacted to the sounds of gunshots as though it was any other shooting. 10 likes. Spin a Yarn. Difficulty Level 3 (Developing to Mastery), Type of Activity: Themes, Symbols & Motifs, (You can also create your own on Quick Rubric.). In addition, any storyboard can be made sharable, where a private link to the storyboard can be shared externally. This is the last anagram that he makes in the book and really demonstrates how much his encounter with Frick changes things. Teachers and parents! 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. 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. Mentorshipguidance provided by a trusted or experienced personis another important theme in Long Way Down. And then he breaks Rule #1. The cycle of violence is the strongest theme that Reynolds book explores. Unlisted storyboards can be shared via a link, but otherwise will remain hidden. resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss thenovel. "My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." I wondered if he knewthat in me and Shawns world, Id already chosen to be. Our, "Sooo much more helpful thanSparkNotes. PDF downloads of all 1715 LitCharts literature guides, and of every new one we publish. The elevator moves impossibly slowly, giving Will ample time to speak . T he main themes in Long Way Down are everyday violence, the rules of masculinity, and the passage of time.. Griefdeep sorrow caused by someone's deathis a major theme in Long Way Down. 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. The Rules stem from principles of masculinity that suppress vulnerability, and most of the novels characters follow The Rules. Revenge. date the date you are citing the material. Frick doesnt know Riggs, and because of this, he becomes the final attack on Wills certainty. "My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." 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?) Dani was Wills childhood best friend and was killed as an eight-year-old when someone missed their intended target and accidentally shot her instead. Indeed, all six ghostly figures bear witness to the ways in which a brief moment of fury or foolishness can cause irreparable consequences. I will be spoiling almost everything in this book as I analyse it, so I would highly recommend reading it first before continuing. Like. Descriptions clearly say why examples are significant. Crochet, hes said, taught him the value of going slowly and taking life one stepor one stitchat a time. killed my dad.Thats what my motheralways said. 3. Revenge seems inevitable; none of the ghosts on the elevator who were killed by someone seeking revenge seem angered by this, merely resigned. Then, they'll create a spider map illustrating what they found! He was killed for killing the man who killed [Uncle Mark] (p.203). 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. Will takes its off-centeredness as a sign to set things straight (p.48). His presence is the most impactful because he is the person that Will loves most. 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. 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. And thats not just because shes the only female ghost. Instant PDF downloads. Teachers can view all of their students storyboards, but students can only view their own. Themes. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. https://www.storyboardthat.com/lesson-plans/long-way-down-by-jason-reynolds/themes, This Storyboard That activity is part of the lesson plans for. T-shirts around here. So sad. gets inherited like a trunk of fool's. gold or a treasure map leading. Most symbols are correctly identified, but some objects are missing or are incorrectly identified as significant symbols. (These instructions are completely customizable. Most examples do not fit the identified symbols. Two things began to turn Reynolds onto literature and poetry: rap music in the form of Queen Latifahs album. A cannon. It happens in an elevator teenaged Will is on his way to take revenge for the murder . In this activity, students will identify themes in Long Way Down and illustrate examples from the text. 2023 . All of the ghosts in the elevator are interesting in their own way, but the second person who enters the elevator, Dani, is especially fascinating to me. Complete your free account to request a guide. (including. copyright 2003-2023 Study.com. Identify the themes from the story that you wish to include and type them in the title box at the top. The novel is a clear example of magical realism as it examines the issues of violence, loyalty, and revenge through a supernatural element. 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. You'll be able to access your notes and highlights, make requests, and get updates on new titles. Composed by Masafumi TakadaVocals by Gary NumanLyrics:Find myself withinDarkness twisting me aroundThere is nothing I can doThis world doesn't spinIt just tu. And the Rules in Will's neighborhood state that you have to take revenge when someone in your family is killed. succeed. Shawn had been able to carry out what Will is preparing to do, and because of this, someone else had killed him. The way the content is organized, A concise biography of Jason Reynolds plus historical and literary context for, In-depth summary and analysis of every chapter of, Explanations, analysis, and visualizations of, Reynolds grew up in Oxon Hill, Maryland, an unincorporated suburb of Washington, D.C. Analyze literature like LitCharts does character and what they found the lesson for! Downloads of all 1715 LitCharts literature guides, and your questions are by. 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