Shot and killed by Shawn as retaliation:
Will’s friend who plays basketball; Tells Shawn that Frick killed Buck:
The novel’s protagonist who sets out to avenge his brother’s death:
Makes Will say aloud that he is going to kill someone:
A mother who prayed that her older son would not get hurt:
The Dark Sun Will believes killed Shawn:
Shot and killed the wrong guy:
Was shot at a playground at eight years old:
Which of the following best describes how this novel is written?
What statement BEST describes the point of view in Long Way Down?
Will shares at the beginning of the story that he is ________.
How does the narrator think people will react to the story he is about to tell?
What does the speaker, Will, mean when he says you’ll “know me know me” in the opening page of the novel?
Who are the only people that call Will “William”?
What continuing problem do people in Will’s neighborhood face?
Why did Will’s friend Tony want to get taller?
"Tony talking/ain't the same as snitching./Snitching is bumping gums/to badges, but/Tony ain't run to no cops/or cry to no cameras,/nothing like that./Tony talking/was laying claim,/loyalty,/an allegiance to/the asphalt around/here, an attempt/to grow taller/get bigger/one way or another" (pg. 273)
According to the above passage, why wasn't Tony considered a snitch for telling Shawn that Frick killed Buck?
Why does Will think the cop who interrogated him about Shawn’s death was a “newbie”?
How do Will and other witnesses to murder respond to the questions from cops, in general?
After Shawn has been shot and killed, Will notes that the killer did not take his -
What was in the bag Shawn was holding when he died?
Which of the following is NOT one of the rules Will lives by?
Gunshots make everyone _______ and _______.
What two words complete this passage?
In the novel, Will compares anagrams to ________.
Why did Will break up with his first girlfriend?
Shawn's middle dresser drawer is significant because -
Shawn was killed on his way home from buying his mother special soap for her eczema. What was
Reynolds’ purpose in writing his death that way?
According to Will, why isn't it surprising that Shawn is dead?
What can you conclude about Will’s feelings for Shawn?
Which of the following passages from the text support your answer to the above question?
What can we infer about the Will's life when he says, "the moon is lucky it's not down here where nothing is ever new?"
What does it mean that Shawn's mother "took her hands off him" when Shawn was eighteen?
Why did Will think Carlson Riggs talked so much trash?
What does it mean that Riggs "wanted to join [the Dark Suns] so he wouldn't be looked at like all bark no more, and instead could have a backbone built for him by the bite of his block boys"?
How are a Penny Drop and killing Riggs comparable?
What did Will compare holding a gun to?
What does the following imagery help the reader to notice about Will and the gun: "Back already sore. Uncomfortable. Gun strapped like a brick rubbing my skin raw with each step"?
"THE YELLOW LIGHT
that lined the hallways
buzzed like the lightning
bugs me and Shawn
used to catch when
we were kids.
We scooped them
into washed-out mayo
jars four or five
at a time.
Shawn would twist
the lid tight, and the
two of us would sit
on a bench and watch
them fly around,
bumping into each other,
trapped, until
one by one
their lights went out"
The lightning bugs in “THE YELLOW LIGHT” could be read as symbols for Will, Shawn, and the other young men in their neighborhood. Explain how the lightning bugs might be a symbol for these characters.
What did Shawn and Will used to pretend the “L” on the elevator keypad stood for?
"THERE’S A STRANGE THING
that happens
in the elevator.
In any elevator.
Every time
somebody gets
in, they check
to see if the button
for the floor they’re
going to is lit,
and if it isn’t,
they push it,
then face
the door.
That’s it.
They don’t
speak to the
people already
in the elevator,
and the
people already
in the elevator
don’t speak to
the newcomer.
Those are
elevator rules,
I guess.
No talking.
No looking.
Stand still,
stare at the door
and wait."
The community that Will lives in is governed by rules. What do The Rules (No Crying, No Snitching, and Always Get Revenge) have in common with the elevator rules?
Which of the following correctly traces the ownership of the gun that Will is carrying?
"I WIPED MY FACE
with the back of my hand,
knuckles rolling over my eyes
to catch water before it
came down.
No crying.
Not in front of Pop.
Not in front of Dani.
Not in front of none
of these people.
Not in front of no one.
Never."
Water can be a symbol for rebirth, renewal, and/or cleansing. Tears are, essentially, salt water. What might be signified by (almost) everyone in Will’s community living by a set of rules that call for no crying ever?
After talking to Buck, Will learns some new information about the gun. How many bullets are missing from the gun?
"I HAD HALF A SECOND
to
get a grip,
grab the grip,
tuck the gun,
turn around,
ignore Buck,
catch my breath,
stand up straight,
act normal
act natural
act like
the only rules
that matter
are the ones
for the elevator."
An oxymoron is the combination of two words that appear to contradict (go against) each other, for example, jumbo shrimp. Identify an oxymoron in the passage, and explain why the author might have chosen to include it.
Everyone Will encounters on the elevator is ________.
What was Buck and Shawn’s relationship?
How did Will know Dani?
How does Dani feel when Will explains the rules and what he is about to do? Choose the response that BEST fits:
What evidence from the novel BEST supports your above response?
How did Dani’s death mark a turning point for Will?
Feel = Flee
What can you infer Will means by this anagram?
What did Uncle Mark do to Will when Uncle Mark got on the elevator?
Based on the information we learn in Floor 5, Uncle Mark's dream was to -
How did Uncle Mark die?
How old was Will when his father died?
Will’s mother told him his father died of ________.
"WHEN I GOT HOME
I took a hot shower,
hot enough
to burn the skin
off my body,
he said.
Couldn’t kiss your mother,
couldn’t kiss you boys
good night.
Just lay naked
in the scummy bathtub,
the cold porcelain
keeping me from sleep
from nightmares"
According to the passage, what are the consequences of the speakers actions? How is the speaker effected by their actions?
Where did Will’s father die?
What does Will think of his father after meeting him on the elevator?
In the story, who held a gun to Will’s head?
Who helps Will when he has the gun put to his head in the elevator?
What is Will surprised to learn about Shawn?
I wish I knew
an anagram
for poser.
This passage refers to _________.
Frick and Buck come to know each other because -
What was Buck’s real name?
Why did Buck’s stepfather call him “Buck”?
Why is Tony's role in the story significant?
Which detail from early on in the novel suggests that Will Holloman will murder Riggs at the end of the novel?
When did Shawn teach Will Rule #1?
Why is Will shocked by the way that Buck greets Frick?
How was Frick going to gain entrance into the Dark Suns?
How is Shawn received by the other people in the elevator when he enters?
What does Shawn do when he first enters the elevator and sees Will for the first time?
What rule did Shawn break on the elevator?
"I WANT OUT.
The door opened slowly,
the cloud of smoke
rushing out of the elevator,
rushing out of me
like an angry wave.
I caught my breath as
Buck,
Dani,
Uncle Mark,
Pop,
Frick,
and Shawn
chased behind it.
The L button
no longer lit.
I stood alone
in the empty box,
face tight from
dried tears,
jeans soggy,
a loaded gun
still tucked in my
waistband.
Shawn
turned back toward me,
eyes dull from death
but shining from tears,
finally spoke
to me."
“I WANT OUT.” is the only poem in the novel whose title is a declarative sentence. Most other titles are either questions or part of a longer sentence that continues into the first stanza.
What is the significance of this title being its own (declarative) sentence? What does that tell you about Will at this moment?
What were the two words that Shawn said to Will the conclude the novel?
What statement best describes the ending of Long Way Down?
Directions: Identify the figurative language or poetic devices used in the passage.
“The middle drawer called to me”
Directions: Identify the figurative language or poetic devices used in the passage.
“Beef/ gets passed down like name-brand/ T-shirts around here.”
Directions: Identify the figurative language or poetic devices used in the passage.
“A man who moved with precision,/ patience, purpose”
Directions: Identify the figurative language or poetic devices used in the passage.
“...to get lost in the new/ and strangely familiar feeling/ of fatherhood.”
Directions: Identify the figurative language or poetic devices used in the passage.
“...that it stopped Mom from/ scraping loose a river/ of wounds.”
Directions: Identify the figurative language or poetic devices used in the passage.
“...uncomfortable being/ crammed in this.../ this vertical coffin/ another second.”
Directions: Identify the figurative language or poetic devices used in the passage.
“the middle drawer was the only thing ever out of place on Shawn’s side of the room, like a random, jagged tooth in a perfect mouth”
Directions: Identify the figurative language or poetic devices used in the passage.
"Said he took/the long way,/turned pistol into poof,/turned bang-bang into hush-hush"