Breaking The Rules In Long Way Down

In the book Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds, I believe that Will decides that it is okay to break The Rules and does not avenge his brother’s death at the end of the story. In the story Will has a very strong belief that he has to follow The Rules. One rule is that if someone in your family or friend circle is killed, you have to kill their killer. There is many reasons I believe that Will chose to not follow this rule with his brother’s killer. Here is some evidence to support my hypothesis.
This is a quote about Will seeing Shawn cry for the first time. “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” (299). This quote shows that Will sees his brother breaking The Rules and is okay with it. If he sees his role-model

Will realizes maybe The Rules aren’t 100% accurate for every situation. Now that Will is starting to see The Rules not being used, he questions them. Will says, “The Rules are The Rules/ right?” (296), this shows that he is finally questioning The Rules and deciding whether or not to follow through with them. This is the first time we see him start to question the societal norms of his city and find his own path, breaking rule number 3. This next quote shows how young Will still is and adds more to the fact he is questioning The Rules. On page 227 Will says, “The gun pressed against/ the side of my face./ Was the first time I had/ ever had one to my head./ First time I had been that/ close to death. To the end” (227), making us realize that he has never been on the other side of a gun. This makes him worried and plays a factor into his decision to kill or not to kill Riggs. Once you’re on the other side of a gun it makes it harder for your conscience to kill someone. Another quote that shows how scared he was of