Nicholas Kuehn Mrs. Shiffer Language Arts 8 16 February 2022 After trying to avenge his brother Will ends up dying and seeing his dead relatives. In the novel Long Way Down the main character Will's brother is shot and killed. Will goes to seek revenge for him, he thinks A guy named Riggs killed Shawn. As he’s on the elevator to leave his apartment he sees many of his dead relatives. Will is dead because he is seeing dead people and at the end he went to get out of the elevator to go to the afterlife. Will is dead because he’s seeing all of his dead relatives at one time in the same place. At this moment in the novel, Will has just got to floor seven and a man got on. Will thinks he recognizes this man from somewhere and it ends up being his dead Uncle Buck. “My stomach jumped into my chest or my chest fell into my stomach. Or both. I knew him. Buck? I stumbled backward. Couldn’t be. Couldn’t be“ (Reynolds 80). This passage observes how weirded out and shocked Will is to see one of his dead relatives. At this point in the book the elevator has come to a stop at floor 5 and another one of his dead relatives enters. “Uncle Mark? I let my hand fall to my side, swallowed hard. Am I going insane?“ (Reynolds 160). This passage demonstrates how Will thinks he’s going crazy because he’s seeing his dead relatives. All of this evidence declares Will is dead, because he is seeing dead relatives. …show more content…
At this point in the book Will's elevator has gone to the lobby and Shawn asks him this. “You Coming?” (Reynolds 306). This evidence compliments how Shawn invites Will to death. At this point in the book Will had just gotten home after Shawn died. He was very sad and was in his room. “My mother, stumbling to the bathroom, her sobs leading the way” (Reynolds 60).This textual evidence infers that Will died when he went to bed.All of these reasons adds to why Will is
He stated, “When I arrived at the scene I noticed that patrons were quickly leaving the restaurant. Once inside I could see that they were clearly shaken. As I scanned the room I noticed a body lying on the floor near the back.” McCormick later states that he was “unable to revive the victim. He had no pulse and had already lost a substantial amount of blood.”
This piece of evidence supports my claim because it shows how suspicious it looked towards Lewis’ friends. It is very odd that Lewis decided to set a will, and then “coincidentally” passed away. To his friends it definitely seemed to be suicide. “His friends assumed it was suicide.”
However, during the elevator trip out of his building he encounters six people who try to make him reconsider his choice. Out of these six people, the fourth person, his dad Mikey, had the most impact on his decision. Mikey shows Will that if he kills someone, his life and relationships will never be the same. Will experiences what looking death in the eye feels like when his father holds the gun to his head and cocks the hammer. Learning
He followed Jim to the carnival even though he didn’t want to. Will tried to tell Jim to put the lightning rod on his house, but he didn’t have the courage to tell him a second time. William was also terrified to tell his dad what was going on with the carnival and Mr. Dark. In the middle of the book, Will was still scared and played in the background, but he started to speak up for
Long Way Down Persuasive Essay Long Way Down, a novel written by Jason Reynolds, is a story about a 15 year old boy named Will who would like to avenge his dead brother Shawn who was killed in gun violence. Will has an option though. He goes into the elevator with 7 floors, and on each floor he is greeted by people he knew before they died. He is then told a story about why gun violence was so bad in their situations. At the end of the novel, we never really find out what Will had decided since it ended with a decision that only Will could make.
Shaun had believed that Carlson Riggs killed his brother because of their past gang, ‘The Dark Suns’. Carlson Riggs was a part of the gang ‘The Dark Suns’, which is how he connected with Frick. Will got suspicious of this and asked Frick about Carlson Riggs, who Will believes shot his older brother Shawn because of the gang they were connected to at the time. Will then asked Frick if he knew Carlson Riggs or had any connection to him. He then proceeded to answer in a confused tone, “Who?”
Shawn was also the person who passed down the rules to his little brother. So, when Shawn passed away Will took his teachings to heart which led him to the elevator, he is in right now. Once the elevator hits the second floor Shawn walks in. The most important thing he does is nothing, he gives Will the silent treatment as he used to when they were younger. Will is stunned as Shawn is shedding tears profusely, breaking the very rules he passed down to Will.
First look at the rules the men of Wills community live by, No crying. No snitching. Revenge. This is ingrained into Will’s head. He even plans revenge the night his brother dies, acting on rule 3.
Before the death of Shawn, he told Will the story of how their dad “was killed for killing the man who killed our uncle” (Reynolds, 2017, pg 203). This evidence illustrates Mikey's downfall as analogous to the situation Will is currently in. Will is in pursuit of revenge against Riggs, his brother's alleged murderer. Based on Mikey’s path, Will’s quest for revenge will eventually lead to his demise. It is a valuable lesson for Will as he battles the cycle of revenge.
Will said that Shawn was the King which he wouldnt have said if he didnt look up to him. In the quote it shows that Will thought Shawn was cool bu the way he talked about him, not just in this quote but throughout the
/ Just tell me who killed him WIll/” The Darksuns. Do you remember/Riggs, used to live around here?/ Think it was him. Had to be?/ Had/ to/ be,” (139-140). Will neglects the emotional turmoil he’s experiencing and refuses to better address coping mechanisms; with the new points of view about anger, and revenge. The emotions that Will face throughout the story play a significant role in his choices and decision-making.
When the book ends Will brings his gun up to his apartment, and does not get revenge on the person who killed his beloved brother. During Will’s time in the elevator he hears many stories of how his family members and friends tried getting revenge
In the elevator, Will says, “Please don’t say you’ve come to take me./ Please don’t say I’m dead./ Please” (Reynolds, 89). Even though he is planning to kill someone, Will still fears death. He is afraid he has died because the person he is talking to has long been dead. Will then says, “What’s taking this stupid thing so long?/ I asked, pounding the door as hard as my heart was pounding inside me” (Reynolds, 96).
Storytelling often sees its main characters undergo several different emotions and characteristics depending on the conflict they face. Readers can identify this fragment of character developed in Saul Indian Horse, where the title character experiences various affairs that amount to severe trauma, causing the protagonist to undergo a variety of changes regarding his feelings and his interpretations on how to cope with said feelings. One of several quotes in Saul Indian Horse that demonstrates Saul's self isolation takes place near the conclusion in which Saul takes a break from his duties at Irv's farm. Feeling sorrowful and sluggish, Saul states "But there was a bigger part that I could never understand. It was the part of me that sought
Due to Will being trapped in his own head, Will starts hallucinating; Will got trapped in an elevator, beginning on the seventh floor until he got to the lobby all under 60 seconds. As he made his way down to the lobby, he met someone new on each level. They're people who have already passed away due to gun violence. In reality, he's just hallucinating that he's seeing seven ghosts. Another symbolism used in The Long Way Down is the middle drawer of Shawn's dresser room representing the darkness and danger Shawn hold himself in.