Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds is a novel in-verse that is written about Will, a young boy desperately trying to get revenge on the person who killed his brother. But the book ends before we find out what happens. After the book ends I believe Will would bring his gun home and break the cycle of getting revenge. I also believe that Will's Dad was the most persuasive person in convincing Will to bring his gun home and not get revenge, this is due to Will’s Dad telling him his stories behind his death. 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 …show more content…
According to the novel Will’s Dad says “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.” I believe that this piece of evidence played a big role in Will’s decision to bring the gun home, because he realized that after his father had gotten revenge on the person who he thought killed Will’s uncle he could sleep, eat, or even kiss his boys goodnight. I think about guilt when I hear this, for example if you steal something from your parents. The guilt you might feel after the fact would eat you alive until it’s unbearable. In Will’s dad situation it would be way more intense than taking twenty dollars from a parent, because he stole someone's life away. This could have told Will that if he goes through with his plan, he could end up feeling so guilty it would eat him alive as well. Another convincing thing Will’s Dads said was this, “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 ''. When Will’s Dad said “Had to be '' I feel like that would have really made Will think again about finding his brother's killer. His Dad, the person he looked …show more content…
Will would have thought of this and then thought of how he kept saying “It had to be'' about Riggs. Maybe that was the point where Will made the decision to go home and not follow his fathers footsteps. This reminds me of how your parents always say don't do stupid things. Yet we always think about doing them. Almost all of the time we stray away from that stupid thing, because our parents are smarter and know better than us. Will might have been set on his plan, but Will’s Dad told him to think it threw. So that's another reason why I believe Will went home and put the gun away. My last piece of evidence is when Will’s Dad says “That’s not the story we talking about. What you know is how I was killed”. This would throw Will in a loop, because he believed so hard he knew what happened and that he should do the same thing. But this is just like how Will said he knew it was Riggs because he watches crime shows. You
John writes home to tell he saw Bill, and Bill wanted his family to know it was not him who had fired the bullet that killed
The killer he was in love with. That was another thing that Will had to admit to himself; what he himself was. He also was a killer. When he had killed Garret Jacob Hobbs, yes it had felt good, but he convinced himself that that was simply because Hobbs was a killer and he had stopped Hobbs from hurting any more girls. That was not the reason.
Since he's seen someone almost die because of the carousel, the thought of someone he loves being harmed by it really upset him. The last instance in which Will displayed a fearful tone was when Mr. Dark tried to cover up Mr. Cooger’s obvious trips around the carousel, “…Will trembled…”(110) Will is showing a fearful tone by “…trembling…” since that is an action one performs when they are overtaken by fright. Will has a fearful tone in the situation because he was responsible for the extreme aging of Mr. Cooger and he understands that the freaks are going to have a vendetta against him since he caused harm to one of
As Will heads back to Toronto after his mother's funeral, Harlen meets him at the airport to pursued him to start a photography business in Medicine River. Clouded with emotions after his mother's funeral, Will "[silps] from melancholy to depression" (75), and refuses Harlen's business proposal. He has no plans in returning to Medicine River and he throws away the folder from Harlen. However, Will was unable to find a job in Toronto, so he decides to take the opportunity to start a new life in Medicine River. By starting a business in Medicine River, he is obligated to stay and live in the town to make a living.
This plot is one like no other. It combines the supernatural and the regular world, into an impactful novel in verse, that discusses empowering motifs such as gun violence and community influence on personal identity. In the novel Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds the protagonist, Will Holloman, had a brother, Shawn, who recently died due to gun violence. Will lives in an immensely toxic community, where violence is encouraged, and where brutal murders are normalized. In Will's community, there are three unwritten rules that must be followed by everyone.
Will Shawn’s experiences and guidance help Will, or will it lead him astray? The first reason why Shawn has the biggest impact on Will is because he’s an older brother/father figure to Will. For example, a quote in the book states “ Shawn was my big brother, my best friend, my protector. He was the only one who always looked out for me, no matter what” (Reynolds, 21).
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.
Each character shares a commonality of being killed due to the ruthless cycle of gun violence. Every character plays a role in swaying Will’s decision of revenge. Certain characters had
Will at the start of the story wanted to find a sense of belonging but doubted that he could find it. For example, when Charles asked him to join the basketball team he denied him at first saying “I 'm not good enough to play” Harleen
One day, she got killed by a nearby shootout while they were playing, which ultimately altered Will's entire childhood and life. It impelled Shawn to teach him about the "rules "and adulthood because his childhood was already beginning to collapse on itself. The reason is that he just witnessed his best friend dying in front of him and described it as, "Her eyes wide, / the brightness dimming. / Her mouth, open.
Mikey was guided by vengeance while pursuing retribution and if Will follows this path, it would culminate in Will's death. This parallel impacts Will's decision the most not to continue his pursuit 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
His passing influences Will to find who killed Shawn and motivates him to get revenge for his brother’s murderer. “The middle drawer called to me/its awkward off-centeredness/
One big way to improve Will’s communication is to deal with the relationship violence that occurred to him. Sean started this for him in the scene where he tried to get Will to see that his upbringing was not his fault. This was a big step for Will to understand himself and how he should see his relationships. Through Sean, Will also learned some emotional understanding of himself. Emotional understanding will allow him to have emotional competence.
During the film Will demonstrates anger as well as irritability in a short tempered manner. In a particular scene, Will becomes overwhelmed with anger after encountering an old classmate who bullied him in preschool. Such anger and irritability caused Will’s mind to become blocked during the violent act in which Will also assaults an office. The incident ultimately leads Will unraveling the root of the