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Coming Of Age In 'Long Way Down' By Jason Reynolds

787 Words4 Pages

Love, Identity, and The Coming of Age “Aging is not lost youth but a new stage of opportunity and strength.”(Betty Friedan). Coming of age can be described as the time in one's life when one matures emotionally, physically, and mentally. This usually happens in the teenage years of one's life. The two most important components of coming of age are experiencing love for the first time, and finding one's identity. In the novel, Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds, the main character, Will, is on a journey to find his identity while also experiencing loss. In the play, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, one of the main characters, Juliet, experiences love. To begin, finding one's identity can be a long process as one goes through many experiences that …show more content…

In the book, Will loses his brother after he is shot. Will now wants to get revenge and on his way, he goes through an elevator where he meets multiple deceased people from his past. At the beginning of the novel, Will is set to get revenge on his brother's killer because revenge is one of the three rules that he has been taught since birth: don’t cry, don’t snitch, and take revenge. Will’s coming-of-age experience was when he found out his brother Shawn had been killed. This led him to take his brother's gun and use it to follow “The Rules”. As a result of Will taking his brother's gun, he hears from the different people in the elevator about their deaths and how they have hurt him personally. There is a common theme in each of the elevator guests' deaths and that is gang-affiliated violence whether they partook in it or not. This is when he realizes that if he goes through with his plan, he is not only hurting the guy he is killing, but the people who know and love him as well. Will chooses not to continue the cycle of death that is within his friends and family. “I wrapped my fingers in love. around the grip, placing it in

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Breaking The Cycle Of Revenge In Long Way Down By Jason Reynolds

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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

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Jason Reynolds 'Cycle Of Violence In Long Way Down'

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Adding on to that, will would double or even triple the circle of violence rate depending on the deciding he makes. Will would bring death upon someone else or even himself if he follows the rules. Knowing that he would shoot Riggs. “The end? He murmured looking back at buck, motioning for a light.

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I got work to do. A job to do. Business to handle I, said”(Reynolds 100) this quotes shows the degree will took to following the three simple rules, He did not cry, He did not snitch and most importantly he’s on his way to try to get revenge. When Dani was in the elevator and saw that Will was trying to conceal a gun Dani asked Will “But you ever even shot a gun? She asked.

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Romeo And Juliet And A Long Way Down Comparison

443 Words | 2 Pages

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare and A Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds are two literary works that explore the themes of love, tragedy, and the complexities of human relationships. Although these works were written centuries apart, they share similarities and differences in terms of plot, character development, and thematic exploration.   One of the most obvious similarities between the two works is the theme of love. In Romeo and Juliet, the central plot revolves around the forbidden love between the two titular characters. Similarly, A Long Way Down features several characters grappling with their own romantic relationships and the challenges that come with love.

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Long Way Down Violence Quotes

900 Words | 4 Pages

This is a valid point, however, Will has to follow the rules of his neighborhood since the murder of his brother Shawn. Will strongly believe in the rules and going through with them. Will still has mixed emotions, including some of violence, even when the elevator door opens. He also continued with the cycle of violence as well. ‘’I stood alone in the empty box, face tight, dried tears, jeans soggy, a loaded gun still tucked in my waistband.’’

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Even though his brother was too deep into drug and gang culture to escape, “[he] wanted Wes to be nothing like him” (72). Yet, Wes was consumed by the, “… same game that had consumed [his brother] and put a bullet or two in him,” and had never known anything in his family outside of drugs and gang violence, so drugs and gangs were the only expectation Wes had, the only place he saw himself fitting into (58). Ultimately, the expectations of those

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The Theme Of Violence In Long Way Down

1225 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout different chapters of the novel, Reynolds provides readers with Will’s background and how his family’s influence has taught him how to combat encounters of violence in order to overcome them. Within the first pages of the novel, Reynolds introduces Will and soon after the incident of Shawn’s death. In Will’s neighborhood gang violence is everywhere. He grew up with it and knows, “if the blood/inside you is on the inside/of someone else,/you never want to/see it on the outside of /them” (Reynolds 5).

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“True adulthood occurs the moment we grasp that the people who raised us do not exist solely for our comfort and reassurance. From that point on, the steady stream of unconditional love and support we've expected from them all our lives has to flow both ways.”-Lynn Coady. This quote from Lynn Coady implies that true adulthood occurs when one grasps the concept that unconditional love not only has to flow to you but also from you. This is represented in coming of age stories when the protagonist flows into adulthood through the author’s choice of tone and symbols.

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433 Words | 2 Pages

and it’s clear that the theme is the cycle of violence. For example, Will was taught “the rules” by and the rules are no crying, no snitching, and always get revenge. The rules keep generations in a cycle of violence. During the story Will sees how the riles and the cycle of violence have the ghosts in the elevator. In Jason Reynold’s, fictional novel entitled Long Way Down, he argues that the cycle of violence can be stopped by doing the right way instead of getting revenge on someone.

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556 Words | 3 Pages

Will experienced loss. The main character is Romeo and the author is William Shakespeare. Romeo experienced love. I chose experiencing loss because Will lost a lot of people that he loved. A Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds.

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What is the definition of "coming of age". According to the Oxford dictionary, "coming of age refers to the process of growing up or entering into adulthood". Now the other hand, Why does it happen? and finally, how does it affect ones health or mindset? These questions will all be answered from a specific perspective of a character and the main protagonist, in the book, "House On Mango Street".

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Acceptance Of The Rules In Long Way Down By Jason Reynolds

846 Words | 4 Pages

For example, Will’s father was meant to follow The Rules and avenge Uncle Mark by killing his killer. He ended up killing the wrong person, and later dying at a payphone. His story shows Will that he may also not know the right person who actually killed Shawn and end up going through what his father did. The Rules caused him to be angry and violent, and how this cycle of violence won’t end as long as The Rules are still in place. Dani, who was Will’s childhood friend, also was in the elevator.

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Emotions In The Novel 'A Long Way Down'

681 Words | 3 Pages

/ 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.

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Cycle Of Violence In Jason Reynolds Long Way Down

1028 Words | 5 Pages

From losing one’s brother due to the endless cycle of violence to having one’s innocence revoked for avenging his brother's death, Will has the choice between avenging his brother's death and losing his innocence as a child or ending the cycle of gun violence and keep living life as a normal kid should be. If he doesn't avenge his brother's death, he's breaking the neighborhood's rules. Everyone knows the rules, and they should never be broken. Jason Reynolds used the elevator in Will’s apartment building as a symbol of Will being trapped in his thoughts of wanting to get revenge on his brother Shawn’s killer, Carson Rigger. In the novel Long Way Down, the author Jason Reynolds uses symbolism, to narrate the main character, Will throughout

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