Following Rules In Long Way Down By Jason Reynolds

Long Way Down is a novel written by Jason Reynolds. The main character, William Holloman, tells the story through various poems. William’s main purpose in the novel is to follow the rules that have been set long before he was born. One of these rules means William has to get revenge for his brother's death. While waiting in an elevator, William starts seeing ghosts, people who have become victims of the cycle of violence. This gives him some sort of trajectory of whether he wants to follow through or not because the biggest thing we learn is that like most people in the elevator, William doesn’t actually want to kill someone. He wants revenge but not blood on his hands, and it manages to tell us not only about him but about the rules and how

Reynolds uses it to emphasize the idea that the rules are taught and engrained into their heads, finding that they must listen because it’s all they’ve known.
.“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.”
(pg.201)This quote is repeating, “No crying” especially not in front of anyone.Throughout the entire story, Will is constantly repeating that no crying is allowed. We see that Will is trying to be “tough” and follow them but all we get is a feeling of panic, panic because every male character has followed these rules and breaking out of the norm would be unacceptable to their public eye. Time and time again this toxic masculine ideal is only repeated and

Didn’t snitch. Knew exactly who killed Mark. Knew I could get him. The Rules. Taught to me by Mark. Taught to him by our pop.” (pg.204) In this quote, we are hearing Mike, Will’s father talk. He says that when his own brother was killed he listened to the rules and decided to get revenge. Most importantly we see that these rules are learned, these men don’t make them up and follow them. Since their childhoods it’s been taught to them, usually by their father figure, these children are molded into this violent image that only forces repressed emotions and violent outbreaks. Although they are only looking out for them in this world they’ve created, it is only setting them up for failure. It is important that we know the rules aren’t learned, human nature doesn’t turn them into killers, but rather the constant repetition and reminders of the rules throughout their lives, shaping their their