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Long Way Down Gun Violence Quotes

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In the United States of America, at least 19,000 of about 4 million yearly deaths are caused by gang and gun violence. Long Way Down, by Jason Reynolds, is a story representing the negative influences of gang and gun violence. After losing his older brother to gun violence, Will Holloman seeks revenge on who he believes is the triggerman. As the story progresses, he is met by the ghosts of those whose lives were taken by gun violence. In Long Way Down, Will’s community, specifically Will and Mikey, is mostly influenced by the intimidation of gang violence and death, which made the act of revenge difficult for Will to carry out. Gang violence influenced Will’s community via intimidation, which was evident in the explanation of The Rules. …show more content…

Rule number three is revenge, and while explaining his revenge plan, Mikey reveals, “ I didn’t know he wasn’t the right guy,/ I was sure that was Mark’s killer./ Had to be” (Reynolds, 220). The Rules are expected to be followed, which is why Mikey thought he had to kill someone. Being so intimidated by this, he was horrified when he realized he killed the wrong guy. Mikey also says, “The Rules/ Taught to me by Mark./ Taught to him by our pop” (Reynolds, 212). After Mark’s killing, Mikey remembered The Rules he was taught. Since The Rules were expected to be followed, Mikey’s first instinct was needing to get revenge. Gang intimidation heavily influenced decisions made by Will’s community, and this included his own …show more content…

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). After letting Buck know of his plan to kill someone and avenge Shawn, Will’s nerves started to build up. His adrenaline quickly rose as he grew afraid and impatient of the upcoming events. Will was sure about killing Riggs and the justification behind it, yet he was still afraid of

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163 Words | 1 Pages

Jason Reynolds uses many literary devices in his book Long Way Down to convey various messages and connections to the real world in gun-related violence. For example, America faces massive gun violence issues in large cities like Chicago, and even small-town schools. Chicago has a rate of 29 homicides related to firearm use for every one thousand residents which is leading the US in gun violence-related statistics. Opposing gangs make up a large number of these homicides as they are constantly at each other's throats in search of vengeance for a brother or friend that was killed much like the gun violence cycle displayed in this book. Long Way Down emphasizes the harm and sorrow that follows behind gun violence as well as the never-ending cycle

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429 Words | 2 Pages

On page 212, Will’s dad says, “But I didn’t cry. Didn’t snitch./ Knew exactly who killed Mark./ Knew I could get him./ The Rules.” “The Rules” is a term used in the book and is what guides victims into revenge.

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577 Words | 3 Pages

During his time studying these boys, he found that most cases of conflict were resolved without the use of weapon(s), but rather with “harsh conversation”. This observation highly contradicts the typical view of gang members who are commonly stereotyped by their local community and justice system in Oakland. Rios describes how the boys “Conversations often involved references to guns as analogies for resolving conflict and demonstrating manhood”. The fact that most conflicts are dealt with in non-violent ways, highlights the negative role

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620 Words | 3 Pages

This all shows why Uncle Mark influenced Will the

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828 Words | 4 Pages

Also, from my observation of the author’s interaction with the gang members, he acted in a way, that was out of respect, and in no way condemning of the gang members or their culture. He befriended them and truly showed great interest in their personal lives. He also knew that he couldn’t’ approach these gang members in a hostile manner, as he learned this from a gang member, who stated that “You can’t just walk into the neighborhood and act like a tough guy, you get beat up.” Moreover, I also observed that the author seemed mild mannered, and certainly did not come across as this know it all, arrogant researcher. I can only imagine how scary this entire experience may have been for him, but nonetheless, he allowed himself to “hang around” the gang members as they drove him around their dangerous neighborhood.

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275 Words | 2 Pages

In ”Long Way Down” by Jason Reynolds, the final words in the novel indicate Will's reluctance to continue following the rules. The novel begins with a younger brother, Will, watching his older brother, Shawn, get killed, and on his journey down the elevator to carry out the third rule “Revenge”. He is confronted by a different deceased figure every level from 7 to 1 who try to make him rethink his decision. For example, Will is completely ready to finish the job that he thought he had to do. He learns the 3 rules as a grieving young kid who cannot stop crying, and continues to live by those rules every day.

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1373 Words | 6 Pages

In his novel Long Way Down, author Jason Reynolds explores a community of "the broken" where bloodshed is essentially normalized, where all live by a set of rules that must never be disobeyed: no crying, no snitching, and always take revenge. Reynolds's purpose is to emphasize the significance of gun violence and its effect on the victims who must suffer its consequences because it provokes internal conflicts such as guilt, depression, and revenge. He uses hyperbole, imagery, and symbolism to adopt a mournful, enraging, and devastating tone to convince readers in similar circumstances to Will always to persevere because revenge will only produce another bitter and anguished individual. Reynolds uses hyperbole in his novel to highlight the

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184 Words | 1 Pages

Jack creates the following rules: the conch gives a person the right to talk, that if one is to break the rules that he will be punished, and the rule on fresh water. Flabbergasted, the boys find that even though Jack made all of the rules he was the first and most frequent breaker of these rules. astonishingly, Jack does not punish himself but he does punish the

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764 Words | 4 Pages

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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592 Words | 3 Pages

However, he did not think it through and shot off instinct of who he thought had done it. “I didn’t know/ he wasn’t the right guy,/ Pop said,/ a tremble in/ his throat. / I was sure that it was Mark’s killer./ Had/ to/ be”. (Reynolds 220) Mikey needed to avenge his brother to make it right. He justified death with more death because he let his emotions control him.

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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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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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998 Words | 4 Pages

In the United States, every year there are around 2,000 gang-related homicides and in the realistic fiction novel, The Outsiders, by S.E Hinton, it explores the issues of gang violence, and teenagers in gangs. Around 40% of all members in gangs are teenagers, who are getting involved in some dangerous things very early in life. In the novel The Outsiders, the “Greasers” which is a gang of all teenagers, fight other gangs and commit serious crimes such as murder. We as a society need to pinpoint why teenagers join gangs and stop them beforehand. We also need to help people get out of gangs if they are already in one.

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687 Words | 3 Pages

Will puts his own safety at risk to protect El from the Mind Flayer. Will confronts the Mind Flayer face to face, displaying immense courage and

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472 Words | 2 Pages

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.

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