Theme Of Grief In Long Way Down 'And The Stone Boy'

Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Famously known as the five stages of grief, these emotions affect everyone on the unpredictable spectrum of despair in different ways. Many people may wonder how the grieving process begins, what may spark it, or if the start of depressing emotions is catered to each individual’s mind. Nothing can be compared to the feeling of loss and emptiness created by grief, as seen by the way it presents itself on the outside of the humans that are affected by it. “Long Way Down” by Jason Reynolds and “The Stone Boy” by Gina Berriault explore the emotional phenomenon of grief by presenting characters who have both recently lost their brother in a gun shooting, a brother who they cared about very deeply.

Once having seen Eugie’s dead body on the ground, Arnold observes, “Then Arnold saw it, under the tendril of hair at the nape of the neck–a slow rising of bright blood. It had an obnoxious movement, like that of a parasite…Arnold set his rifle on the ground and stood up. He picked up the tub and, dragging it behind him, walked along by the willows to the garden fence and climbed through,” (Berriault 3). After Arnold had shot his brother, he is filled with disgust when looking at the pool of blood that is leaking from the shot wound in his brother’s body, and he doesn’t know what to do. Arnold has yet to feel the depression from losing his brother, and as a result of this, is not sure what his next decision is going to be. The grief of losing his brother is slowly creeping into his life, and at this moment, is causing him to return to the routine of bringing the peas back to his house. Normally, when someone experiences sudden loss, they cry, scream, and/or completely shut down. However, as the type of grief that Arnold is just beginning to go through is not allowing him to understand that his brother is gone, it has caused him to feel desensitized. This desensitized sensation is what further leads him to bring the peas back up the hill to his family. When a person is desensitized, they will go through their daily life without feeling as though anything disastrous has just happened, similar to how Arnold does not truly feel as though his brother has died. This sensation influences him into returning to the one thing that will feel somewhat normal, which is bringing the peas