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Long Way Down Essay Topics & Writing Assignments

Essay Topic 1

Long Way Down uses and reinterprets several metaphors throughout the book. Choose one of the metaphors or figures of language used in Long Way Down (such a middle drawer). Find and write three instances of how the metaphor is used and changed or interpreted in new ways throughout the novel. What is the first definition of the word? What is the meaning of the word by the end of the novel? Finally, why is this metaphor used over and over? What is the purpose of the novel in using the same figurative language over and over?

Essay Topic 2

In Chapter One, Will takes Shawn’s gun and alludes to a little brother holding his big brother’s hands, in a sense, walking in his footsteps. In Chapter Five, Mikey Holloman tells his story of going to shoot his older brother’s killer in words and actions...

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Teaching Long Way Down: 25 Engaging Ideas for Teaching the Verse Novel

So, you want to teach Long Way Down? Long Way Down is a verse novel about a fifteen-year-old boy named Will Holloman. It is a great book that really engages students!

Teaching Long Way Down can be an engaging and thought-provoking unit for your students, and there is so much you can do with this novel study. I use the materials in this Long Way Down Novel Study with my students as we read the text in my classroom. If you are looking at how to teach Long Way Down or activities to incorporate in your classroom when teaching Long Way Down, here is the ultimate list for you.

Here are 25 ideas for teaching Long Way Down.

Teaching long way down: watch author interviews.

A great way to introduce students to a novel and author is to have them watch author interviews and videos before reading the book. One of my favorite videos to show my class before reading Long Way Down is the Daily Show interview with Trevor Noah. This is a great introductory interview because students get to know Jason Reynolds, who he is, what he writes, and why he writes.

Teaching Long Way Down: Novel Introduction Stations

Before I start the novel study with my students, I like to have them complete these Long Way Down Novel Introduction Stations as a way to engage with critical information in the novel. This station activity includes three stations: author information, poetic terms, a nonfiction passage about gun violence in the US.

Teaching Long Way Down: Listen to NPR author interview

Speaking and listening is one common core strand in ELA classes. A great way to introduce the novel is to listen to Jason Reynold’s NPR interview . An ideal way to complete this is to have students listen to the interview twice. Each time, students should actively listen and take notes. Students should be listening for keys, and details that they missed during the initial listen during the second listen.

Teaching Long Way Down: Revenge vs. Justice

Revenge is a strong motif in Long Way Down, and a great way to have students explore this concept is to have them read about and discuss the concept of revenge vs. justice. This article about revenge vs. justice is a great starting point for students. I had them read the article in partners in class and then discuss the key differences between revenge and justice.

Teaching Long Way Down: My name is poem

The second poem of the novel is “MY NAME IS.” It is a poem where Will introduces himself to the audience. Before diving all the way into the novel, read this poem with your students first. After reading this poem, have them work on their own name poem that follows the same structure as “MY NAME IS.”

Teaching Long Way Down: Sticky Note Literary Analysis

A great way to engage with the novel as you read it is to complete this Long Way Down Sticky Note Literary Analysis . This versatile teaching resource includes analysis organizers for literary concepts including conflict, symbolism, figurative language, characterization, tone, setting, and more. As students work with these organizers, they will look for and analyze the chosen literary elements and illustrate and explain the literary concept.

Teaching Long Way Down: Long Way Down Character study

A great way to complete a Long Way Down character study is to assign different characters to different students and have them trace their connections with Will. As students trace the character development, they should keep track of things like how the character knew Will, what impact the character had on Will, how their past connection with Will might affect his decision, and what message Jason Reynolds is trying to convey through that character. At the end of the novel, have students form groups to discuss character development.

Teaching Long Way Down: Listen to the audio

If you are teaching Long Way Down without incorporating the audio, you and your students are missing out. Long Way Down is a verse novel, and the story is meant to be read, even performed, aloud. When I teach the novel, we read along as we listen to Jason Reynolds narrate the book aloud. Also, by listening to the book, students can see how Reynolds emphasizes certain words, and how that corresponds with the structure of some of the poems. The two work together to create a dynamic pairing. I use the Audible version of the audiobook.

Teaching Long Way Down: Use the Graphic Novel

Sharing the Long Way Down graphic novel with your class is a great way to further engage students in the story. While the audio narrated by Reynolds is captivating, some students are visual learners and will be able to see the story better with the aid of the images from the graphic novel. Another way to engage students in the graphic novel is to compare parts from the verse novel and the graphic novel since the words in each book are not precisely the same.

Teaching Long Way Down: Create and write anagrams

Throughout the novel, Will comes up with anagrams that represent his feelings. Having students create their own anagrams is a great way to have students work on their critical and creative thinking skills. Having students work with anagrams as a bell ringer is also a great way to introduce anagrams. To help scaffold this activity, provide students with one word of the anagram to start. Here are three anagrams to consider including in your classroom: night = thing, brag = grab, and angered = enraged.

Teaching Long Way Down: Mind map

This is one of my favorite activities for the novel. As my students read the story, I have them create a mind map that maps out their understanding of the story as it happens after our first day of reading, and then students add to the mind map each day after we read a certain level. You can read more about this activity in this blog post .

Teaching Long Way Down: Write your own rules

Just as Will Holloman and his friends and family have their own rules they must follow, our students and their families also have their own set of unwritten rules. There are two ways to go ahead and complete this activity. You can have students work in small groups deciding on three unspoken class rules that students must follow to be successful in your class, or you can have students work separately to come up with three family rules that they follow at their one home.

Teaching Long Way Down: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

This novel is the perfect entry point to introduce your students to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and get them thinking critically about Will. After reading level 4 with students, I like to introduce them to the Hierarchy of Needs. After doing so, I engage my students in a class discussion where they analyze where they think Will is and why. Then, I have them journal about where they believe they are on the Hierarchy of Needs.

Teaching Long Way Down: Track and Analyze Timestamps

Once Jason Reynolds introduces the timestamps, students can know just how much time is passing. By tracing and analyzing the timestamps, students will begin to see how there is no way possible for the story to play out in real-time. There just isn’t enough time. One way to track the timestamps is to have students keep a log of all of the timestamps. Instruct students to write down every timestamp that Reynolds includes and two quick details of what happens during that timestamp.

Teaching Long Way Down: Exploring poetry

Before reading the verse novel, I like to introduce my students to poetry. I use this poetry teaching unit that includes the SWIFT method for analyzing poems. I also introduce my students to spoken word poetry by watching the Louder Than a Bomb documentary and reading and analyzing some of the poems from the film.

Teaching Long Way Down: Symbol Analysis Stations

There are many important symbols in Long Way Down. These symbols work together to help Reynolds convey the novel’s message. After my students read the book, I like to engage them in a symbol analysis station activity where students go back and closely read carefully selected passages and analyze the passages for symbolism.

Teaching Long Way Down: Two-sided poem

In the poem “BUCK WAS TWO-SIDED,” Will describes Buck, who has two sides to him. In this poem, Reynolds uses juxtaposition to highlight the contrasting sides of Buck. After reading this poem with your students, have them write their own two sides poem where they share the two sides of themselves.

Teaching Long Way Down: Choices and consequences

Analyzing the characters’ choices and consequences is another activity you can do with your students as you read the book. This activity will also work hand-in-hand with final outcome of the novel as William will need to make an important decision when the elevator reaches the lobby.

Teaching Long Way Down: The cycle of violence

In the novel, Will is a victim of generational violence. He lives in a neighborhood where his livelihood and safety coexist in a world of gun violence. A great way to introduce this conversation to students is to discuss systemic racism and the injustices people in the Black community face. Just as Jason Reynolds shows the humanity in Will’s family and the tragic end of Dani, this should be a conversation of that focuses on understanding and humanity, not blame.

Teaching Long Way Down: Write the L level

I love reading the end of the book with my students. As we listen to the audio and Reynolds reads the last words and then just stops, students turn the page, look around a bit confused, and it takes them a moment to realize that the book ended. The story ends in a way that leaves students wanting more, which is the perfect lead-in to a creative writing assignment: have the students write the L level. In doing so, students should write the level in verse form and demonstrate an understanding of the novel. Will should be kept in character, and the story’s events should play a significant part in what the students write.

Random thought journals

In the novel, Will shares his random thoughts sporadically throughout the story. As you read the novel with your students, encourage them also to keep a random thoughts journal. You can do this as an occasional bell ringer activity where students write their random thoughts down as they walk into the classroom or as an exit ticket idea where students journal their random thoughts at the end of the class period.

Write a review

After reading the novel, have students write a review (without any spoilers) of the novel. The review can be a written assignment, or you can jazz it up by having students create a podcast review by recording their voices.

Extended Similes with the BEEF poem

In the novel, “BEEF” is an extended simile poem where Reynolds compares grudges to various things and then includes personification. Analyze the structure and the figurative language in the poem, and then have students use “BEEF” as a mentor text to write their own extended simile poem.

Is emotional vulnerability an asset or a weakness?

Discussing emotional vulnerability is a great way to engage students in a class discussion that will require critical thinking skills. A great place to have this conversation is after Will shares when he learns the rules. Will learned that he needs not to cry; however, should emotional vulnerability be seen as an asset or weakness? To take this discussion to the next level, have students share real-world examples to support their claims.

End of Unit Essay

At the end of the novel study, I like to have my students demonstrate their understanding of the story through a final essay . I assign this final argument essay that asks students to select which character had the biggest impact on Will and the decision he will make.

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Long Way Down

52 pages • 1 hour read

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Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay. 

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Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the below bulleted outlines. Cite details from the play over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Will frequently uses anagrams as a way of thinking about his life.

• How do these anagrams have a symbolic function for Will? ( topic sentence )
• Discuss several of the anagrams in the book, using evidence to provide analysis on what they say about Will’s character arc and beliefs.
• In what way is Will trying to rearrange his own life in the book?

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2. The novel’s poetic form often uses techniques from concrete poetry to heighten the meaning of the language.

• How do the visual aspects of the narrative influence your understanding of the work as a whole? ( topic sentence )
• Look at several visual elements and show how they relate to the main narrative of the book.
• How might this presentation help represent Will’s struggle?

3. Ghosts are a common trope in literature as a way of engaging with regret.

• How do the ghosts in this story function? ( topic sentence )

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Long Way Down

Jason reynolds, everything you need for every book you read..

Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Jason Reynolds's Long Way Down . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

Long Way Down: Introduction

Long way down: plot summary, long way down: detailed summary & analysis, long way down: themes, long way down: quotes, long way down: characters, long way down: symbols, long way down: theme wheel, brief biography of jason reynolds.

Historical Context of Long Way Down

Other books related to long way down.

• Full Title: Long Way Down
• When Written: 2016-2017
• Where Written: Washington, D.C.
• When Published: 2017
• Literary Period: Contemporary
• Genre: Young Adult Verse Novel; Issue Novel
• Setting: An unnamed, urban American neighborhood
• Climax: Shawn’s ghost gets on the elevator.
• Antagonist: Violence; The Rules
• Point of View: First Person

Extra Credit for Long Way Down

Multitasking. Some of Reynold’s first successful works were partially written during slow times at the Rag and Bone store he managed.

Spin a Yarn. Though Reynolds has said he no longer crochets to unwind, he used to be an avid crochet hobbyist. Crochet, he’s said, taught him the value of going slowly and taking life one step—or one stitch—at a time.

Long Way Down

By jason reynolds, long way down themes.

Grief—deep sorrow caused by someone's death—is a major theme in Long Way Down . The theme arises early in the novel when Will states that his brother Shawn was killed two days earlier. In order to deal with his grief, Will resorts to "The Rules," a set of dictates that discourage crying and encourage revenge as a means of coping with the loss of a loved one. Reynolds builds on this central theme with the introduction of several ghosts of people who have died from gun homicide. Among the ghosts are Will's father and Shawn, both of whom sought to follow The Rules when feeling grief over Uncle Mark and Buck , respectively. Ultimately, the novel depicts a young man grappling with grief in an instance where the socially sanctioned form of mourning for males is to focus on their anger while denying any feelings that would expose them as weak or vulnerable.

Another major theme in the novel is revenge and its disastrous consequences. Revenge—the action of inflicting hurt as retribution for a wrong suffered—enters the narrative when Will lays out The Rules. Rule No.3 states simply: "Get revenge." With his brother's gun, Will sets out to kill the man he believes shot Shawn. With this act of vengeance, Will assumes he will even the score and be better able to accept Shawn's death. However, when Will enters the elevator and meets with the ghosts of people he once knew, his commitment to revenge is shaken. The stories of his father and brother—both of whom were killed in retaliation for avenging deaths—lead Will to the private realization that he cannot say for certain that killing Riggs will solve his problems. If anything, to avenge Shawn's death will guarantee Will is the next victim of Rule No. 3. The novel ends with Will considering whether he wants to cross that boundary and join the elevator ghosts in the afterlife.

Masculinity

Throughout the book, masculinity arises as a key theme. At fifteen, Will is on the threshold between childhood and adulthood. As such, his idea of what a man should be is informed by the examples set by Shawn and Buck, who in turn learned from Mikey and Uncle Mark. Will believes the men in his life all followed The Rules, and he reaches for these guidelines when coping with the loss of Shawn. However, The Rules are restrictive, stating that a man must not cry and therefore show fear or weakness. While Will tries to follow The Rules, the ghosts put up repeated challenges to his masculine posturing until Will breaks. Will's true vulnerability is exposed when he pees himself in fear, when he cries over his uncertainty about killing Riggs, and when he seems to want nothing more than to hug the people he has lost. Ultimately, the novel shows how The Rules encourage Will to imitate preconceived notions of masculinity that are emotionally harmful and lead to acts that harm both the individuals trying to live up to expectations and the society that must live with the consequences of their actions.

Mentorship—guidance provided by a trusted or experienced person—is another important theme in Long Way Down . Reynolds subtly builds on the theme whenever Will speaks admiringly of Shawn or mentions how he wears Shawn's cologne and oversized hand-me-down clothing. Will also understands how mentorship was important to Shawn himself, who learned how to be a man in the world from Buck, who himself stepped in to be a mentor when Shawn's and Will's father was killed. When hoping to flirt with Dani , Will admits to this chain of influence, saying that Dani brushing his hand is "the perfect open for me to flirt or at least try to do my best impression of Shawn, which was his best impression of Buck." Reynolds also emphasizes the importance of mentorship with Will's strong desire to commit to The Rules, the only remaining guidance he has from Shawn, who in turn inherited them from Buck and Mikey and Mark. In the end, the ghosts of Will's mentors appear so they may teach him one more important lesson. While they don't explicitly discourage him from getting revenge, their questions provoke Will to rethink his commitment to The Rules. As important as their mentorship has been, he is destined to suffer the same fate if he carries out his plan.

Gun Violence

The broader issue at the heart of Long Way Down is the omnipresent gun violence Will and his community must deal with. When recounting Shawn's shooting, Will casually details how he initially reacted to the sounds of gunshots as though it was any other shooting. At fifteen, he has already lived through innumerable shootings, and so he and Tony know the drill when they hear shots, ducking until the sound stops and then standing up to count bodies. It is when Will sees his brother lying dead that the shooting becomes something out of the ordinary. However, he responds to his grief in his community's expected way, which is to get revenge. With Will's decision to shoot Riggs for presumably shooting Shawn, Reynolds shows how gun violence is perpetuated in communities like Will's. Rather than Shawn's death being the end of something, it is simply the next domino to fall in a sequence set in motion decades earlier. By the end of the novel, Will faces the question of whether he is going to be the one to stop the cycle of violence that claimed Shawn.

Uncertainty

Uncertainty is a dominant theme in Long Way Down. Mixed into Will's determination to abide by The Rules and avenge his brother's death is a strong sense of moral obligation to make sure Shawn's killer suffers consequences. At only fifteen, Will assumes this responsibility as though it is a rite of passage into manhood. However, the surety Will begins the elevator ride with is steadily worn down by the ghosts who challenge him to reconsider his decision. While Will hopes to live by the same rules that led to the murders of so many loved ones, he comes to realize that if he is to live by The Rules, he will invariably die by The Rules. In the climactic scene with Shawn, Will wants the mute ghost of his brother to tell him if he is duty-bound to kill Riggs. Shawn, however, refuses to answer, letting Will writhe in the agony of not knowing what to do. The novel ends on this open question, leaving the reader to grapple with the same uncertainty that will haunt Will for the rest of his life, regardless of whether his life is long or short.

Fear is another important theme in Long Way Down . As a young man living in a community rent apart by gang violence, Will feels obliged to put up a tough, brave front in the face of danger. In his narration, Will attempts to put forward this fearless persona, bringing attention to the fact that most readers might assume someone would be terrified to realize they are stuck in an elevator with a ghost. Will, however, speaks with a casual indifference to things that would normally frighten people, such as a nearby shooting that provokes the routine reaction of ducking for cover and then counting bodies. Despite the front he puts up, Will's fear gradually surfaces, and it becomes apparent that he is more affected by disturbing things than it would be 'manly,' in his view, to admit. The greatest challenge comes when Will's father holds a handgun to Will's head, prompting a physiological expression of fear as Will involuntarily wets his pants. Ultimately, Will ends the novel in a far more vulnerable place than he began, fearful of what will happen if he tries to carry out what he believes is his duty.

Long Way Down Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Long Way Down is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Study Guide for Long Way Down

Long Way Down study guide contains a biography of Jason Reynolds, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Long Way Down
• Long Way Down Summary
• Character List

ELL English 3 (Waldron) - Remote Learning Fall 2020: Long Way Down

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La Luna Video - Symbolism

• La Luna Video - Symbolism T-Chart

Long Way Down Writing Prompts

• Writing Prompt #1
• Writing Prompt #2
• Writing Prompt #3
• Writing Prompt #4
• Writing Prompt #5
• Writing Prompt #6

Essay Documents

• Long Way Down Symbolism
• Literary Analysis Essay Prep Sheet
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• Last Updated: Oct 1, 2020 3:32 PM
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