long way down essay question

5 Long Way Down Discussion Questions to Transform Your Classroom Conversations

Long Way Down Discussion Questions

Looking for engaging Long Way Down Discussion Questions? Are your students missing the deeper meaning of Long Way Down like mine were?

These are the 5 Essential Questions that transformed how I teach Jason Reynolds’s novel Long Way Down  in my classroom.

Initially, I pitched the book up as part of an independent reading option. 

I didn’t make any lesson plans or essential questions.

After conferencing with students, I realized many had missed the story’s deeper meaning. 

Although enthralled by the words and provocative content, students did not read between the lines, missing out on Reynolds’ messages to youth today.

Discussion Question #1

How does a person's community influence their choices? Tweet

In interviews, Jason Reynolds has emphasized the connectedness of black communities and neighborhoods.

As a young person, Reynolds was influenced by the music Queen Latifah specifically her 1993 album Black Reign.

No time to lesson plan?

One song in particular, “Just Another Day” recounts a seemingly average day in Latifah’s neighborhood, which she refers to as the “hood”.

The lyrics of “Just Another Day” acknowledges the dangers of “the hood” while at the same time celebrating with a sense of pride the people and community who call it home.

I have a Long Way Down Setting Analysis activity that includes a graphic organizer to gather text evidence to understand the setting & socio-cultural context of Will’s neighbourhood. My goal is that my students will begin to pick up on some of the setting details such as gang activity, police conflict, violence, crime, low socioeconomic status neighbourhoods, single-parent households etc.

Jason Reynold's was inspired by rap music when he wrote Long Way Down

Reynolds was able to relate to rap music because it related to his lived experiences. To a community with gun violence and police presence that is still called home.

Both Latifah and Reynolds remind us that we need to discuss neighborhoods and communities without the labels of “good” or “bad”.

And actually, there is research to support this too – Check out the research of David Weisburd in his article  The Law of Crime Concentration And The Criminology of Place, 2015

The discussion needs to begin with how communities influence people, their choices, logic, and perspective.

Discussion Question #2:

Why is it difficult to break cycles of violence? Tweet

Cycles and patterns of violence are thematic motifs that comes up throughout  Long Way Down  and I knew I needed an essential question about it.

Students quickly understand that “The Rules” create cycles of generational violence in Will’s neighborhood. 

The Rules are short and simple: 

• no snitching
• always get revenge. 

But more importantly, students need to consider why fathers and sons, friends, and brothers continue to teach each other these “rules”. 

The ghosts that Will encounters in the elevator reveal the different reasons for following the rules and continuing the cycles of violence and trauma. Lack of community support programs and systems, poverty, toxic masculinity, denying men the space to release emotions are just some of the systemic inequalities that make the cycles of violence and trauma challenging to break.

Discussion Question #3:

How toxic masculinity harmful to individuals and society? Tweet

Toxic masculinity is a fascinating buzzword that works great as an essential question. 

My students loved discussing this term and made many real-life connections.

This essential question allows you to facilitate and direct the classroom conversation around toxic masculinity, moving it beyond a catch-all phrase for negative male behaviors.

I use this definition in my classroom:

“Toxic masculinity refers to traditional cultural masculine norms that limit the emotions that men can express while encouraging them to be dominant, violent, and self-reliant, while also avoiding any appearance of femininity or weakness.”

With this definition in mind, students can make these connections:

• Rival gang Rival gangs in Will’s neighborhood are fighting for turf dominance.
• Will suppresses his grief and emotions over the death of Shawn.
• Will is pressured to be self-reliant and not depend on anyone.
• Buck and Will’s father glorify violence.
• Will is told to be more masculine and “tough”

Discussion Question #4

How do emotions affect decision making ? Tweet

The first time I taught  Long Way Down,  I focused a lot on the theme of revenge. But I felt like the word ‘revenge’ was too flat and did not speak to the emotional passion and fury that drives Will in his thirst for revenge.

This essential question can be discussed in the context of Will’s dilemma:

To shoot Riggs or not to shoot Riggs.

• Why do people fantasize about revenge?
• Why does it sometimes feel so good to even just think about getting revenge on someone?
• Do people ever regent instances where they sought out revenge?

Discussion Question #5

What are the benefits and limitations of revenge? Tweet

I found a  fascinating article that discusses revenge from an evolutionary perspective.

Some key questions I prompt students with when discussing this question:

• On the other hand, what are the limitations of revenge?
• How would Will continue along the cycle of violence?
• How would revenge make his situation worse?
• How would it devastate his mother?

It’s Lit Teaching does an in-depth review of Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds and focuses on the Question: Revenge is it worth it?

Try these Discussion Questions for Long Way Down in your classroom and let me know how it goes

These Long Way Down discussion questions generated some FACINATING conversations in my classroom.

I encourage you to modify and adapt them in always to suite the needs of your students.

Comment below to let me know about the Long Way Down discussion questions you have used in your own classroom. I would love to hear how it went.

Carley 📚 Teacher Author @ Visual Thinking Classroom

B.A., B.Ed., Graduate Certificate in Teacher Librarianship // [email protected]

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Long Way Down

Jason reynolds.

Ask LitCharts AI: The answer to your questions

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.

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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...

(read more Essay Topics)

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Long Way Down

52 pages • 1 hour read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Reading Check, Multiple Choice & Short Answer Quizzes

Reading Check questions are designed for in-class review on key plot points or for quick verbal or written assessments. Multiple Choice and Short Answer Quizzes create ideal summative assessments, and collectively function to convey a sense of the work’s tone and themes.

Part 1: “Untitled”

Reading Check

1. What has happened to Shawn at the beginning of this story?

2. Why doesn’t Will cry when he is sad?

3. What is in Shawn’s middle drawer?

4. Why is Will interested in finding Riggs?

Multiple Choice

1. Why is it tragic that Will and Tony wait “like they always do” when shots are fired (Part 1, Page 11)?

A) because this time it is an unusual circumstance

B) because it implies that this is an everyday occurrence in their lives

C) because it prevents Will from seeing what actually happened

D) because it means Will cannot retaliate immediately

2. What is significant about Shawn’s favorite rappers, Tupac and Biggie?

A) They were both from the inner city.

B) They both died as a result of gang-related feuding.

C) They both acted, which was Shawn’s dream.

D) They both sang about following The Rules.

3. What does the Penny Drop symbolize?

A) Shawn’s inability to control his life

B) the way gang warfare interferes with childhood

C) how difficult it is for someone in an inner-city neighborhood to make it out safely

D) Will and Shawn’s disagreement about how to act

4. What do The Rules codify and represent?

Related Titles

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Long Way Down

By jason reynolds, long way down quotes and analysis.

DON’T NOBODY believe nothing these days which is why I haven’t told nobody the story I’m about to tell you. Will, p. 5

The opening lines of Long Way Down establish the book's experimental form as a novel written in verse. While most novels are written in prose—ordinary sentences that don't follow a defined metrical structure—Jason Reynolds breaks his sentences into poetic stanzas, experimenting with the spacing of the text on the page. The opening lines also introduce the reader to Will Holloman's narrative voice, which is conversational as opposed to the formal "literary" voice typically associated with poetry.

AFTER THE SHOTS me and Tony waited like we always do, for the rumble to stop, before picking our heads up and poking our heads out to count the bodies. This time there was only one. Shawn. Will, p. 14

When recounting his brother Shawn's fatal shooting, Will describes the usual protocol he and his friend Tony follow when they are drawn into the all-too-familiar scenario of a nearby shooting. Like soldiers in war, Will and Tony know to duck for cover until the sudden outbreak of gun violence ceases. But however inured to shootings Will may be, the sight of his brother having been gunned down brings his world to a standstill. Reynolds emphasizes this disruption by breaking up the flow of verse, shifting from longer, evenly measured lines to the terse, dramatic revelation that the victim is Shawn.

I’VE NEVER BEEN in an earthquake. Don’t know if this was even close to how they are, but the ground defi nitely felt like it o pened up and ate me. Will, p. 15

In this passage, Reynolds showcases the flexibility that comes with writing in verse as opposed to prose. In a set of lines that match content to form, Reynolds varies the spacing between words and letters to illustrate the reality-shifting instability Will feels upon realizing his brother has been shot. The disordered appearance of the text prompts the reader to imagine the rumbling of an earthquake, even though Reynolds doesn't mention this sound.

ANOTHER THING ABOUT THE RULES They weren’t meant to be broken. They were meant for the broken to follow. Will, p. 38

Following Shawn's death, Will tries to manage his grief by sticking to The Rules laid out by his brother: no crying, no snitching, and get revenge. In this passage, Will references the saying "some rules are meant to be broken" to say that The Rules have been designed for "the broken" to follow. By this he means despairing people reach for The Rules when they have lost all hope. With this statement, Will hints at the transformation that has occurred in him with the loss of his brother and mentor: No longer a teen with his quotidian concerns, he is a broken person duty-bound to avenge his brother's death.

THEN DANI ASKED, What if you miss? Will and Dani, p. 146

In the elevator, Will encounters the ghosts of several people who died from gun homicide. The second ghost to step on is Dani, Will's childhood friend who was hit by a stray bullet when she was eight years old. After challenging Will about the gun in his waistband, Dani asks an important question: What if Will misses? These four words, each on a separate line for greater emphasis, are particularly significant because of the person they are coming from. Having herself been killed because someone missed, Dani implies that Will may be walking into a situation where he accidentally takes the life of an innocent bystander like Dani.

HE HELD THAT CORNER for a day, for a week, for a month, full-out pusher, money-making pretty boy, target for a ruthless young hustler whose name Mom can never remember. Will, p. 194

When Will is reunited with Uncle Mark on the elevator, he explains how Mark was sucked into the world of drug dealing, using few words to describe the trajectory that ended in his uncle's death. Although it was his ambition to be a filmmaker, Mark needed money for a new camera and thought dealing would be a quick way to earn enough. He was correct, but the easy money was too good to pass up, and he continued dealing on the same corner. Will's uncle unwittingly drew the attention of a competitor dealer who shot and killed him in order to take over Mark's dealing territory.

WHAT YOU THINK YOU SHOULD DO? he asked. Follow The Rules, I said just like I told everybody else. Just like you did. Mikey and Will, p. 214

When speaking with his father, Mikey, for the first time Will can remember, Will puts forward the same macho front he has with all the other ghosts. In this passage, Will insists that the only way to deal with Shawn's death is to follow The Rules, just as Mikey did when Mark was killed. The exchange is significant because it shows how Will, having lost his mentors to gun violence, only has The Rules left for guidance. However, abiding by The Rules is what took his mentors away.

I ALREADY KNOW, Pop said, taking a deep breath. I know, I know, I know. Sadness and love in his voice. I replied, choking down me choking up, I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know what to do. Mikey and Will, p. 216

Although Will has no memories of his father, who died when Will was very young, he feels an immediate connection to the man who steps into the elevator. In this exchange, Will makes a rare break with his masculine posturing and reveals his vulnerability, admitting that he doesn't know how to deal with the grief and anger brought about by Shawn's killing. The passage is significant because Will finally puts into words the uncertainty that has been simmering within him throughout the novel.

I LOOKED AROUND only seeing the orange glow of five cigarettes puncturing the sheet of smoke like headlights in heavy fog. Only five cigarettes. Shawn hadn’t lit one, became invisible in the cloud. And I felt like the cigarette meant for him was burning in my stomach, filling me with stinging fire. Will, p. 317

After every conversation Will has with a ghost, the ghost smokes one of Buck's cigarettes. By the end of the novel, the elevator is so full of secondhand smoke that Will can only see the burning embers of the cigarette ends through the gray haze. However, Shawn breaks with the pattern by not lighting up like the others. Instead, Will feels as though it is burning inside his stomach—his grief and anger and uncertainty all concentrated in a stinging sensation deep within his gut.

Shawn turned back toward me, eyes dull from death but shining from tears, finally spoke to me. Just two words, like a joke he’d been saving. YOU COMING? Will and Shawn, p. 319-320

The last lines of Long Way Down show Shawn finally breaking his silence with his brother to ask if he is coming. The simple question carries a deep significance: While it appears as though Shawn is asking if Will is going to leave the elevator with the others, Shawn is actually asking Will if he is going to join them by choosing the same fate. Having heard everyone's stories, it is also guaranteed that if Will follows The Rules, he will soon be the target of retaliation and become a ghost himself. Is he willing to give up his life? Or will he go back to his mother's apartment and put an end to the cycle of violence that has claimed the lives of so many people he has loved? Reynolds ends the novel on this open question, letting the reader speculate about Will's response.

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