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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.