Long Way Down

Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | YA | Published in 2017

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Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Themes

Toxic Masculinity and Vulnerability

The Rules stem from principles of masculinity that suppress vulnerability, and most of the novel’s characters follow The Rules. Will Holloman’s biggest struggle is trying to find an outlet for his grief. In a world that forbids men to weep, not even for their fallen brothers, Will can’t find a way to cope.

The clearest symbol of vulnerability in this novel is crying; it is the first Rule, and the act that most clearly expresses weakness. As Will says, after Shawn’s death, “crying / is against / The Rules” (30). Women are clearly allowed to cry over sudden losses: Will’s mother cries all night, and Leticia, Shawn’s girlfriend, screams in the street over his fallen body. But for men, crying is a sign of weakness, not a way to cope with grief. These principles of masculinity confuse and complicate Will’s emotions; he wants to cry for his dead brother, but he also wants to make his brother proud, to prove that he is man enough to handle this situation the way Shawn would have wanted.

In the elevator, as Will struggles to decide whether he wants to express his grief through violence, many voices argue for a softer, more vulnerable expression. Though Will knows that he isn’t like his brother, that he is more poetic, more sensitive, he balks when Buck tells him he isn’t man enough to follow The Rules: “You don’t got it in you / he repeated / over and over again” (106). Will struggles with the power of his own empathy until the very last moment, particularly the way it contradicts The Rules he was taught to follow. It isn’t until the end of the novel, when Shawn’s ghost shows him another way to cope, that Will feels able to shed some of the vestiges of toxic masculinity to express himself in a more authentic, gentle way.

Expressions of Grief

Grief drives this novel and this neighborhood—the sheer number of violent and untimely deaths speak for themselves. Will, who is only 15, is haunted by half a dozen ghosts, all lost before their time to gun violence. Because grief is so commonplace, so certain, The Rules were formed to channel that grief into form of vigilante justice.

Greif’s paralyzing nature is clearly displayed in Will and his mother, after Shawn’s death, but also in Mikey Holloman, was got lost in the grief of losing his brother Mark. He says, “I couldn’t just come home / and be a daddy and a husband / when I couldn’t be a brother / no more” (212). The way familial roles and bonds define lives is thrown into turmoil in this part of the city; Mikey is conflicted about how to be himself, to be a father and a husband, when his brother is dead. His grief completely upends his sense of identity.

Though grief is most commonly expressed in response to lost loved ones, there is also a grief that comes with the taking of lives. In a place where The Rules reign and so many young men have killed other young men, grief also comes from the realities of past actions and mistakes. Will sees this form of grief in his father and uncle’s eyes, as they talk about the man Mikey killed to avenge Marks’ death: “[They] looked at me with hollow eyes / dancing somewhere between / guilt and grief” (218). The weight of the life Mikey took still hangs over them. It forces Will to consider if the violent act he plans to commit will soothe his grief or just compound it.

The nature and expression of grief changes drastically once Shawn’s ghost appears in the elevator. Though Shawn doesn’t speak, his actions are powerful; he shows Will how to cry. Will is startled: “I thought you said / no crying / Shawn” (298). But Shawn’s open, unashamed weeping shows Will that crying is not a weakness but a valid method of coping. Despite The Rules, the only real way to manage grief is through true expression of that loss, that sadness. Shawn weeps so Will can find a new way to grieve.

Cycles of Violence

The cycle of violence in Will’s neighborhood seems never-ending; every ghost in the elevator either caused a death, witnessed a death, or was killed violently themselves. The Rules drive this violent cycle; they insist that one death must be met with another. Though The Rules were designed to help men cope with grief, they only contribute to further, more perpetual grieving. Because of The Rules, the violence never ends, and there is always someone new to grieve.

Uncle Mark tries to teach Will about this cycle of violence when he forces him to visualize every step of the action he is about to take. Will imagines himself pulling the trigger, but stops there—Mark insists he go further, asking him what happens next. Will doesn’t want to think about the consequences of killing another man, about prison or his own death as revenge for the death of Riggs. Will insists that Riggs’s death will end the cycle, but Mark laughs at his naivete: “It’s never the end / Uncle Mark said, / all chuckle, chuckle” (192). Mikey Hollomon also reminds his son that pulling the trigger doesn’t end the cycle. He puts the gun to Will’s head, to teach him what it will feel like when someone inevitably comes for him.

Marks hints at the generational nature of this cycle when he compares Will to his father, saying, “Look like your damn daddy” (160), meaning Mikey, who killed a man to avenge his brother’s death and was shot in the head soon after. The parallels between Mark and Mikey and Shawn and Will are clear: If Will avenges his brother’s death, he will set himself up for death too.

At the end of the novel Shawn reveals another way to process and overcome grief. Shawn breaks The Rules by crying, to show Will another way out. In breaking The Rules, Shawn is asking Will to break the cycle too—to save himself, and the neighborhood, one act at a time.