Professional Documents
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Literary Criticism
Literary Criticism
Literary Criticism
Jacob Lucco
Mrs. Cramer
19/11/2021
Did you know that since 2009 gang related homicide has raised over 10%? A lot of
people never have to experience gang violence, but for those who live in large cities it’s an
everyday occurrence. A lot of young kids are brought into this dangerous lifestyle at a young age
and start with small petty crimes, and by the time they are adults could be selling drugs or even a
member of organized crimes such as racketeering (A type of organized crime where the
perpetrator is usually acts as an anonymous threat to the building and the group they are involved
with offers protection for a high price, failure to meet the price will usually end with a violent act
against the shop or even a homicide). There are a lot of programs that are built to keep kids away
from this deadly lifestyle like the YMCA which is made to keep kids and people healthy and
away from the mischief. In Jason Reynolds’ book Long Way Down he tells a cautionary tale of
Will faces many burdensome times due to the life his family has brought him into. For
example, He has grown up with no father figure due to his dad being in prison for robbing a gas
station. His father got out of prison and was kicked out of the house to not be a bad influence on
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Will and his older brother Shawn. After being kicked out of the family house his father was
killed by the gang violence, this was when Will was only three. Another challenge Will faced
was when his childhood friend Dani was shot and killed as a side effect of a gang related
shooting. “SHE BRUSHED HER HAND AGAINST MINE” as this quote proves this really hurt
Will because Dani was his first love interest and the day, she was shot was also the first time
Furthermore, Will was also faced with probably the hardest hitting death of all, his
brother Shawn. Shawn was picking up eczema cream for his mother when he was coming home,
he was murdered in the parking lot where all his family watched the shooting occur. This made
will want to seek revenge and follow the rules that those before him have followed, such as his
dad, uncle mark, and brother’s best friend buck. These rules are an obligation to make things
even and not be soft or show any weakness, will compares the revenge rule to hand-me-downs
“BEEF. gets passed down like name-brand. T-shirts around here. Always too big”. Will doesn’t
want to follow these rules but feels he must, Will finds Shawn’s gun and decides to go to sleep
The Long Way Down by Reynolds has a very easy to read format. This was intended to
make the book easy for most people to read. Reynolds does this because he wants the book to be
accessible and comprehendible for everyone. He does this so it will encourage and scare kids to
stay away from gangs and violent acts. The book is written in a way that reminds me of lyrics to
a song, verses in a poem, or the lines of a screenplay. This format is also very encouraging as it
feels like the reader is making progress through out the Three hundred and six pages of the book.
Reynolds wanted to craft long way down like this so people wouldn’t set it down to never return
to Wills story.
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Reynolds also uses words found in most people’s vocabulary and daily lives. He does this
once again as way to make the book much more comprehendible. The word choice by Reynolds
makes this book very easy to pick up and get into. The book is also very fast paced as well as
retains the readers attention very well, this is due to the lack of text on each page. This book was
written about such a serious issue in America, and the world, but still managed to be placed at a
In conclusion, Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds was written with the motive to keep
teenagers away from the violent life that comes with being a part of a gang. He does this by
giving examples of the grief that is caused to will from all the bloodshed while keeping the book
easy to read for most reading levels. Jason Reynolds wrote long way down to prevent kids from
getting hurt. He was motivated to do this because a friend of his was the victim of a homicide
due to gang violence after only nine-teen years of his life, this is less than a third of the current
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Work Cited
Reynolds, Jason. Long Way Down. New York: Atheneum, 2017. Print.