GUN VIOLENCE

IN THE LONG WAY DOWN

Daniel de Silva
YOUTH GUN PROBLEM IN THE
BOOK
• In the book after Wills brother Shawn dies Will seeks for revenge
• The book shows though the people who enter the elevator the effects
gun violence
• The people through their stories shows how it effects family and
communities
• The book though will shows how grief and anger can lead to gun
violence and how its important to break the cycle of revenge
POEM #1
Pg 143
“I Told Dani
how I remember

POEM #1
Shawn screaming for us to
get down

how he lay on top of us, covering us,

smashing us into the dirt…

Her eyes wide, the brightness

dimming. Her mouth, open.
Bubble gum

and blood.”
Pg 143

3
IDEA OF TEXT
• Imagery is used to describe what will sees and helps describe how he is
feeling
• Will flashes back to when he was in a school shooting were Shawn
cover him and Dani to save them from being shot
• The bubble gum symbolise happiness, sweetness the contrast with blood
and the screaming shows how many kids day can turn from learning fun
and happiness to death screaming and the loss of life

4
Poem #2

Pg 224
POP! POP! POP!
By the third
He was down,
“I made my move
But I gave him one more
Hood over my head
Just because I was angry
Gun from my waist
And by the time he saw me
So angry
I was already squeezing

Like something
Had gotten into me.”
The cycle of revenge
“Hood over my head” “Just because I was angry. So angry”
• The hood- symbolic of
hiding away
• He doesn’t want any
one to know
• Also may symbolise
how he feels the hood
is looking over his
moves making sure he
follows the rules
• The effect of anger shows how a gun
is used a coping device for someone
who is dealing with the death of a
loved one or someone close to them
and the gun being used to cope and
kill the killer of that person they lost
continues the cycle of violence
because anger cause people to lake
self-control and do anything to make
them feel like they have an ending to
the grief
“I wrapped my
fingers

PG 68
Around the grip,
placing them over
Shawn's prints like
little brother
holding big brothers
hand again.”
7
 “like little brother
holding big brothers hand again.”

A metaphor illustrates how Shawn used the gun previously, which ultimately led to his death. It also
illustrates how, in times of grief and anger, people tend to emulate their loved ones to feel as though
they are still with them, which ultimately results in a never-ending cycle of violence.
Youth gun violence in America and
conclusion
For many kids in America this is what life is like for
people who live in broken and unsafe parts of America,
they constantly witness school shooting which leads to
grief and suffering and turn many suffering kids to turn to
gun violence to get revenge this follows the books idea of
the cycle of violence when it comes to guns

THE PROBLEM IN AMERICA 9

 10

THANK YOU
Daniel de Silva