Long Way Down

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

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Summary

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

Quiz

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Discussion Questions

Part 2Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 2: “7”

Part 2, Pages 73-90 Summary

Will gets in the elevator and hits the lobby button. Another man gets in, wearing a gold chain around his neck. He keeps looking back at Will, and Will gets irritated. He asks if he knows the man, and the man smiles and shows him the screen-printed photo on the front of his shirt, which says, “RIP BUCK YOU’LL BE MISSED 4EVA” (79). Suddenly Will is terrified. Buck was Shawn’s mentor, an older boy he had known longer than the boys knew their own father. Buck is dead. Will sputters questions, and Buck confirms he is, in fact, dead. Will asks why Buck is here, assuming he plans to take Will to the afterlife. Buck says, “I came to check on my gun” (90).

Part 2, Pages 91-106 Summary

The elevator seems to be taking forever. Buck tells Will to relax—after all, it’s “a long way down” (97). Buck tells Will he instructed Shawn to put the gun in a place Will would never find it. Shawn had the ability to use the gun, but Buck says Will doesn’t have it in him to follow The Rules. Will insists he does, saying he as a job to do, and Buck pokes him in the chest, laughing, making him feel small. He says, “You don’t got it in you […] over and over again” (106). The elevator stops at floor six.

Part 2 Analysis

Will meets Buck’s ghost in Part 2. Buck is present to remind Will of the legacy he is choosing to follow, should he shoot Riggs. Buck is also there to “check on my gun” (90). The gun is a symbol of uncontrollable violence, and this legacy of violence moves through the generations of Holloman men and their mentors. The gun belonged to Buck, was used by Shawn, and is now carried by Will, which makes Will participant in a legacy of violence and pain.

Will is troubled by Buck’s assertion that he can’t follow The Rules. The ability to follow The Rules, and to commit acts of violence and revenge, defines what it means to be a man in Will’s world. By questioning Will’s ability to follow The Rules, Buck is questioning Will’s manhood.