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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Will think of when he takes Shawn’s gun out from under his pillow after waking up in Chapter One?

2. What is the anagram Will says in Chapter Two?

3. What is Will’s full name that he tells the reader in Chapter One?

4. What does Buck do when Will acts macho in Chapter Two?

5. What does Will say one has to do to make it big in basketball in Chapter One?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Will think of when a man gets on the elevator in Chapter Two and starts looking at Will when Will is not looking?

2. After Will tells Buck what he is going to do, what does Buck tell Will about his plan to follow The Rules in Chapter Two? How does he compare Will to Shawn?

3. What does Will think Buck is thinking about him in Chapter Two? What does Will assert about himself to the reader in response?

4. Who was Buck to Shawn as described in Chapter Two? What does Buck give Shawn and teach him?

5. Who does Will think has killed Shawn in Chapter One? Why does Will think this?

6. What does Will compare his mother’s eczema to in Chapter One? And how does he turn this into wordplay talking about the grudges in the neighborhood?

7. What is the picture of at the beginning of Chapter One? What does this image illustrate for the reader?

8. Why does Will tell Dani he needs the gun in Chapter Three? Why does Will explain The Rules to Dani?

9. How does Shawn come to teach Will The Rules as explained in Chapter Three? What does Will feel after he is taught the Rules?

10. What does Will think of when Buck tells him his tail is showing in Chapter Two?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the opening poems, Will insists that what happens is true (1-4). Think back to earlier discussions of your position as a reader. Why does Will want you to think the novel is true as he insists in the beginning? How does he reaffirm that these events are true throughout the novel? What is the relationship of the novel to its readers? Write an essay response pulling on textual examples for what the role of the reader is, how this can be observed through text choices, and why the reader is in this position to the text.

Essay Topic 2

Long Way Down uses and reinterprets several metaphors throughout the book. Choose one of the metaphors or figures of language used in Long Way Down (such a middle drawer). Find and write three instances of how the metaphor is used and changed or interpreted in new ways throughout the novel. What is the first definition of the word? What is the meaning of the word by the end of the novel? Finally, why is this metaphor used over and over? What is the purpose of the novel in using the same figurative language over and over?

Essay Topic 3

Choose and watch one of the following films, either “Moonlight” or “Boyz in the Hood.” Then compare the film of your choice to Long Way Down. What does each text represent about ts environment? What does it show about masculinity? How is masculinity shaped by or influenced by the environment? How are the works similar or different? Use at least two examples from each source in comparing.

(see the answer keys)

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