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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 had Will seen Shawn do after Buck’s death as told in Chapter Six?

2. What does Uncle Mark say in Chapter Six when Frick says he was just trying to earn his stripes as a Dark Sun?

3. What does the guy who get onto the elevator do in Chapter Four?

4. What happens to the smoke when the elevator door opens in Chapter Four?

5. Where did Will’s dad find the guy who had killed Uncle Mark?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Will’s dad do to Will after he tells Will his story? How does Will respond? How does their interaction end?

2. What is the script of the film Uncle Mark wants to make as described by Jessie in Chapter Four?

3. How had Shawn learned what had happened to Buck as told in Chapter Six? Why was the person who told Shawn not considered a snitch?

4. What did Will’s mom tell Will about why his dad had died as told in Chapter Five? What had Will thought about this as a kid?

5. According to Chapter Six, what had happened when Frick tried to rob Buck? How had Shawn learned what had happened?

6. When Will hears Buck talking about Shawn being upset in Chapter Six, who does Will think is the guy who bothered Shawn at the convenience store? What does Frick say when asked about Riggs?

7. What does Uncle Mark have Will do after Will explains his plan to him in Chapter Four? What does Will find when they do this?

8. Who gets on the elevator in Chapter Five? What do the new person and Will do? How does Will feel?

9. What are the stories Shawn had told Will about their dad in Chapter Five? What does Will remember about these stories?

10. How does Will feel realizing his father shot the wrong guy as told in Chapter Five? How had he imagined his father?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

When Frick explains why he shot Buck, he justifies this by saying he is just earning his stripes, and the men around him respond by nodding and saying there is no judgement (275). Why do they accept what he says? Why are they not mad? How is their acceptance a part of the community norms? How is their acceptance connected to The Rules? Connect this example to one other instance in the novel of acceptance of circumstances. Use this to develop a claim about why acceptance exists in this way for the community as shown by the novel.

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

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