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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 Buck do to diffuse the situation between Will and Dani in Chapter Three?

2. What is the anagram on Will’s wall, as we learn in Chapter One?

3. What does Buck tell Will to do when Will is scared by the elevator in Chapter Two?

4. Why does Buck say he is there in the elevator in Chapter Two?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Will’s plan with Shawn’s gun in Chapter One?

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

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

4. 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?

5. In Chapter Two, how is the man who gets onto the elevator with Will described? How does Will find out he is Buck?

6. What does Dani ask Will when he tells her his plan in Chapter Three? How does he respond?

7. What happens on the day of the picture that Dani shows to Will in Chapter Three?

8. Why does Will look to Buck for help in Chapter Three? What does Buck do?

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

10. What does Will describe as a “strange thing” in the beginning of Chapter Two? What does he call this?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Think about the ending of the “The Scene” in Chapter Four where Will says he shoots after some reluctance. Consider how many generations are represented repeating a similar pattern of revenge. Why does Will not want to shoot? Does Will have free will to choose to shoot or not shoot? Why or why not? Argue why or why he does not have free will and connect this to the ending of the novel. What does the ending suggest about free will?

Essay Topic 2

Long Way Down takes place in a very structured format in an elevator, with physical layout representations of the elevator as well as each chapter taking place on a different floor. How and why is this metaphor used? What does it mean for the structure of the novel? What does this metaphor mean for the events that take place? Specifically, look at Chapter Seven and the language around an elevator that is used. Does the meaning of an elevator change throughout the novel? Write an exploratory paper with at least four textual examples.

Essay Topic 3

Compare and contrast the character of Will Holloman to Mikey Holloman. How are these characters similar or different to one another? How are their actions related? How are their words related to one another? Why does the novel set these two characters up as foils of one another? What does their mirroring suggest about the novel's structure, and eventual ending? Write a response with at least four textual examples.

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