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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. In Chapter Six, how does Buck get Frick to realize he is Buck?

2. Why had Frick shot Buck as said in Chapter Six?

3. As said in Chapter Six, what had Buck done when Frick tried to rob him?

4. Who comes onto the elevator in Chapter Six?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. What happened after Buck had been killed as said in Chapter Six? What had Shawn gone to do?

2. 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?

3. In Chapter Four, what does Will remember when he realizes the guy who gets onto the elevator is Uncle Mark?

4. How had Will’s dad felt after Uncle Mark’s death as told in Chapter Five? What is the figurative language his dad uses to describe how he feels?

5. How had Shawn come to know how their dad had passed on as told in Chapter Five? How had Buck become for Shawn after Mikey Holloman had died?

6. 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?

7. How does Uncle Mark’s selling escalate as described in Chapter Four? How does his selling end and why?

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

9. How does Frick justify his killing Buck in Chapter Six? How do the other men in the elevator respond?

10. What does Uncle Mark ask Will after Will finishes the scene in Chapter Four? What does Uncle Mark say in reply to Will’s response?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Generational patterns are repeated in Long Way Down. Characters are mirrors of one another. Literary devices using mirroring, such as a mise en abyme and repetition are used. At the end Chapter Six, after Frick is done speaking, Will looks into the elevator and sees only himself. What do you make of this mirroring on a narrative and stylistic level? What does it say about the content of the novel and the novel's eventual message? Write an argument pulling from at least two of the examples above in addition to two other examples from the novel of your choosing.

Essay Topic 2

Long Way Down is intertextual with the story A Christmas Carol. Buck and other characters are decorated with gold chains, and smoke plays a role in each new scene, similar to A Christmas Carol. In A Christmas Carol, the main character is visited by a ghost of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. In Long Way Down, what do the ghosts represent for Will? Are they of the past, present, and future? What does each character represent to him? Write an argument comparing Long Way Down's ghosts to a Christmas Carol's ghosts, and why Long Way Down shows its ghosts in this way.

Essay Topic 3

Look at Will’s Random Thought No. 4 in Chapter Five, where he thinks about kids at playgrounds standing on their father’s feet and trusting him to guide them (22). How is this metaphor connected to ideas of fatherhood in the novel? What is the representation and role of fatherhood as said in Long Way Down? How is this representation specifically shaped by the community? Write an argumentative response for what you think the definition of fatherhood in the novel is and connect it to at least three textual examples.

(see the answer keys)

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