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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 do out of fear with the gun to his head in Chapter Five?

2. Who was Buck’s stepdad as said in Chapter Six?

3. What is Frick’s actual name as said in Chapter Six?

4. What does Will think of when he realizes that Uncle Mark is the guy on the elevator in Chapter Four?

5. Who was Ghee, as told in Chapter Five?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Uncle Mark start doing to get a new video camera in Chapter Four? Why does he do this?

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

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. 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. What does Will feel like telling his dad in Chapter Five? Why does he keep it inside?

6. Who is Frick as said in Chapter Six? How is Frick described?

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

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

9. What does Frick show to Will in Chapter Six? What do he and Buck say about what he shows Will?

10. 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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

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 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.

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