A Summary of the Long Way Down

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Long Way Down: A Summary
In "Long Way Down," Jason Reynolds tackles gun violence as prevalent within America's black community. The novel begins with the narrator saying that the events he is about to tell are true but if the readers choose to believe is up to them. The narrator asks the reader to call him will because that is what his friends call him. Although to his brother and mother, he is William. Then Will proceeds to tell of his brother's death by fatal shooting. Will and his friend Tony discuss whether they would grow taller because they had just reached 15 years. Just then, gunshots rang in the air, and the two went down. When they got back up, Will saw that his brother Shawn had been shot dead as he came from the market. Shawn's girlfriend, Leticia, places her lips on Shawn's as if trying to bring him back to life but then shrieks. Leticia and his mother are inconsolable, but Will cannot cry. One of the rules in his neighborhood is that he cannot cry.
Will tells how his brother's death, the blood, and the gore are similar to having a molar tooth being pulled out. And now, he finds it hard to say, "Shawn's dead" (Casey). He repeats the phrase three times in disbelief. When the police arrive, Shawn again has to stick to another of his neighborhood's rules. He cannot snitch. So, when the police arrived determined to know what happened, Will is sure to tell them nothing as 'beef' goes a long way in the neighborhood and does no one any good.
A day later, Will is in the bedroom he shared with his brother. He is covering his ears with a pillow to cut out his mother's sobs. On Shawn's side of the bedroom is his dresser, and Will knows what's inside it. It is a tool, which is used to exact another rule in the neighborhood, get revenge. Will is convinced it was Carlson Riggs, Shawn's arch-enemy, who shot him. To Will, it is obvious that Riggs was the one who shot his brother. Riggs had recently joined a rival gang in the neighborhood, and to prove his loyalty, he would have to kill a member of his new rivals. Will arrives at this conclusion based on the several crime shows he has watched with his mom. Will, decides to exact revenge on Riggs and, therefore, opens Shawn's dresses and retrieves a gun.
Will's plan is to wait for R...