As such, his idea of what a man should be is informed by the examples set by Shawn and Buck, who in turn learned from Mikey and Uncle Mark. At fifteen, Will is on the threshold between childhood and adulthood. Throughout the book, masculinity arises as a key theme. The novel ends with Will considering whether he wants to cross that boundary and join the elevator ghosts in the afterlife. If anything, to avenge Shawn's death will guarantee Will is the next victim of Rule No. The stories of his father and brother-both of whom were killed in retaliation for avenging deaths-lead Will to the private realization that he cannot say for certain that killing Riggs will solve his problems. However, when Will enters the elevator and meets with the ghosts of people he once knew, his commitment to revenge is shaken. With this act of vengeance, Will assumes he will even the score and be better able to accept Shawn's death.

Rule No.3 states simply: 'Get revenge.' With his brother's gun, Will sets out to kill the man he believes shot Shawn. Revenge-the action of inflicting hurt as retribution for a wrong suffered-enters the narrative when Will lays out The Rules. RevengeĪnother major theme in the novel is revenge and its disastrous consequences. Ultimately, the novel depicts a young man grappling with grief in an instance where the socially sanctioned form of mourning for males is to focus on their anger while denying any feelings that would expose them as weak or vulnerable. Among the ghosts are Will's father and Shawn, both of whom sought to follow The Rules when feeling grief over Uncle Mark and Buck, respectively. Reynolds builds on this central theme with the introduction of several ghosts of people who have died from gun homicide. In order to deal with his grief, Will resorts to 'The Rules,' a set of dictates that discourage crying and encourage revenge as a means of coping with the loss of a loved one.

The theme arises early in the novel when Will states that his brother Shawn was killed two days earlier.

Grief-deep sorrow caused by someone's death-is a major theme in Long Way Down.

Long way down by jason reynolds