Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Long Way Down, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Loyalty and Revenge
Grief, Fear, and Cycles of Violence
Perspective and Reality
Masculinity and Coming of Age
Summary
Analysis
A chubby, light-skinned stranger with a mop of dirty brown hair gets into the elevator. He doesn’t acknowledge anyone, so Will figures he’s real and not a ghost like the others. Will is embarrassed about having wet himself, but he’s relieved he’s not entirely crazy. Buck starts trying to get the stranger’s attention, and the man finally turns. Buck asks if the man is Frick, and the man reluctantly says he is as he shakes Buck’s hand. Smiling, Buck asks if Frick remembers him and shows off the back of his T-shirt. Frick looks confused for a second, and then opens his arms to Buck and asks, “what’s good?” Will thinks that nothing is good. Buck introduces Frick to everyone in the elevator, including Will, whom he refers to as Shawn’s little brother.
The addition of this stranger show Will that the kind of violence the Rules call for doesn’t just affect Will’s family. Instead, it has far-reaching effects on the families of other people who get drawn into the neighborhood’s various conflicts.
Themes
Before Frick can say anything, Will asks how Buck knows Frick and why Frick is in the elevator. Buck scoffs and says that Frick murdered him. Will is shocked and can’t formulate a coherent thought; he can only ask “wait” and “what” again and again. Buck starts to explain, but then stop to asks Frick why he’s called by that nickname. Frick says that his real name is Frank, but that he’s a twin, and his uncle called him and his sister Frick and Frack. Buck pauses and says that because of Frick, the only reason people in the neighborhood know Buck’s legal name is because it’s on his tombstone.
The idea that Frick is the only reason people know Buck’s legal name situates Frick as someone who’s going to add a new perspective to the story Will is gradually putting together. Further, having Buck’s killer right here in the elevator, looking so nondescript, challenges Will’s narrative of who kills and who’s important in this story. Frick may not look like much, but he’s still played a role in Will’s life by killing Buck, which surely affected Shawn.
Themes
Buck’s legal name was James, but he always went by Buck. Buck was short for “young-buck,” a joke name Buck’s stepfather gave him because he couldn’t grow facial hair. Will explains that Buck was two-sided: he had a stepdad and a real dad. His stepdad, a preacher, raised him, but Buck’s real dad seemed to hold more sway. He was a bank robber who would steal anything. According to gossip, Buck learned to be good, but the bad was still in his blood. Will wonders if badness is the “nighttime” his mother talks about. The nighttime will put a gun in one’s hand and sharpen one’s teeth.
Will’s comment that the “nighttime” was in Buck’s blood is telling—it implies that Buck didn’t have a choice of whether or not to end up where he did in life or in death. This idea is questionable, though, given that the book has also suggested that everyone has a choice—even people like Buck who seem destined to fail. Insisting that Buck had no choice is a way for Will to create a narrative in which Buck’s death was inevitable, not the result of choices Buck made.
Themes
At first, Buck sold drugs on the corner, but he stopped after Pop got shot. Then, Buck became Shawn’s stand-in big brother and started robbing suburban neighborhoods. He mainly stole money, but sometimes sneakers and jewelry, which he loved to show off. Now, Will is shocked to learn that Frick killed Buck. Buck throws a hand on Frick’s shoulder and asks Will if Shawn never told him the story. Will says that Shawn never talked much about it; he’d just said that someone shot Buck and that he knew who it was. Will remembers Shawn’s dark face and the cops coming to ask questions. Shawn said nothing. He locked himself in his room, and the next day, Will caught him putting bullets into the gun clip.
Even if families are generally fractured by violence in Will’s community, there are still people like Buck willing to mentor and care for young people. This offers some hope for Will, as it suggests that there’s someone in the community who might be willing to step into Shawn’s role as Will’s mentor. Meanwhile, Shawn’s brief story of Buck’s death is clearly a way to avoid difficult questions, just as Will has been doing all along in the elevator.
Themes
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Buck explains that he and Shawn were drinking at the basketball court. Shawn was talking about getting into a little fight with a Dark Sun, since he had to go down to the store to buy special soap for his mother. Will thinks it’d be dumb to tell Buck about how important that soap is to their mother, so instead he says that Riggs was the Dark Sun that Shawn was talking about. Buck replies he doesn’t know the guy’s name, but apparently the guy ran up to Shawn and insisted that Shawn didn’t belong there. Buck says that Shawn was upset because he and this kid had grown up together, but Buck advised Shawn to let it go—however, Shawn was always emotional. Will knows Shawn was talking about Riggs.
Will is still trying his hardest to prioritize loyalty to the dead over loyalty to the living, as evidenced when he refocuses the conversation back to Riggs instead of explaining the soap. The idea that Shawn was an extremely emotional person who took things personally suggests that he may have been more like Will than Will lets on. Further, while Shawn may well have been talking about Riggs, this isn’t inarguable proof that Riggs killed Shawn—just that they weren’t on good terms.
Themes
Buck says that while Shawn was talking about this guy, he was trying to show Shawn a chain he stole from a kid in the suburbs. The terrified kid had handed it over right away. Will asks what this has to do with Frick. Buck tells Will to hold on and says that he gave Shawn the gold chain because Shawn was so upset about the Dark Sun. After this, Shawn left the basketball court. With a smile, Frick interjects that this is where he comes in. Meanwhile, Will explains to the reader how to become a Dark Sun: one must live nine blocks from Will’s building, obtain a cigarette burn under the right eye, and perform a “Dark Deed”—robbing, beating, or killing someone. Will thinks that Dark Suns must also be “corny.”
Though gang-related violence may have led to Shawn’s death (and definitely led to Frick’s), Will has made it very clear that gangs offer very important social services to members. Members of a gang get to feel important, and they gain the protection of other individuals who are required to care about them. Essentially, men who join gangs are given a kind of family, but one that is governed by the Rules.
Themes
Frick says that for his initiation, his Dark Deed was, funny enough, just to rob Buck. Will doesn’t think this is funny at all. Frick says that everyone knew Buck always had stolen things on him, but nobody would mess with him because of his fathers. Will explains that “gangstas” always respect older, original gangstas (OGs) and preachers who act like gangstas. Frick explains that his plan was to steal from Buck at the basketball court, but when he pulled his gun on Buck, Buck laughed. Buck told Frick he couldn’t deal with a dude who seemed as silly as the suburban kid he just stole from. Everyone on the elevator except Will laughs.
Performing his Dark Deed would’ve been Frick’s major coming-of-age moment, but it’s also likely what set Frick down the path that led to his death. Even though gangs may make their members feel more supported, the violence intrinsic to these groups means that the men never truly get to come of age. They may be initiated into groups or thought of as adults, but all that does is mark them to be killed soon after.
Themes
Frick brushes off the laughter and says that nobody can fault him for trying to earn his stripes. He catches Pop and Uncle Mark’s eyes, and they both nod and agree. Frick continues his story and says that Buck swung at him like Frick wasn’t holding a gun. Frick got scared and pulled the trigger. At this, Buck makes a gun with his fingers and says, “Bang-bang.” Will asks what this has to do with Shawn, and Frick answers that Shawn followed the Rules. Will swallows and struggles to get words out. Buck puts the finger gun against Frick’s chest and says “bang-bang” again. Frick corrects Buck and says that Shawn only pulled the trigger once. Will thinks of the 15 bullets in his gun.
Having this chain of violence illustrated so clearly allows Will to easily see the deadly consequences of following the Rules. Whoever killed Shawn was also likely following the Rules, just like Will intends to do by killing Riggs. The fact that Will is struggling to make sense of this or gather his thoughts implies that he hasn’t really thought about this before, even if he recognizes that the Rules have been passed down through generations of men. For the first time, he has to face the real consequences of this violence.
Themes
Frick laments that Shawn killed him before he got his “Shining” and rubs under his right eye. Then, he yanks down his collar to reveal a disgusting, bloody hole in his chest. He says that Shawn’s fingerprints are in his chest somewhere. Buck laughs and says he’s certain it’s Shawn’s middle fingerprint. When everyone’s done laughing, Will asks how Shawn knew Frick killed Buck. Buck explains that there was only one other person who was at the court every night. He was a young kid trying to dunk: Tony. Will tells the reader that Tony’s talk isn’t snitching; snitching is specifically talking to police. When Tony talks, it’s a way for him to seem bigger and more important.
Even if Will insists that Tony’s talking isn’t snitching, it’s possible to argue that indeed, it is—there’s nothing to stop the police from overhearing, and there’s also nothing stopping a rival gang member picking up on what he says and using it to exact revenge, just like Shawn did. Talking, however, does the same thing for Tony as joining the Dark Suns did for Riggs: it makes him seem more important in the community. This once again suggests that there’s a very specific way to be a recognized as a man in Will’s neighborhood.
Themes
Buck asks Will how he knows that Riggs got Shawn. Will says it makes sense—Riggs avenged Frick’s death. Dani pipes up and asks Frick if he knows Riggs. Will gives a quick description of Riggs, but Frick looks confused and asks who he’s talking about. Will wishes he knew an anagram for “poser.” Frick looks at Will like he’s crazy, turns around, and stares at the elevator door. Will realizes he can only see his own reflection in the door. Frick pulls out his own cigarettes and lights one. Finally, the elevator stops.
Frick’s inability to recognize Riggs’s description throws a major wrench into Will’s plans, as it clearly suggests that he’s after the wrong guy. This is a major turning point for Will—he now has to decide if he’s going to follow through on his (probably incorrect) gut instinct, if he’s going to figure out who really killed Shawn and go after them, or if he’s going to abandon the Rules altogether and accept that they’re an inadequate way of dealing with grief.
Themes
