When reflecting upon Long Way Down, Jason Reynolds often discusses how his novel fits into the larger, national conversation about gun violence in this country as well as how he hopes his novel reshapes some of that conversation to see the individual. This assignment requires you to identify and to evaluate some of Reynolds’s efforts.

Additional Guidelines: For this essay, you have some flexibility in how you address the assignment. Notice that the assignment includes the phrase “to what degree.” This is an opportunity for you to discuss the complexity of the text rather than making a simplified claim that asserts that the novel does or does not provide a counter to the narrative, a different view of the stereotype.

Regardless of your position, you will discuss the various ways Reynolds in his novel demonstrates your claim of evaluation by incorporating several examples and quotations in each of the supporting paragraphs and by explaining how and why this information advances your point. Body paragraphs must be controlled by clear, strong topic sentence claims that force analysis, focus the content to follow, and link logically to your thesis. For this essay, your thesis will be developed by no fewer than four body paragraphs.

Begin your essay with a one or two-paragraph introductory section that engages your reader and establishes a context for your discussion. To do this, you will provide a brief summary (no more than 250 words) of Long Way Down, and introduce Jason Reynolds, including his hopes for the novel and his relationship to the subject matter. You may include information about the novel’s reception and/or information you have learned through assigned resources, including interviews. Place your thesis at the end of the introductory section. Your thesis will fully respond to the demands of the assignment. Be sure it asserts what, why, and how.

Your essay of approximately seven pages in length must be prepared according to MLA guidelines. This means you will incorporate quotations and cite them. You also will attach a Works Cited page that identifies all the sources you have used for your essay. Your paper should demonstrate through its development and analysis that you have read and considered the entirety of Long Way Down. Note: For this essay assignment, beyond the resources I have provided and the OED, you are not to conduct nor include any outside research.

Audience: Your audience has read the novel once but is unfamiliar with Reynolds’s background and his hopes for the novel.