alwd

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This poem is narrated by someone who was shot, and they later begin talking about the person who shot them, and what happened afterwards. This poem is very powerful to me because it evokes a sense of pain/empathy for the narrator. The first paragraph helps to create lots of imagery, evoking a sense of betrayal or hurt that the narrator was feeling. This poem can even relate to the actual stories in ALWD as a lot of them involve the deceased getting shot.

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Found poem - creative element

Shot Shattered, shifted. Shards shiving me, like a snitch, who knew the rules. Taught him that he was angry, that something had gotten into him. He took off running, barely touched concrete. Took the pistol, bang, bang..

Differences

Similarities

In My Life

The Beatles

Fighter

Christina Aguilera

Slipped Away

Avril Lavinge

Brendan's Death Song

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Far Away

Nickelback

My Immortal

Evanescence

Let Down

Radiohead

Way Down

A Long

Playlist - Audio Element

Drawing and artist statement - Visual Element

I made the elevator buttons because they are very symbolic during this point in the book. Pushing the L button is symbolic because Will and Shawn used to play this game where pressing it made you the loser. On this floor, Will was the one to press it, making him a "loser" for considering killing someone.

VS

Radiohead often puts together more sad songs, and this is one of them. Let Down is about struggling with not being in control of situation and going through feelings of disillusionment. In the current situation in the story, we can sense that Will feels trapped, or in other words, he feels like he doesn’t have control over the way his life is playing out. I say this because of how he must have been feeling when Dani was shot. If he could have it his way, Dani would still be alive and happy. In this floor, as the reader, the mood felt very depressing. This is because many of the characters were experiencing disillusionment. This is where you feel betrayed because of something someone you trusted did. The most prominent case of disillusionment in this floor is Dani, when she finds out that Will is planning on murdering someone. OBVIOUSLY, Dani would never expect him to do something so vile ,so her feelings of disillusionment are very prominent.

Let Down

Radiohead

In A Long Way Down, the story between Dani and Will (when they were younger) is that they used to be really close friends, and one day they ended up kissing. However, that same day, Dani ended up getting shot dead. In this song, (My Immortal) the story seems the same. It is about two people who love each other, but neither know about the other’s feelings. However, we learn through this song that one of the two ends up dying. This is super similar to what happens to Will and Dani, and it also gives off the same mood as the song. Both pieces are very heart wrenching, almost, and they also evoke a feeling of sadness on the reader (or listener). A lyric from the song, “These wounds won't seem to heal, this pain is just too real there's just too much that time cannot erase.” talks about a “wound” (trauma) someone has, and how even time cannot help them forgot this memory. Since Will’s trauma first started at eight years old and he is still hurt by it, we know that time has not helped to relieve his pain even in the lightest. Using this information, we can see just how much “My Immortal” and A Long Way Down have in common.

My Immortal

Evanescence

Slipped Away by Avril Lavigne focuses on the loss of a family member and how Avril grieved and dealt with that trauma. This correlates to A Long Way Down because of the death of Will’s brother, and how he handled it. Avril dealt with her emotions by writing a song, which is a good way to relieve your negative emotions. However, Will’s way of dealing with his emotions is by getting revenge, which is a very negative way to handle such feelings. Even though Avril and Will are handling their situations VERY differently, they still both grieve for their lost family. Another time we see grief/loss in Will is when he begins to talk about Dani and her death. This is relevant to the song because this is the first instance Will had ever lost somebody that close to him in such a brutal and abrupt way. The way he handled that situation was by taking a very hot shower in hopes of “scratching his own skin off”. Because of the way he reacted and the language he used in both instances, the reader would feel an emotion of sympathy or sadness for the person. Understanding why Will might have decided to avenge his brother instead of forgiving Briggs is very important because otherwise, you would assume Will is stupid or has no reason to avenge him.

Slipped Away

Avril Lavigne

The conflicts in both books are drastically different. In ALWD, the conflict is inside of Will, when in the Outsiders, the conflict is the gangs. The stories are also very different. This is seen when we see that Shawn dies during the beginning of his story, but Johnny doesn’t die till towards the end. This also affects the moods of the story.

Differences

ALWD/The Outsiders

Brendan’s Death Song is by the band Red Hot Chili Peppers, and it follows the story of Brendan Mullen, the founder of Masque, another punk/rock band. He passed away due to a stroke, and the purpose of this song was to help his legacy live on and provide closure to some. This song does a great job of embodying the feelings Will must of had when he realized that Dani was still alive. This song is about grief and remembrance, which are two very big moods that we, the readers, feel in this chapter (floor). This is because we hear the story about how Dani died, which turns out to be very gruesome and sad especially because she was so young. These emotions also help us to understand how this tragedy must have affected Will, as he was young as well and it is mentioned that he had “never felt anything like it”. Another connection between this song and Long Way Down is that they both discuss how those who died had love for someone. It is mention in ALWD that Dani and Will kissed on the day she died, which shows us that they felt something for each other. Will losing (possibly) his best friend in such an abrupt way can really affect him, and we see this by the way he reacted after her death. "Brendan’s Death Song" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers honors Brendan Mullen, founder of the Masque, who passed away from a stroke. The song captures the grief and remembrance that resonate deeply in this chapter, especially as we learn about Dani's tragic death at a young age. Will’s profound emotional response highlights the impact of losing someone he loved, particularly since he and Dani shared a moment of connection on the day she died. Their relationship highlights the themes of love and loss that we see in both the song and Will's journey.

Brendan's Death Song

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Far Away by Nickelback is about loving and missing someone that you lost. A popular lyric from this song, “I love you, I loved you all along, And I miss you.” helps us come to this conclusion. This song relates to A Long Way Down because we can see in this floor, Will had a very dangerous strong reaction after Dani died. Like I said before, we also learned that Dani and Will were possibly in love, and based on the mood/tone of their conversation, it is obvious that Will missed her very much. It was also the first time he had ever felt something like that, so he likely never let go of that memory. Another common theme in this song is how you would always love a certain person, no matter the distance. In Will’s case, the “distance” is life / death. Even with the distance he has from Dani, he still loves her/misses her. We see this when he describes her beauty as “fine as heaven”, and when she shows him the picture they took on the monkey bars, he describes her expression and says that she has a certain sunshine in her eyes. The way he describes her and the way he talks to her tells us everything we need to know about how he feels about her now.

Far Away

Nickelback

In these stories, both duos are similar with their relationship with each other. Shawn and Will are close because they are brothers, and Johnny and PonyBoy have a similar “brotherly” relationship as they are super close. Both duos also grew up in menacing environments. For example, Shawn and Will grew up in a place where people get revenge by killing, and Johnny and Ponyboy grew up with gangs and lots of gang violence.

Similarites

ALWD/The Outsiders

Fighter by Christina Aguilera follows the story of a girl who thought she could trust someone close to her and she thought that she knew them, but it turns out this person was nothing they were imagined to be. The similarities between this song and A Long Way Down are that Dani “knew” that she could trust Will, but it turns out he has changed so much since she was shot. This tragedy changed him, and then about seven years later, his brother died the same death Dani did. This was his breaking point, and he decided he was going to follow through with The Rules, even though he may regret them. This is not the Will Dani had met when she was younger, so she was ultimately shocked to find out what he was plotting. She then tries to convince him not to do something like this, but to no avail. I specifically picked this song because it is about how the girl got stronger from a trauma. This relates to Will, because he has been through so much that he has finally built up the strength and the courage to avenge his brother’s death. Without the trauma he got from Dani, I doubt he would have even though about going through with a murder.

Fighter

Christina Aguilera

In My Life by The Beatles is a song about reflecting on your past memories and mistakes, but it also turns into missing old friends. This song very closely relates to A Long Way Down because memories are a very common occurrence with the narrator. Everytime someone new comes into the elevator, we get a lot of their backstory or their story with Will. On this floor, Dani reaches the elevator. It seems as though Will is attracted to her, and we find out later that they are childhood friends. One day at the park, Dani got shot and died. With Will’s sudden realization that she is “alive”, the memories came flooding back to him. He missed her very much, and was very shocked to see her. Another common theme in this song is reflecting on your loves and losses. I chose this song mainly because of the fact that Will was in love with Dani that day she died (they kissed), but he ended up losing her that same day. With the language used in the passages, I get a sense that Will was grieving her. He was very shocked to ever see her again, and he was quite literally mesmerized. Overall, these works both have a lot of themes in common.

In My Life

The Beatles