There were many themes inside of the novel. In the novel revenge and power were a huge impact on the story. It swayed the whole motive inside of the novel. Revenge was a huge factor in the novel. In the passage it states, “No. 3 Revenge If someone you love gets killed, find the person who killed them and kill them.” (33) This quote shows that revenge is a rule that needs to be followed to avenge a loved one.. In the story Will talks about finding and killing Shawns killer to avenge him. This could be bad for Will because if he gets caught he could be a target for some people. In the story they talk about the story of Mark Holloman who is Will's father. Mark tried to avenge his brother and get revenge on the person he thought was his
Mark grew up to be a lot like their father. Since the family grew up poor and with their father walking in and out of their life there was a struggle to know right from wrong with the brothers. Him and his brother Sam always fought, but would only stop when they saw their mother got upset. In the book, Bragg says “Life is too short to dance with an ugly woman, and my ugly woman was my own envy” (131). Mark falls very true to that statement.
In the novel, Fools Crow, written by James Welch, the act of revenge is shown numerous times and is an underlying theme throughout. These acts of revenge reflect the Blackfeet way of life. Yellow Kidney, Owl Child, and the rest of the tribe all show signs of revenge and each express it in their own way. This is especially prevalent with Yellow Kidney and Owl Child as they seem to be constantly seeking revenge of some sort. Yellow Kidney wanted revenge on Fast Horse throughout the novel.
“The City” by Ray Bradbury is a story of revenge. The City itself is an unpopulated city on a planet far away from Earth. It seeks revenge upon Earthians who killed its people long ago. The City’s sole purpose is to wait for people of Earth to come back and exact its revenge. It waits twenty thousand years to do so.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter a peculiar character whose real name is never revealed, poisons a man with a vicious bite. The reader may know him as Roger Chillingworth, the husband of Hester Prynne and self proclaimed physician, but a closer look at his appearance and actions will show how he fueled the fire of Hell. How Roger Chillingworth was the Devil. Everything about Chillingworth was told through his appearance throughout the story as he became the embodiment of Hell’s tyrant.
In “The Scarlet Letter,” the author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, depicts Roger Chillingworth as a man that is out for revenge. Chillingworth comes into the story and immediately comes to realize that his ex-wife has betrayed him by sleeping with another man. Chillingworth wants to avenge his pride by finding the man that did him wrong by sneaking into his personal life and torturing him under his nose. Throughout this book, Chillingworth changes in many different ways, physically and emotionally. Driven by his lust for revenge, Roger Chillingworth uses his personal background to hide his intent of torturing his wife’s hidden lover, and changes his being throughout the book.
Not only was this a clash of innocent people fighting for their lives, but they were also fighting to show these accusers as liars. One major theme in the book is the theme of “Love”. Love makes people do many things, that they could or could not regret.
In the elevator Mark walks in putting Will in a playful headlock, also making remarks to his Wills similar appearance to Mikey. We learn about Mark’s interest in filmmaking as he was aspiring to create a movie with a camera gifted by his mother. Though once he lost his beloved camera, he was finding ways to make money to get another one. He took himself to the corner to sell drugs for only a day, but soon the day turned into weeks, into a month, until he was killed by his own greediness. Through this section Mark ends up recapping Will’s future revenge like a movie script, from when he gets out of the elevator to when he sees Riggs.
90.65% of homicides are revenge related. 100% of those happen because of emotional hurt or hatred. Will leaves in a rough neighborhood. His actions are dictated by three rules. His brother dies and he’s faced with the decision of killing his brother’s murderer or letting him walk.
Ashley Cruz Mrs. Grey English 1 Honors 27 March 2023 The Power of Revenge In the story Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds, we’re introduced to how some people live and how they all repeat a cycle of power, loyalty, revenge and fear. You may wonder how people live with power, loyalty, revenge, and fear. Almost every character that was killed in Long Way Down sought revenge and got it, then they faced the consequences of being killed. The story states “There's a code of conduct, and what those rules are is number one, no crying, number two, no snitching, number three, always seek revenge.”, cited on page 31.
On the ride down, the ghost of Uncle Mark, Will’s Uncle who was killed because he followed the cycle of violence, said “And the reason why is because, for the first time in your life, you realize, or at least think you could kill someone, right” (Reynolds 172)? On the elevator, Uncle Mark tried to get Will to narrate his revenge plan as a movie, but Will struggled when he got to the part about vocalizing his intent to shoot Riggs. Uncle Mark ominously makes Will tell the truth about how he planned to avenge Shawn's shooting death, forcing Will to walk through the scene of killing Carlson Riggs. As Will rehearsed his part, it gave him a more vivid perspective of the circumstances he would have to face while killing Carlson Riggs. Will realized that this plan of action would be life-changing and challenging.
In "Long Way Down," author Jason Reynolds explores the devastating cycle of violence that hurts many communities. Will, the protagonist, showed us a exciting journey that highlights just how difficult it can be to break free from the vicious cycle of revenge and violence. The author shows this by telling us about how the characters were always told to get revenge, how easy it is to get pulled into the cycle, and that it makes people's vision/mind cloudy making them make bad decisions. The first quote that shows this theme is "No.3 Revenge if someone you love gets killed find the person and kill them.”
Revenge can help us feel better about ourselves, but you must remember it will eventually come back to you. In the book Long Way Down written by Jason Reynolds, Will is motivated to get revenge back on Shawn's murderer but he has to realize he will soon be the next victim. I believe that Shawn is the most important and has the biggest impact on will. In Will´s family, they have to follow a certain amount of rules that are not meant to be broken. ´´
Fear and Revenge “False accusations are of particular interest to skeptics because skepticism has often been at the forefront of giving voice to the wrongly accused” (Radford). Skeptical claims have been recognized and allows the public to ask for strong evidence to support their claims. It is not right to falsely accuse a person of a crime they did not commit, but it still happens today.
Revenge is one of the “unwritten rules” in the urban area that the story takes place in. Will believes he must follow the rule of revenge to not be looked down upon by his community. “They weren’t meant to be broken./ They were meant for the broken/ to follow.” (Reynolds 35). Will explains how “The Rules” were not meant to be broken, but for the broken-hearted to follow them.
Revenge can be a horrible emotion; it can sometimes lead people to do horrible things. By definition, Revenge means to get retribution for a wrongdoing done to you. In my opinion, revenge is mostly caused by fear and the overwhelming feeling of payback Throughout history, revenge, or vengeance, has been altered by several cultures and religions, and even the American culture. Though it often leads one to perform criminal acts, Howard argues that it is a necessary component in the functioning of society. He points out that revenge is a threat that acts as a disincentive to undeserved violence.