Deeper Character Analysis
What emotion does Will pretend to feel in order to follow the Rules, even when he is devastated by Shawn's death?
What is toughness / coldness?
Why does Jason Reynolds use free-verse poetry instead of a traditional narrative style.
What is to mirror Will's fragmented thoughts and the rapid, compressed timeline?
Who is the first ghost to break the silence and speak to Will?
Who is Buck?
DAILY DOUBLE
What is the final Rule that pressures Will to sneak into the apartment?
What is "always get revenge"?
What time of day does Will leave the apartment, contributing to the eerie, quiet elevator ride?
What is early morning?
Why is Shawn's silence so powerful in Will's life, even before his death?
What is Shawn communicates through actions, not words, his presence carried meaning that Will constantly tries to imitate?
What literary device is used when the elevator stops on every floor even though almost no one uses it at that time in the day?
What is situational irony?
Which ghost reveals that Shawn may not have even fired a gun before the day he died?
Who is Frick?
Why do none of the ghosts tell Will directly what to do?
DAILY DOUBLE
Why is it important that Will's gun is loaded with one bullet missing?
What is it implies Shawn did fire the gun recently, or that someone else did, raising doubt about Will's assumptions?
DAILY DOUBLE
What internal conflict is revealed when Will rehearses how he plans to kill Riggs?
What is he doesn't actually know if he can take a life (internal conflict)?
What effect does the extremely short chapters have on the pacing of the novel?
What is they create a breathless, urgent rhythm that parallels the trip down?
Which ghost symbolizes the accidental casualties of the rule system Will is about to repeat?
Who is Uncle Mark?
What moral contradiction does the ghost of Frick reveal about the Rules?
What is the shooter can also be a victim, showing the cycle isn't clean or righteous?
What small detail hints that Will may be unreliable in his understanding of Shawn's death?
What is he only heard the story second-hand and filled in the blanks himself?
What does Dani's appearance specifically force Will to confront about his own childhood?
What is his early exposures to violence?
Which narrative technique allows readers to question whether the ghosts are real or symbolic?
What is magical realism?
DAILY DOUBLE
Why is Dani's death especially haunting for Will compared to the others?
What is she died because he froze, so her death represents his personal guilt?
What philosophical question does the elevator ride ultimately force Will to answer?
What is whether loyalty means violence or if loyalty could mean breaking tradition?
Why does the smell of cigarette smoke matter in the elevator scenes?
What is it signals Buck's presence before Will sees him, blending memory with supernatural experience?
What complex relationship does Will have with grief that the ghosts repeatedly expose?
What is he confuses grief with obligation to seek revenge, instead of processing loss?
DAILY DOUBLE
Why does the novel use repetition of phrases like "The Rules" and "Shawn taught me"?
What is to emphasize how deeply thesis ideas have been conditioned into Will?
What unifying trait links all of the ghosts besides the fact that they were all shot?
What is each ghost represents a different consequence of the revenge cycle?
How does the novel challenge the idea that revenge equals justice?
What is by showing the chain reactions that revenge causes?
Why is Shawn crying at the end even though the Rules say not to cry?
What is it symbolizes the emotional breaking point of the cycle, and that even the most "tough" figures carry grief if they were forced to hide?