Buck Continued to Interfere With Spitz but Now His Actions Were So That He Would Not Get Caught
Buck was Shawn's mentor after Pop died. He's tall and slim, has no facial hair, and wears gold chains around his neck. When Will meets Buck's ghost in the elevator, Buck is wearing a T-shirt commemorating his own death. Though his real name was James, he acquired the nickname Buck because he couldn't grow any facial hair as a young man. As far as Will knows, Buck never went by anything else—the only time Will ever saw Buck's given name was on his headstone. Buck was raised in a difficult family situation: his father was plagued by the "nighttime" (a kind of inner darkness or dangerous streak) while his stepfather was a preacher and tried to get Buck on the right path. This attempt failed, however, and Will wonders if the "nighttime" is something Buck couldn't escape. Following Pop's death when Buck was 16, Buck took Shawn under his wing, ceased selling drugs, and instead started to rob suburban houses. This earned him a reputation as a skilled thief who always had expensive stolen items in his possession. As a mentor to Shawn, Buck passed along "the Rules" of the neighborhood and taught him how to handle his gun. Will recognizes that all of Shawn's advice about girls also came straight from Buck. Buck was killed when a man named Frick attempted to rob him. Around the time of his death, he passed his gun down to Shawn, along with the chain that Shawn was wearing when he died. In death, Buck is a jokester and doesn't take Will's desire for revenge seriously. He heckles and teases Will, though this comes off as an attempt to get Will to reconsider his choices. In Buck's serious moments, he also attempts to make very clear to Will how the neighborhood's cycle of violence functions and continues. He does so by drawing clear connections between himself, Frick, Shawn, Will, and Carlson Riggs (whom Will plans to kill to avenge Shawn's death). Buck is also the first to begin smoking in the elevator and provides cigarettes to most of the other ghostly elevator passengers.
Buck Quotes in Long Way Down
The Long Way Down quotes below are all either spoken by Buck or refer to Buck. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
[...] I thought about this when the man with
the gold chains got on and checked to see if the
L button was already glowing. I wondered if he knew
that in me and Shawn's world, I'd already chosen to be
a loser.
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Then
the bus-stop
lean back
to get a glimpse
of the world.
But the metal barrel
dug into my back,
making me wince,
making me obvious
and wack.
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
SHE BRUSHED HER HAND AGAINST MINE
to get my attention,
which on any other
occasion would've
been the perfect
open for me to flirt
or at least try to do
my best impression of Shawn,
which was
his best impression of Buck.
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
The end?
he murmured,
looking at Buck,
motioning for a light.
It's never the end,
Uncle Mark said,
all chuckle, chuckle.
He leaned toward Buck.
Never.
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
A DUMB THING TO SAY
would've been to
tell Buck how important
that soap was
that it stopped Mom from
scraping loose a river
of wounds.
But instead
I just said,
Riggs.
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
I TOLD HIM
about the
drawer,
the gun,
that I did
like he told me,
like Buck told him,
like our grandfather told
our uncle, like our uncle
told our dad.
I followed The Rules.
At least the first two.
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Buck Character Timeline in Long Way Down
The timeline below shows where the character Buck appears in Long Way Down. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
...back of his shirt, squatting with middle fingers in the air. The caption reads, "RIP Buck you'll be missed 4eva." (full context)
Will's stomach leaps. He says Buck's name and stumbles backwards. Will thinks this can't be true and stutters, but Buck finishes... (full context)
...read that he was scared to death. He momentarily thinks that he shouldn't be afraid; Buck was like a big brother to Shawn, and Shawn knew Buck longer than he'd known... (full context)
Will stands in silence until Buck stage whispers that Will's "tail" is showing. Will puts his hand behind him to feel... (full context)
...that Shawn is dead. Will reasons that he doesn't need to tiptoe around Shawn's fate—since Buck is dead, he probably already knows that Shawn is too. Regardless, Will explains what happened.... (full context)
...middle drawer. Scared, Will asks what's taking so long and pounds on the door. Smiling, Buck says the elevator has always been slow, but Will insists this is ridiculous. Buck tells... (full context)
Buck teasingly asks Will if he has a job to do and if he's going to... (full context)
Will reaches for the gun, but Buck won't let go. Will tries to yank the gun out of Buck's hands, but Buck... (full context)
The girl turns to Buck and sarcastically says that she didn't know smoking was legal in elevators. Will is disturbed... (full context)
...like Shawn. However, Will knows that his impression of Shawn is just Shawn's impression of Buck. Since Buck's ghost is in the elevator, Will doesn't flirt, and he thinks it's hard... (full context)
...a girl says she knows you, that means she's been watching you. Will figures that Buck taught Shawn this, and hopes it's true. Will asks the girl where she knows him.... (full context)
...away to somewhere else, just like they pretended they could do on the monkey bars. Buck quips that he wants to throw up. Will remembers Shawn screaming to get down. Shawn... (full context)
Will turns to Buck, hoping he'll say something that will help. Instead, Buck merely pulls out his cigarettes and... (full context)
The elevator feels like a box of smoke. Buck and Dani puff and puff on their cigarettes, but Will expects the smoke to rush... (full context)
...tell this water that drowning isn't funny. When the hands release Will, he looks to Buck and Dani for help. They move to the corner, laughing and smoking. (full context)
...is just tripping him up. Uncle Mark demands that Will finished while Dani whimpers and Buck laughs. Will says again that he pulls the gun out, but he can't say what... (full context)
...his mouth and motions for a match, he chuckles and says that's never the end. Buck lights the match and the elevator stops. (full context)
...Shawn how he knew everything about Pop's death. Shawn always said he heard it from Buck, since Pop died on Buck's corner. At that point, 16-year-old Buck started looking out for... (full context)
...the extra cigarette. Pop stares at Will as he puts the cigarette in his mouth. Buck steps forward with a match as Will steps into the corner, wishing the elevator would... (full context)
...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... (full context)
Before Frick can say anything, Will asks how Buck knows Frick and why Frick is in the elevator. Buck scoffs and says that Frick... (full context)
Buck's legal name was James, but he always went by Buck. Buck was short for "young-buck,"... (full context)
At first, Buck sold drugs on the corner, but he stopped after Pop got shot. Then, Buck became... (full context)
Buck explains that he and Shawn were drinking at the basketball court. Shawn was talking about... (full context)
Buck says that while Shawn was talking about this guy, he was trying to show Shawn... (full context)
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... (full context)
...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... (full context)
...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... (full context)
Buck asks Will how he knows that Riggs got Shawn. Will says it makes sense—Riggs avenged... (full context)
Everyone is thrilled to see Shawn. He slaps hands with Buck, spins Dani around, and embraces Uncle Mark. Beaming, Shawn approaches Pop. They hug and then... (full context)
...tells Shawn that he's doing what Shawn always told him to do, which is what Buck taught Shawn to do, what their grandfather taught Uncle Mark to do, and what Uncle... (full context)
Requesting a new title requires a free LitCharts account.
With a free LitCharts account, you'll also get updates on new titles we publish and the ability to save highlights and notes.
Creating notes and highlights requires a free LitCharts account.
You can access all of your notes and highlights by logging into your account.
mitchellnortrinter.blogspot.com
Source: https://www.litcharts.com/lit/long-way-down/characters/buck
0 Response to "Buck Continued to Interfere With Spitz but Now His Actions Were So That He Would Not Get Caught"
Post a Comment