Previous
Carlson Riggs
Dani was Will’s childhood best friend until she was accidentally killed at eight years old in a revenge shooting gone wrong. The ghost of Dani gets on the elevator with Will on the sixth floor—her ghost has grown up to be about Will’s age but wears an adult version of the dress she was wearing when she died. Will describes her as beautiful and considers flirting with her until he realizes who she is. Dani is a sharp, no-nonsense rule-follower, so she scolds Buck for smoking and Will for having a gun when she first gets on. She pushes Will to think about the possible unintended consequences of killing Carlson Riggs. In particular, she’s interested to know what Will will do if he misses, prompting him to think about the possibility that he could accidentally kill another child like Dani. As the elevator gets to the fifth floor, Dani accepts Buck’s proffered cigarette and starts to smoke, something that Will suggests would’ve been out of character for the Dani he knew. Dani says little else for the rest of the ride and gets out at the lobby with everyone else.
Dani Quotes in Long Way Down
The Long Way Down quotes below are all either spoken by Dani or refer to Dani. 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:
).
Six
Quotes
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.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
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.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
WHEN THEY SAID
you were gone,
I cried all night,
I confessed.
And the next morning,
over hard-boiled eggs
and sugar cereal,
Shawn taught me
Rule Number One—
no crying.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
I stood in the shower
the next morning
after Shawn taught me
the first rule,
no crying,
feeling like
I wanted to scratch
my skin off scratch
my eyes out punch
through something,
a wall,
a face,
anything,
so something else
could have
a hole.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
So I explained them to
her so she wouldn’t think
less of me for following
them
[...]
So that she knew I had
purpose
and that this was about
family
and had I known
The Rules when we
were kids I would’ve
done the same thing
for her.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Long Way Down LitChart as a printable PDF.
Dani Quotes in Long Way Down
The Long Way Down quotes below are all either spoken by Dani or refer to Dani. 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:
).
Six
Quotes
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.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
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.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
WHEN THEY SAID
you were gone,
I cried all night,
I confessed.
And the next morning,
over hard-boiled eggs
and sugar cereal,
Shawn taught me
Rule Number One—
no crying.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
I stood in the shower
the next morning
after Shawn taught me
the first rule,
no crying,
feeling like
I wanted to scratch
my skin off scratch
my eyes out punch
through something,
a wall,
a face,
anything,
so something else
could have
a hole.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
So I explained them to
her so she wouldn’t think
less of me for following
them
[...]
So that she knew I had
purpose
and that this was about
family
and had I known
The Rules when we
were kids I would’ve
done the same thing
for her.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
