Previous
The Gun
The middle drawer of Shawn’s dresser symbolizes the darkness and danger in Shawn himself. Will explains that the broken middle drawer was the only thing out of place on Shawn’s neat and tidy half of their bedroom—and furthermore, it contained Shawn’s gun. Both Will and their mother ignored this, however, just as they ignored the clear evidence that there was a darker side to Shawn than the jovial, loving, and neat brother and son that Will and his mother wanted to see. He was, despite his best intentions and everyone’s fears, a person with a violent streak that ultimately led to his death. Though Will, by breaking into this drawer and stealing the gun, may be experimenting with his own violent tendencies, the novel also suggests that Will doesn’t have to let his dark side define him or end his life, as it did for Shawn. The broken middle drawer and the gun within it can thus be seen as a representation of the darkness and violence that, to some degree, exist in all people—and the idea that ignoring this violence in others or allowing it to become one’s own defining characteristic are choices, not inevitabilities.
The Middle Drawer Quotes in Long Way Down
The Long Way Down quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Middle Drawer. 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:
).
Four
Quotes
A BROKEN HEART
killed my dad.
That’s what my mother
always said.
And as a kid
I always figured
his heart
was forreal broken
like an arm
or a toy
or the middle drawer.
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Two
Quotes
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.
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The Middle Drawer Symbol Timeline in Long Way Down
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Middle Drawer appears in Long Way Down. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Prologue
The only thing out of place on Shawn’s side is the middle drawer in Shawn’s dresser, which sits like a jagged tooth in an otherwise perfect mouth. Shawn...
(full context)
...usually went to bed alone, staring at Shawn’s half-full bottles of cologne and the middle drawer. He never touched anything because he didn’t want to Shawn to put him in a...
(full context)
All of a sudden, the room seems lopsided to Will. He’s curious about Shawn’s middle drawer, which seems to call to Will. Will thinks that the off-centeredness of the drawer is...
(full context)
...has never held or touched a gun. When he picks up Shawn’s pistol from the drawer, it’s heavier than Will expected—it seems as heavy as a newborn baby. Will knows the...
(full context)
Seven
The elevator vibrates as though it’s off track, like the middle drawer. Scared, Will asks what’s taking so long and pounds on the door. Smiling, Buck says...
(full context)
Four
...always thought that Pop’s heart was literally broken, like a toy or like the middle drawer. Shawn, however, said that Pop died for killing the man who killed Uncle Mark. A...
(full context)
Two
...stands there awkwardly instead of hugging him back. Will thinks Shawn looks like “a middle drawer / of a man.” He asks Shawn why he won’t say anything, and then tells...
(full context)
