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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who began to sexually molest Jude after he was caught stealing a lighter?

2. Which character is the only person Jude will allow to provide him with medical care?

3. What behavior did Jude begin to exhibit after he began to be sexually molested by a priest from whom he had stolen a lighter?

4. To what location does Jude go on a rare occasion outside of the monastery?

5. Whose parents own a house on Martha's Vineyard?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is Felix and what is significant about his emotional breakdown?

2. In what ways does Jude feel out-of-step with the rest of his peers' experiences?

3. What happens to necessitate the use of the fire escape?

4. What is the significance of the title for Part II, "The Postman" (210)?

5. Discuss a time when Yanigihara uses a metaphor to represent some aspect of friendship.

6. In what way is the theme of acquiescence included in the first part of A Little Life?

7. What impetus prompts Malcolm to come out to his parents?

8. What two elements of Willem's life in Wyoming does he miss?

9. What is the occasion of the opening scene in A Little Life?

10. How does the theme of regret appear within A Little Life?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the instances of irony within the narrative of A Little Life and analyze Yanagihara’s purpose for including each instance you discuss.

Essay Topic 2

William Faulkner once famously claimed that the most important literature deals with the subject of the human heart in conflict with itself. Explain how the theme of Human versus Self is demonstrated within Yanagihara’s novel A Little Life. Create a decisive, arguable claim and prove it with quotes from the novel.

Essay Topic 3

How does the motif of dreams appear within A Little Life and how does its treatment relate to the novel's depicted messages?

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