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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. Around what location had Willem liked to push Hemming's wheelchair as Hemming enjoyed the ride?

2. What is the only phrase Jude has ever mentioned in connection with his damaged legs?

3. What substance did Father Gabriel pour on Jude's hand before lighting it on fire?

4. What strategy does Willem adopt during Jude's episodes of extreme pain?

5. What type of surgery does Hemming undergo during Willem's college years?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Yanigihara want the reader to view Jude's decision to keep his past a secret and how do you know?

2. How does the theme of deception enter the narrative within the friendship between Willem and Jude?

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

4. How does the theme of courage intertwine with the theme of secrecy within Jude's character?

5. In what way is foreshadowing included in relation to Jude's future?

6. In what way are the themes of secrecy and control depicted in Part II: The Postman?

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

8. What does Willem say in the opening scene when he is asked about his parents and why is it significant?

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

10. Characterize Willem's relationship with his parents prior to their deaths.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Determine Yanagihara’s message within the novel A Little Life regarding the idea that euthanasia should be an option available for people who truly wish to end their lives.

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

Discuss Yanagihara's choice to tell the story of A Little Life using a third person omniscient narrator. What elements of the novel's themes lend themselves to this choice and what are Yanagihara’s intended effects on the reader?

(see the answer keys)

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