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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. Jude receives what medical device or devices after his legs are amputated?

2. In what month does Jude invite Willem to a company event held by Jude's law firm?

3. What excuse does Jude make to everyone about his black eye and bruised face?

4. Which of Harold's family members died before Harold met Jude?

5. How many months before Willem's scheduled return does Jude meet Caleb?

Short Essay Questions

1. What warning does Jude give to Willem regarding sex?

2. What methods does Jude use in order to hide the signs that he is being abused?

3. How did Jude come to leave the group home in Montana?

4. To what historical event does the part title Vanities allude?

5. Characterize Willem's passion for acting.

6. At what aspect of Jude's presence in the courtroom does Harold marvel and why?

7. In what way does Willem depend on Jude?

8. How had Brother Luke treated Jude differently than any of the other priests at the monastery had?

9. What is ironic about the mistaken identity of the person Jude hallucinates is trying to hurt him?

10. What is Willem's agent's reaction to his decision to stay in New York after Jude's suicide attempt?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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

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 use of metaphor, simile, imagery, and other literary devices as a means to send particular thematic messages within the narrative of A Little Life.

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This section contains 1,128 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample