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Was talking w @greeneyespowderblueshirtboy the other day and we discussed Andy doing Jude’s amputation surgery and just. Man. What must have been going through Andy’s head while he was doing the surgery? Obviously he was all for it and was the one who recommended it to Jude, but Jude is so so much more than just a patient to him. He loves Jude dearly, I can’t imagine what it must have been like to cut his legs off in that operating room. Those same legs that Andy spend decades cleaning and examining and repairing the wounds that always plagued them. The legs that Andy taught Jude how to walk on.
What must it be like to do such a procedure on a loved one?
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thinking about how willem loved jude so much that from a single image harold could tell willem was looking at jude
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imagine being harold and losing your son in law and knowing EXACTLY like EXACTLY what’s going to happen to your actual son and doing everything you can to keep him alive but just KNOWING that it’s all futile.
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So we know that in college Jude had grown his hair out long so he could “hide behind it” but what if there was another reason? What if it was some subconscious marker of his new life?
When Jude’s life with Brother Luke (vomit) began, the first thing Luke did was buzz off all of Jude’s hair.
So what if Jude grew his hair out in college as his own symbolic marking of the beginning of his new life, a complete opposite to the life he lived with Brother Luke?
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A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
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Thinking about the wildflowers that Willem and Jude planted in the fields around their house and how they’re probably still growing, year after year. They probably spread out over time, with no one to mow them or trim them back. They probably smother the house now, growing right up to the doorstep.
The happy years didn’t last long enough. But the flowers will continue to grow.
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"But instead he finds Harold wrapping him in his arms, and he tries to push him away, but Julia is holding him too, leaning over the carapace of his wheelchair, and he is trapped between them."
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A Little Life, Part VI, Chapter 3, pg. 792-793, written by Hanya Yanagihara
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Since Jude was really well known in the corporate law world I imagine that whenever his name inevitably got brought up by students or faculty or colleagues, Harold is SPEEDY to claim “That’s my son, you know!” And then proceeds to brag about him for an hour
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The Stare
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Page 267
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Page 358
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Page 439
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we are so old, we have become young again
moments from a little life
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vicious
moments from a little life
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i lowkey missed it the first time because it’s in the background of willem and malcom’s conversation abt jude’s long sleeves but
can we please talk abt jb and jude coming back from a nice beach walk and deciding to and i quote ‘fling sand at each other’ before jb drunkenly collapses and jude decides, apparently without any warning or discussion, to bury him up to his waist in the sand while jb lies there singing
what could be better than this just guys being dudes!!!!
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i'm definitely totally normal about jude st. francis
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Jude's Timeline
Since there are no dates or determinable time period (beyond the fact that it's set in the 21st century) in A Little Life, I love trying to figure out the timelines of the characters themselves. So here's Jude.
Newborn
Born in South Dakota
Abandoned as a newborn and taken in by the monastery
5 years old
Received a fossil from Brother Luke for his birthday
7 years old
Had his hand burnt by Father Gabriel
Sexual abuse by the Brothers began
8 years old
Given a set of wooden logs for his birthday
Abducted by Brother Luke and forced into prostitution
11 years old
Began cutting himself
12 years old
Rescued from Brother Luke
Placed in a boys group home in Montana
13 years old
Meets the Learys
Beaten by the counselors, causing life-long scarring on his back
14 years old
Runs away from the group home in Montana
Abducted by Dr. Traylor and held captive for four months
15 years old
Run over by Dr. Traylor, causing his life-long disability
Rescued from Dr. Traylor
Meets Ana
Begins living with the Douglasses
16 years old
Ana passes away
Briefly lives in an emergency shelter
Has a summer job at a bakery
Leaves Philadelphia, and starts his undergraduate study at an unnamed college in Boston
17 years old
Met Andy Contractor
Gifted a model house by Malcolm
18 years old
Began working as a classics professor's amanuensis
Dr. Traylor dies in prison
20 years old
Graduated from his undergraduate study and goes to France for the first time
Began Law School at (presumably) Harvard
Began his Pure Math Master's degree from MIT
Met Harold Stein and Julia Altman
21 years old
Stayed at Harold and Julia's house for the first time and imagined they were his parents
Had an unspecified internship during the summer
Invited to Harold and Julia's summer house, Truro, for the first time
22 years old
Learned to drive (from Harold)
23 years old
Graduated Law School
Graduated Masters at MIT
Began his clerkship in Washington, living in the living room of an unnamed legislative assistant
24 years old
Given keys to the Cambridge house by Julia
25 years old
Moved to New York, living at Malcolm's parents' house
Began working at the U.S Attorney as an assistant prosecutor
Moved out of Malcom's parents' house to Lispenard St
26 years old
Has his first episode in front of Harold, who sings to him
Willem finds out about his cutting
Jumps off a roof with his friends at Lispenard St
27 years old
Broke the mug that Jacob made
Attended Andy's wedding
29 years old
Began tutoring Felix
30 years old
Adopted by Harold and Julia <3
31 years old
First contacted by Lucien after working on case for Thackery Smith
Finalized the contract for a job at Rosen Pritchard, after the elevator broke once more at Lispenard
Contacted by Rob Wilson (Some unknown from the home)
32 years old
Bought his Green Street apartment
35 years old
Became a partner at Rosen Pritchard (the youngest one in the firm's history)
36 years old
Picked out a suit for Malcolm for his wedding that would happen that year
Began the renovations for Greene Street
37 years old
Broke off his friendship with JB after the latter mocks his disability
38 years old
Scolded by Harold out at dinner for working at Rosen Pritchard
40 years old
His former Master's advisor, Dr. Kashen, passes away
Attended his former classmates, Lionel and Sinclair's, wedding
Began dating Caleb Porter
Broke up with Caleb Porter
41 years old
Attempts suicide and is briefly institutionalized
Goes to Morroco
43 years old
Caleb port a potty dies <3
Began dating Willem
45 years old
Has his big fight with Willem and tells him about his childhood
46 years old
Buys a flat in London on Harley Street
The last time he would truly walk on his own. No aides, no prosthetics. This is during a trip to Bhutan
47 years old
Starts getting lots of wounds on his legs and bone infections
48 years old
Gets his legs amputated
49 years old
Starts walking again
50 years old
Set up scholarships for Julia and Harold at their respective universities
Loses both Willem and Malcolm (and Sophie) to a drunk driving accident
51 years old
His loved ones hold an intervention for him
52 years old
Went to Rome
Taught Harold how to cook
Asked to be the chairman of Rosen Pritchard
53 years old
Took his own life :(
If there's anything here you think should be added let me know. And of course this isn't every single thing that happened to Jude, just some main events or events that helped pinpoint the timeline. So if there's a scene/event/anything that you'd like to know the timeline of, let me know (inbox)
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a little life is just like. i love you so much but all the love i have for you, all the love in the world; it can't save me. nothing can. i love you; im sorry. im sorry that you love me. you can't save me.
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here’s a list of spoiler free a little life findings & anecdotes
• JB’s grandmother sang to him in French.
•During their sophomore year of college, Malcolm, Jude, and Willem visited JB everyday while he was in the hospital with a broken wrist.
•Jude is compared to the sea, for his everlasting presence.
•Willem can speak two languages.
•Jude was the first to arrive in their dorm, Malcolm was the second.
•Harold never imagined he would have a child.
•Jude learned to drive in Harold’s car.
•Andy has a twin brother who is also in the medical field.
•Late October is Willem’s favorite time in the city.
•Malcolm’s gaze is described as a lighthouse’s beam, when inspecting spaces.
•JB once carried Jude into the hospital following one of his episodes.
•There are 3 books that Jude read that are mentioned, Emma, On Narcissism, and The Hobbit (which is read to him).
•Willem is an avid coffee lover.
•Malcolm gifted Jude one of his miniature houses for his seventeenth birthday.
•Willem once moved Jude out of the way of an oncoming bike.
•Both Jude and Willem are characterized as optimists.
•One of Jude’s favorite streets is also a street in which Harold lives.
•Willem retaught Jude how to shave in college.
•Jude’s smile is compared to the moon.
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personally I think this segment is a prelude of the entire book and it hurts a lot more upon reread
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