A Little Life By Hanya Yanagihara

Karina De Paz Mr. Stare AVID 2 March 17, 2024.

Growing up can be one of our hardest battles in life. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara is a tragic literary fiction that takes place in New York City about a group of college students on their journey of aging as they face the struggling reality of adulthood after graduation. The main character is a young man named Jude who has a tragic past which he hides from his friends in order to forget the trauma and move on. This story shows us how to cope with our problems and how to forgive others. However, if I was in the book, I would not be as forgiving of any of the characters for their actions in the book. JB is one of Jude’s friends who went to art school and later was recognized for his photography.

In the heat of the moment JB yells, “You like knowing how fucked up I am? You like always being the person who gets to learn everyone else’s secrets, without ever telling us a single f*cking thing? Well, it doesn’t work like that, and we’re all sick of you” (318). Even after that, Jude decided to forgive JB despite all of his friends being upset because he didn’t deserve Jude’s forgiveness. JB also hated Jude for the fact that their friend Willem preferred Jude and they were closer. If I were Jude in this situation I wouldn’t have forgiven JB because Jude’s forgiveness leads to JB gradually getting more jealous of Jude, which causes more hatred in the friendship. Willem is a famous actor with a disabled brother who passed away when he was away at college. He met Jude at college and soon saw a part of his brother in Jude. He would always want to protect Jude because he understands how insecure Jude is with his limp. During the argument with JB about the insensitive painting, Willem punched JB and ended their friendship

When Jude recovered he said to Willem, “I hope the reason you’re not talking to JB isn’t because of what happened with me” (332) to which Willem replied, “Of course it’s because of what happened with you” (332). Willem understands the pain JB caused on Jude and how he shouldn’t let him return into their lives until he’s shown he’s worthy and understands the pain he caused. I agree with Willem and would've done the same because the only way to show you’re truly sorry is by showing your growth as a person and understanding your actions, but JB did neither. Harold is Jude’s adoptive father who adopted him when Jude was graduating college and has looked after him during all his struggles in life. When JB and Jude were alone at one of JB’s shows, JB took advantage of Jude during a vulnerable stage in his life, which caused Jude to faint and later develop an eating disorder and become incredibly sick. Andy, who has been Jude’s doctor since he was 15, see’s Jude’s terrible condition and says, “What’re you doing to yourself, Jude? You look like hell” (783). Andy knew that if Jude didn’t fix this lifestyle he would end up dead, and Harold knew this but still allowed JB into his house because he used to be a part