Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in A Little Life, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Trauma
Identity
Success and Happiness
Friendship and Human Connection
Pain and Suffering
Summary
Analysis
In their second year of college, Jude, Willem, JB, and Malcolm’s suitemates were three lesbians who were in a band together called Backfat. Now, 15 years after graduation, two of them, Marta and Francesca, are a couple and living together in Brooklyn. One day, JB tells everyone some exciting news: Edie, the third lesbian, a Korean American woman with a predilection for eccentric jobs, is in town, and she’s transitioning. Malcolm scoffs; Edie has never shown any signs of gender dysmorphia before (a coworker of his transitioned last year, so he now considers himself an expert). JB ignores Malcolm and says that the so-called “Bitches of Bushwick” are throwing a party to celebrate. Nobody besides JB is all that enthusiastic.
Jude, Willem, and Malcolm don’t share JB’s enthusiasm for Marta, Francesca, and Edie’s party. This suggests that they’ve moved on with their lives and have little desire to revisit their college days, whereas JB remains nostalgic about the past. This highlights how even as JB moves up in his career, he remains unsatisfied, and he longs to return to a time in the past when he felt happy. For JB, at least, success doesn’t guarantee happiness—and it might even diminish happiness.
Themes
But JB eventually wears them down, and so the next weekend, they meet at Jude’s loft on Greene Street and then make their way to the party. They struggle to find parking, and JB whines for Jude to just use his handicapped sign so they can park wherever they want. Jude refuses, though—he hates using the sign. They eventually find a spot and head to the apartment. Inside, Jude has a horrible time. He dreaded going, not wanting to have to explain to so many people why he's using a wheelchair.
The novel is largely devoid of cultural and historical reference points that would otherwise place the novel at a specific point in time. As a result, the reader must rely on other details to mark the passage of time. Here, the fact that Jude has moved into a loft on Greene Street, and the revelation that he now must (at least sometimes) use a wheelchair are two details the novel uses to show that time has passed. Just as success doesn’t make JB happier, Jude’s financial success (as indicated by his apparent ability to move into his own place) doesn’t correspond to physical healing. In fact, Jude’s physical strength has only diminished as his professional life flourishes.
Themes
Meanwhile, Willem is suddenly overcome with the sudden need to leave this place. Most of the time, he enjoys seeing old college friends. But recently, his life seems so detached from his college days. He teases JB about not having graduated, but he secretly envies JB’s ability to stay connected with people from the past. And all of JB’s friends are artists and dancers and academics—their vision of success is so different from Willem’s, which is defined by box office ratings and ticket sales. These people care about doing work they’re “proud of.” This isn’t important to Willem—he just cares that he’s done a good, honest job.
An outsider might think that Willem’s success as an actor has fulfilled him, yet he envies JB who, by all accounts, seems to be living in the past. Again, the novel shows how professional success and other conventional markers of progress do not necessarily make a person feel any happier or more fulfilled.
Themes
Sometimes these parties are “restorative.” But other times, Willem feels “resent[ful]” of the way people here see him as the person he was in college rather than the person he’s worked to become. He also sometimes feels like these old friends resent him for his success. On top of this, it’s becoming more difficult for Willem to hide his success as he becomes more well-known as an actor, and he thinks that some of his old friends and acquaintances resent him for his success. He remembers a dismissive interaction he had with an old college friend named Arthur at a party in Red Hook last year. Later, Willem complained about Arthur to Jude, and Jude understood. Still, Willem himself can sometimes feel dismissive of his career. It can seem so pointless.
Willem’s thriving career has actually caused his personal life to suffer in certain ways. Even though he’s successful, he still struggles with many of the problems that plague a lot of people, like finding meaning in one’s life and work. And Willem’s success even alienates him from people he once would have had no trouble connecting with. Again, the novel highlights Jude and Willem’s close relationship when Jude is the only one who understands Willem’s feelings.
Themes
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But Jude and Willem both know why they keep attending these parties they supposedly hate: to pretend that things haven’t changed. It’s also a way to pretend that their relationship with JB hasn’t changed—which it certainly has. JB can be just as secretive as Jude at times. But they know he’s lonely and unwilling to open up one-on-one, which is why he makes these parties happen. They go along with him to be nice—to let him recreate the college experience, with its clear, constructed, easy-to-understand hierarchies that helped JB to flourish.
Though Jude outwardly accepted JB’s apology for hanging the painting of Jude without Jude’s permission, this scene makes it clear that this betrayal has seriously compromised their friendship. Willem and Jude’s efforts to still reach out to JB show how much they value friendship, though—they think that friendships are (to a certain extent, at least) worth fighting and suffering for, even in the face of betrayal.
Themes
Back in the present, at Marta and Francesca’s party, Willem sees that Jude has just escaped Marta and another woman who were interrogating him. He’s now talking to their friend Carolina, and Willem makes his way toward them. But Francesca intercepts him and makes him talk to Rachel, a woman he worked with on a production some years back. Rachel is interesting and pretty, but Willem isn’t all that interested. And midway through their conversation, he gets a text from Jude saying that he left and will see Willem at home. Willem swears and hastily excuses himself. He returns to his apartment on the corner of Perry and West Fourth. It’s a nice enough place, but Willem only feels indifferent toward it.
Though Willem and Jude are now able to afford to rent separate apartments, neither seems all that enthusiastic about living apart—Jude texts Willem that he’ll see him at home, referring to his place as though it’s Willem’s, too. And Willem isn’t too invested in his own apartment. Though their old Lispenard Street apartment was an awful ramshackle place, the life they built together there made it special. Again, the novel builds on how close Willem and Jude are, and how their relationship has persisted over the years.
Themes
When Willem started looking for places, it was imperative that his new building had an elevator so that Jude could visit him. Philippa, his girlfriend at the time, had suggested that was rather “codependent” of Willem. But Willem wouldn’t budge. He knew that Philippa, a costume designer, didn’t dislike Jude. At first, she admired how close Willem was with his old friends. But as time went by, she wanted to be the most important person in his life. Willem thought he'd done more than enough—he spent holidays with Philippa and her parents instead of with Harold, Julia, and Jude. But it wasn’t enough for Philippa, so they broke up. When Mr. Irvine found out, he mentioned that it was about time the boys all branched out and started living their own lives instead of being beholden to each other.
The circumstances that led to Willem and Philippa’s breakup effectively point to the notion that Willem values friendship (and specifically, his friendship with Jude) over romance. More specifically, Willem seems to realize how important it is to have and maintain close relationships, whether those relationships are romances or friendships. At the same time, that Willem prioritizes Jude over Philippa could also foreshadow a possible romance between Willem and Jude.
Themes
But couplehood gives Willem pause. He recalls expressing his hesitations to Harold at Truro last summer. Harold had laughed. He, like Malcolm’s dad, saw the merits of settling down with a romantic partner, but he thinks it’s more important to simply be a good person and enjoy life. More recently, Willem has wondered if codependence is so bad. He loves his friends, and it’s not hurting anybody else how close they are—so who cares?
Mr. Irvine and Harold—and mainstream American society, more broadly—place a special emphasis on romantic relationships, but Willem rejects this idea. The bonds he’s built up with his three closest friends (and with Jude, in particular) are the most important relationships he has, so why should he all of a sudden prioritize a new girlfriend he hardly knows over them?
Themes
Five years ago, when Willem was filming in Sofia, Andy called him and yelled at him for not being there for Jude. He told Willem about Jude’s cutting. If Willem were a good friend, Andy snapped, he’d know that the upcoming adoption would put Jude on edge. Willem was angry and defensive—but only because he knew Andy was right. Still, he snapped that Andy was just really upset with himself for being Jude’s doctor—but being unable to help him. Both men apologized to each other, and then they worked out a loose plan to better monitor Jude’s mental health.
Andy and Willem both have their own reasons for feeling obligated to help or “fix” Jude. Andy, as a doctor, has a professional obligation to heal Jude. Meanwhile, Willem might feel an extra pressure to help Jude in the way he wasn’t able to help Hemming, in addition to the pressure he seems to feel to help simply because he’s Jude’s friend.
Themes
The monitoring worked for a while, but eventually Willem felt wrong for treating Jude as subject to be studied rather than a true friend, and so he gradually let his guard down. One day, Willem and Jude were talking on the phone while Willem was away for a shoot. In the background, Willem heard an intercom paging a doctor and knew that Jude was in the hospital. Jude brushed off Willem’s concerns, claiming that it’s nothing and that Andy was overreacting. Willem pressed Jude, though, and Jude reluctantly admitted that he had a blood infection. These exchanges still happen from time to time, and they’re always hard on Willem. It’s so hard to help someone who doesn’t want to be helped.
Willem can’t figure out which responsibility he should honor. On the one hand, he feels he has a moral obligation to help Jude stay well. But as Jude’s friend, isn’t it just as—if not more—important for Willem to honor Jude’s wishes to be left alone? This is a conflict that many of Jude’s friends and loved ones struggle with. Nobody wants Jude to suffer, but when their efforts to help Jude cause him shame and humiliation, it seems that their efforts to alleviate his suffering do just the opposite.
Themes
Since buying his apartment last year, Willem has spent only six weeks in it—he mostly lives with Jude in Jude’s Greene Street apartment. Willem claims this is because his apartment is unfurnished and because he made a promise to Andy to look after Jude, but in reality, he needs Jude. He loves telling Jude ridiculous stories about life in show business, with the many superficial people. The stories amuse Jude and lighten his days. Willem considers how much of acting is about appearances—how much time the “vanities” spend touching up Willem’s hair and makeup. But all the while, all he’s really thinking about are his friends. And mostly Jude.
Society often views buying one’s first home as a marker of success and prosperity. But Willem realizes that it’s not the apartment that’s important—it’s the people who are (and aren’t) in it that render it meaningful. Willem’s dedication to his friendships is quickly becoming the most defining part of his personality. He’s a famous actor who has a team of artists (“vanities”) at his disposal to maintain his image, and yet he can’t bring himself to vainly focus on himself. Instead, all he thinks about are his friendships—and Jude. With this last detail, the novel continues to tease Willem and Jude’s eventual romance.
Themes
Willem once asked Jude if he was happy, and Jude had replied that he wasn’t sure he was meant to be happy. Happiness, Jude countered, was “for you, Willem.” Willem thinks about Jude’s remark as the vanities get him made up for a shoot. He thinks about it until he hears the scene marker clap shut, and then he opens his eyes.
Much earlier in the novel, Willem lamented the “culture of self-fulfillment,” which pressures people to have lofty dreams and considers it a personal failing if a person falls short of attaining them. This passage brings up a similar cultural attitude toward happiness, which holds that anybody can be happy—and if a person isn’t happy, it's because they haven’t tried hard enough. Jude has no such illusions, though. He just doesn’t think happiness is something that’s universally attainable. He believes some people, like Willem, can have it. But others, like Jude, are too broken to experience happiness.
Themes
