Why it Hurts to Read Yanagihara’s “A Little Life”

Xi Chen
3 min readDec 29, 2017
Credits to Eneida Nieves.

Jude lived a life of extremes. Before college, he was an absolute object — manipulated both physically and psychologically by men. Jude grew up without agency and independence, stunting the development of his masculinity and forcing him into a limited existence as a sexual being.

During and after college, Jude becomes an absolute subject. He gets everything he wants: freedom, a…

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