Author Hanya Yanagihara "A Little Life"

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(context: Willem and JB are at the opening for the apartment both Willem and Jude are interested in. The person showing them the property is JB’s friend, Annika, who is particularly talking alot.) “She then began to follow them, talking rapidly to JB about someone named Jasper and how he’d been using Archer for everything, and didn’t JB think it looked a little too round and weird for a body text?” (Yanagihara 13)

(context: The four were at Malcom’s house for summer vacation, and Malcolm initiates a talk with Willem while JB and Jude are distracted) ‘“Have you ever noticed how Jude always wears long sleeves?... Flora had a friend who always wore long sleeves,” Malcolm continued. : Her name was Maryam. She used to cut herself.”’ The two allude to the issue, and the text reads, “and this, he recognized (Willem), was Malcom’s way of presenting him with a difficulty that needed a solution” (Yanagihara 82-83)

“‘Willem, I’m sorry,’ said Jude…Jude eaned his head against the window and closed his eyes, and it was then that Willem felt the beginnings of nausea” (Yanagihara 78),

(context: a large section of paragraphs and text had just finished on Jb about his art and project with photography/paint, the dinkus (HA) starts a new section where we see JB but now from the perspective of JB.) Quote: “Before him, his canvas waited. And so he picked up his brush and began.” (Yanagihara 43) --------> “Or so JB always said. He was against the poems. They had appeared when he was in junior high… he shouted at Willem” (Yanagihara 43)

Author Hanya Yanagihara "A Little Life"

Writing Style Analysis/Role C

Use of perspective, anticipation, and detail amount during section 1 (pages 1-179)

Detail amount

POINT 3: Yanagihara the author, embraces their choice to make this novel very lengthy and detailed, so they’ve decided to cut down on the less but valuable moments that contribute to the story or specific characters.

This paragraph is through the perspective of JB who is adding on to Annika’s words. This provides the audience with an insightful scene including Annika, further elaborating on her character and what she tends to prioritize. For such a long book that tends to switch topics and circulates regularly, I believe it’s important to use methods as such to minimize detail. A full on dialogue for the entire visit that JB and Willem have with Annika would be utterly irrelevant. Scenes like this give us simple rundowns and allow the author to highlight specific discussions more than others.

Perspective

Anticipation

POINT 2: The whole idea of leveling out the attention given to each individual creates suspension, specifically used from perspective

A good example of this is the first moment we are presented with the New Year Eve’s incident. Yanagihara uses Willem’s POV first for Jude’s emergency visit with Andy. <--- Quote A main issue presented in the first section (1-179 pages) is Jude’s mental health/history of SH. Only gathering information from Willem’s angle, creates lots of mystery on how each other character between the 4 feel. They have not been taken out of the story and each character in focus regularly references the other 3. It’s clear Malcom has confronted Willem previously, but again, only through a flashback after Jude’s accident. <--- Quote

Expectations will grow as the reader is continuely reminded that the other three’s perspective has been placed in the dark on such an important topic, building suspense as they continue to read. The four are all very tightly bond and take great parts in each others lives. Eventually, Jude’s angle is perceived, and later goes into depth, but even then JB and Malcom have still not touched on the topic. This is a great way for authors to pull in their readers and keep them intwined with the story, as well as declare characters more important than other characters within certain areas.

POINT 1: How the characters are speculated sets the road for how readers

Reasoning: The first line was the closing line used before the dinkus, to which we then see quotes like the second that prove Willem is now in the company of JB. “he” refers to JB shouting at Willem. This use of perspective is significant to how readers perceive each character. The four all have their moments and have each been given their own amount of attention in this section. However, the transition Hanya uses gives us even more of a sense that these four are simply living in harmony, and that not one single character overtakes the other. They are all in each other's life and hold value. A first-person perspective on any character would destroy this narrative and take away the feeling of speculation.

Surface Conclusions about Yanagihara

- Uses formal and intelligent vocabulary within characters, but in a relatable sense. We can infer what the character's themselves think and communicate in this vocabulary because of its casualty - Semicolons, parentheses, and run-on sentences are frequently used as a means to add more detail. Often extra detail is insightful and adds personalization to the text. - The author is not particularly inclined to use dialogue and is much more drawn to "painting a picture" if not necessary.