Previous
Willem Ragnarsson
Malcolm Irvine is an architect and one of Jude’s best friends from college. At the start of the novel, Malcolm is unsatisfied with his life. He’s ashamed to be 27 years old and still living at home, dependent on his wealthy parents. Malcolm is miserable working at Ratstar, a corporate architecture firm that stifles his creativity. But he is determined to impress his wealthy, demanding, and overly critical father (Mr. Irvine), who has never tried to conceal his favoritism for Flora, Malcolm’s older sister. Though Malcolm eventually moves on from Ratstar and has a successful and fulfilling career, he never feels that he has impressed or mended his relationship with his father. Malcolm struggles with his identity throughout the book. He’s biracial (his father is Black) but never really connects with his Black identity. And though he questions his sexual orientation—he has been in scattered relationships with women, but he’s also felt attracted to Willem and Jude—he never reaches any conclusions. He eventually marries Sophie, a friend from architecture school, but their marriage seems more convenient than romantic. Sophie and Malcolm, along with some of Malcolm’s former Ratstar colleagues, eventually found a successful architecture firm together, Bellcast. Whenever tensions brew between JB and the others, Malcolm often takes JB’s side or assumes the role of mediator. But Malcolm also cares deeply for Jude. When Jude later hires Malcolm to renovate his Greene Street apartment, Malcolm pushes to ensure that the design adheres to ADA guidelines. Toward the end of the novel, Malcolm, Sophie, and Willem die when a drunk driver strikes their car.
Malcolm Irvine Quotes in A Little Life
The A Little Life quotes below are all either spoken by Malcolm Irvine or refer to Malcolm Irvine. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part 2: The Postman: Chapter 1
Quotes
But the odd thing was this: by his story morphing into one about a car accident, he was being given an opportunity for reinvention; all he had to do was claim it. But he never could. He could never call it an accident, because it wasn’t. And so was it pride or stupidity to not take the escape route he’d been offered? He didn’t know.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 3: Vanities: Chapter 2
Quotes
“But I’m not even in a wheelchair,” he’d said, dismayed.
“But Jude,” Malcolm had begun, and then stopped. He knew what Malcolm wanted to say: But you have been. And you will be again. But he didn’t.
“These are standard ADA guidelines,” he said instead.
“Mal,” he’d said, chagrined by how upset he was. “I understand. But I don’t want this to be some cripple’s apartment.”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
He could be more like Malcolm, he thinks; he could ask his friends for help, he could be vulnerable around them. He has been before, after all; it just hasn’t been by choice. But they have always been kind to him, they have never tried to make him feel self-conscious—shouldn’t that teach him something? Maybe, for instance, he will ask Willem if he could help him with his back: if Willem is disgusted by his appearance, he’ll never say anything.
Part 5: The Happy Years: Chapter 3
Quotes
On these days, he succumbed to a sort of enchantment, a state in which his life seemed both unimprovable and, paradoxically, perfectly fixable: Of course Jude wouldn’t get worse. Of course he could be repaired. Of course Willem would be the person to repair him. Of course this was possible; of course this was probable. Days like this seemed to have no nights, and if there were no nights, there was no cutting, there was no sadness, there was nothing to dismay.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 6: Dear Comrade: Chapter 2
Quotes
He stopped. What he wanted to say—but what he didn’t think he could get through—was what he had overheard Malcolm say as Willem was complaining about hefting the bookcase back into place and he was in the bathroom gathering the brushes and paint from beneath the sink.
“If I had left it like it was, he could’ve tripped against it and fallen, Willem,” Malcolm had whispered. “Would you want that?”
“No,” Willem had said, after a pause, sounding ashamed. “No, of course not. You’re right, Mal.”
Malcolm, he realized, had been the first among them to recognize that he was disabled; Malcolm had known this even before he did. He had always been conscious of it, but he had never made him feel self-conscious. Malcolm had sought, only, to make his life easier, and he had once resented him for this.
Get the entire A Little Life LitChart as a printable PDF.
Malcolm Irvine Quotes in A Little Life
The A Little Life quotes below are all either spoken by Malcolm Irvine or refer to Malcolm Irvine. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part 2: The Postman: Chapter 1
Quotes
But the odd thing was this: by his story morphing into one about a car accident, he was being given an opportunity for reinvention; all he had to do was claim it. But he never could. He could never call it an accident, because it wasn’t. And so was it pride or stupidity to not take the escape route he’d been offered? He didn’t know.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 3: Vanities: Chapter 2
Quotes
“But I’m not even in a wheelchair,” he’d said, dismayed.
“But Jude,” Malcolm had begun, and then stopped. He knew what Malcolm wanted to say: But you have been. And you will be again. But he didn’t.
“These are standard ADA guidelines,” he said instead.
“Mal,” he’d said, chagrined by how upset he was. “I understand. But I don’t want this to be some cripple’s apartment.”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
He could be more like Malcolm, he thinks; he could ask his friends for help, he could be vulnerable around them. He has been before, after all; it just hasn’t been by choice. But they have always been kind to him, they have never tried to make him feel self-conscious—shouldn’t that teach him something? Maybe, for instance, he will ask Willem if he could help him with his back: if Willem is disgusted by his appearance, he’ll never say anything.
Part 5: The Happy Years: Chapter 3
Quotes
On these days, he succumbed to a sort of enchantment, a state in which his life seemed both unimprovable and, paradoxically, perfectly fixable: Of course Jude wouldn’t get worse. Of course he could be repaired. Of course Willem would be the person to repair him. Of course this was possible; of course this was probable. Days like this seemed to have no nights, and if there were no nights, there was no cutting, there was no sadness, there was nothing to dismay.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 6: Dear Comrade: Chapter 2
Quotes
He stopped. What he wanted to say—but what he didn’t think he could get through—was what he had overheard Malcolm say as Willem was complaining about hefting the bookcase back into place and he was in the bathroom gathering the brushes and paint from beneath the sink.
“If I had left it like it was, he could’ve tripped against it and fallen, Willem,” Malcolm had whispered. “Would you want that?”
“No,” Willem had said, after a pause, sounding ashamed. “No, of course not. You’re right, Mal.”
Malcolm, he realized, had been the first among them to recognize that he was disabled; Malcolm had known this even before he did. He had always been conscious of it, but he had never made him feel self-conscious. Malcolm had sought, only, to make his life easier, and he had once resented him for this.
