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Julia
Richard is a good friend of Jude, JB, Malcolm, and Willem. He’s a sculptor, and he shares studio space with JB at the beginning of the novel, when JB is still trying to get his career off the ground. Richard, at that point, constructs sculptures out of ephemeral materials like chocolate or butter, and he then films the finished sculptures as they disintegrate. JB respects Richard and thinks his work is truly great. Richard owns (and lives in) the building on Greene Street where Jude later buys an apartment. It’s Richard who discovers Jude the night of Jude’s attempted suicide, and Jude would have died were it not for him. Richard remains a good friend for all of Jude’s life. He routinely checks on Jude after Willem’s death, and he’s one of the friends who holds an intervention when Jude effectively tries to starve himself to death in the aftermath of Willem’s death. Richard dies of brain cancer five years after Jude’s suicide.
Richard Quotes in A Little Life
The A Little Life quotes below are all either spoken by Richard or refer to Richard . 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 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.
Related Characters:
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Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire A Little Life LitChart as a printable PDF.
Richard Quotes in A Little Life
The A Little Life quotes below are all either spoken by Richard or refer to Richard . 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 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.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
