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Houses, Apartments, and Cabins
Jude’s wheelchair symbolizes his struggle to accept his trauma and disability. Though Jude learns how to walk again after Dr. Traylor runs over him with his car, the attack leaves Jude with chronic pain and mobility issues that persist for the rest of his life. The Philadelphia doctor who treats Jude in the immediate aftermath of the attack vaguely suggests that Jude’s spine and legs might one day heal. So, for many years, Jude lives with the hope that he might one day regain the physical strength and mobility the accident took from him many years before. It’s devastating, then, when years later, Andy tells Jude that the opposite is true: that he will never recover from his injuries, and that his pain and mobility issues will only grow more extreme and debilitating over time. This revelation forces Jude to acknowledge that, despite the professional and financial success he’s experienced as an adult, his physical limitations will always be there, effectively gluing him to the past and all the shame and trauma he associates with it.
As Jude’s condition worsens, some days, the pain is so bad that he must use a wheelchair, and this makes it impossible for him to hide his injuries completely. In many ways, Jude seems to see his deteriorating physical health as a sign of his worsening mental health. His wheelchair, thus, reinforces how unworthy and abnormal he believes he is: ordinary people recover from their injuries over time; meanwhile, Jude’s condition grows steadily worse. Jude’s abusive relationship with Caleb only reaffirms his self-hatred, his internalized shame, and the negative associations he has with his wheelchair. Caleb is visibly disgusted by Jude’s disability and wheelchair. He even cancels their dinner plans on the spot one night when Jude shows up in his wheelchair. Caleb claims that Jude is “weak” for using his wheelchair when he “technically” can walk (though the pain makes it effectively impossible to walk). Caleb’s criticism not only reaffirms Jude’s big fear that other people see him as deformed and different, but also that his failure to work through his trauma and heal (psychologically) is his own fault.
Jude’s Wheelchair Quotes in A Little Life
The A Little Life quotes below all refer to the symbol of Jude’s Wheelchair . 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:
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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.”
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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.
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Jude’s Wheelchair Symbol Timeline in A Little Life
The timeline below shows where the symbol Jude’s Wheelchair appears in A Little Life. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 2: The Postman: Chapter 3
...and will start shooting next year in Sofia. Meanwhile, Jude has had to use a wheelchair more often than not, and Willem is now dating a costume designer named Philippa. Harold...
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Part 3: Vanities: Chapter 1
...going, not wanting to have to explain to so many people why he's using a wheelchair.
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Part 3: Vanities: Chapter 2
...9. But Jude is so determined to get into his apartment that he collapses his wheelchair and starts to climb the stairs on foot. The pain worsens. Finally, he can’t take...
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Part 4: The Axiom of Equality: Chapter 1
...around, he could tell that Caleb was impressed. But then Caleb caught sight of Jude’s wheelchair and asked whose it was. “Mine,” Jude said, explaining that he uses only when absolutely...
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...recalls meeting up with Caleb in the Meatpacking District one evening a month after the wheelchair incident. Jude drove, and it was nice out, so he waited in his wheelchair until...
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Caleb finally called back on Saturday. He apologized for being so put-off by the chair. He explained that his parents were sick and disabled for much of his adult life,...
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...He went to Caleb’s place after work on a day he had to use his wheelchair—something was wrong with his feet. When he arrived at Caleb’s, he left the chair in...
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...was horrified to see Jude’s bruised face. Jude lied that he injured his face playing wheelchair tennis. Andy seemed to believe him, but he was still concerned about the intensity of...
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...a run, Jude drags himself into the bathroom to shower. He longs for his spare wheelchair in the car—would Caleb really mind if he used it, just for today?
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...is usually calm after his runs, so Jude attempts to ask Caleb about using the chair just this once. Caleb tells Jude that if he can walk, he should—even if it’s...
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Part 4: The Axiom of Equality: Chapter 2
...he’s able to walk now. Harold remembers the day he found out Jude used a wheelchair. It was shortly after Harold discovered the bag. He asked Jude why he’d kept the...
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Part 5: The Happy Years: Chapter 3
...It’s Christmastime, and he and Willem are vacationing in Bhutan. Jude has to use his wheelchair more and more, and he’s always in pain. When Jude and Willem return to Greene...
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...difficult. He tells Jude he’s going to run back to the house to get Jude’s chair—he’ll be right back.
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...wounds open up on Jude’s legs. The pain is unbearable, and Jude stays in his wheelchair. Another birthday passes. Jude is in and out of the hospital. Then it’s July, and...
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...he stops. Dinner is a happy affair. When Jude gets too tired, Willem pushes his chair to the bedroom, where Jude hears their guests continue to laugh, eat, and drink. Jude...
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...of his family’s house atop the hill in Wyoming. He sees Hemming sitting in his wheelchair, “staring at [Willem] with a steady, constant gaze, the kind he was never able to...
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Part 6: Dear Comrade: Chapter 2
...Hours, Days.” Jude enters another room and, once more, sees his face: Jude in his wheelchair, Jude and Willem.
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