Jude – Chapter Questions
PART 1
Chapter 1
1. Describe the setting?
2. a) What is the mood of this chapter?
b) How does the setting help create the mood?
3. How does Detective Burwell know Jude is lying?
4. What do we learn about Jude?
5. Why won’t Jude tell the truth about what happened?
Chapter 2
1. Why was Jude home?
2. Describe what we learn about Jude’s character in this chapter?
3. What sort of lifestyle is Jude use to?
4. Who is Jude’s best friend? How did they become friends?
5. What is Jude’s father doing when he arrives home?
6. In a paragraph, describe Jude’s father with direct quotations.
7. What happens when Jude interferes with his father’s job?
8. What do you think the Michael Jordon poster symbolizes?
Chapter 3
1. Just before he is murdered, Jude’s father says, “You were right.” What does he mean?
2. Why is the grey-haired man nice to Jude? Why doesn’t he have Jude killed?
3. Why does the author begin the story with the crime scene after the murder (Chapter 1)
and then proceed to show us the murder in Chapter 2 and 3? In other words, why does
the author reverse the order of events?
Chapter 4
1. Who is Anna Brady? What kind of job does she have?
2. Jude lived in Eastside, central Hartford – how is it described (use direct quotations)?
3. What does Anna give to Jude? What does he learn from the paper?
4. This whole chapter uses dramatic irony. Dramatic Irony is defined as a moment when the
reader knows something that the character doesn’t know. What is the effect of writing a
chapter this way?
Chapter 5
1. According to the detective, describe Anna?
2. From what you know about Anna so far, do you agree? Explain Why.
3. Where is Jude going?
Chapter 6
1. What is the significance of the name Jude/Judas?
2. What is the significance of the name Michael?
3. What does Jude learn about his father and his life?
4. What do you think is Jude’s dream?
Chapter 7
1.
In a paragraph, compare Harry to Jude’s father. Be sure to use evidence and quotations.
2. Describe the mood in this chapter.
3. What did Jude’s dad use to do?
Chapter 8
1. What do you think will happen to Jude’s dream?
2. Why are Anna and Harry so concerned about the press?
3. Why do you think Jude’s father didn’t get a harsher sentence?
Chapter 9
1. Why does Jude tell Harry that he is guilty?
2. Why is Jude warned about the attention that he’ll get at Benton Academy?
3. Why doesn’t Jude want to be like his father?
Chapter 10
1. At the beginning of the chapter, why does Jude refuse to take Nick to his old
neighborhood?
2. By chapter’s end, Jude changes his mind “on a whim” – why does he decide to take Nick
“only this once”?
3. What is your impression of Anna? Has it changed from your impression of her in Chapter
5 (Question #2)?
PART II
Chapter 11
1. How much time has passed since the last chapter?
2. What major changes have occurred in the interim (between the end of Part 1 and the
beginning of Part 2)?
3. Why is Jude described as feeling “guilt and relief in equal portions” (61)?
Chapter 12
1. What is Anna’s great news (there are two)?
2. What is Jude’s one fear? With what we know about his relationship with Anna, what
does this say about Jude’s character?
Chapter 13
1. Why does Jude decide not to take Nick to his old neighborhood again?
2. What happens to Nick?
3. Why does Jude run away from the crime scene and sit at his desk?
Chapter 14
1. After Jude speaks to RJ, how is Nick’s overdose explained?
2. Why doesn’t Jude tell Anna he was partly involved?
3. What is a scapegoat (78)?
4. Who will the scapegoat be?
Chapter 15
1. What is Harry’s plan that will save Anna’s political campaign?
2. a) What scares Jude more than going to juvi (juvenile detention)?
b) What does this say about Jude’s character?
Chapter 16
1. How doe the setting create mood (2nd paragraph)?
2. How does the plan play out?
3. What else does Jude have to do now?
Chapter 17
1. “The air was warming toward spring, but there was still a sharp winter wind” (96). How
does this description of the weather relate to what is going on in the novel (specifically
the chapter)?
Chapter 18
1. a) Who is Jude’s lawyer? What does she look like?
b) What will Jude be charged with? (2 charges)
2. What is the minimum sentence for possession with intent to distribute?
3. Maria tells Jude that “We’re all prisoners you know (…) in one way or another”
(101). In a series of paragraphs, discuss in what ways Jude has been a prisoner all
his life.
4. Why is Jude denied bail?
Chapter 19
1. What is significant about the trial being set for late September (hint: literal cycle)?
2. The mayor election will be just after the trial so Jude reasons that he will not have long in
prison. Nonetheless, Maria outlines the charges and evidence against Jude: what is the
evidence and how much time is Jude likely to serve?
Chapter 20
1. a) What deal is Jude offered by Comfort?
b) What does Jude have to do to get the deal?
c) Why doesn’t Jude take the deal?
d) What does Jude think Anna will think the reason is that he won’t take the deal?
Chapter 21
1. Anna wants to visit Jude but Harry says it would compromise the case. What message
does Harry give Jude for Anna?
Chapter 22
1. In your own notes, fill out the chart to keep track of the trial
Witness’ Name
Info to DA
Info to Cross Examination
Nick’s Mom
Toby
Arresting Officer
Drug Expert
Chapter 23
1. What angle does Maria take in her cross examination of Anna? In other words, how does
she want the jury to view Anna?
2. a) What is the jury’s verdict on the two charges?
b) What is the judge’s decision regarding jail time?
PART III
Chapter 24
1. Why is Jude sent to North Central Prison on the other side of the state?
2. Who is Jude’s cellmate? Describe him.
3. What happened to Old Man River’s old cellmate?
Chapter 25
1. What are the names of the three-man gang that seem to have it out for Jude? Briefly
describe them.
Chapter 26
1. a) How does Jude get the reputation of a coward?
b) List some of the things the other inmates do to Jude when they realize he won’t stand up
for himself.
2. The chapter ends with Jude realizing fear had not broken him, but rather hope had broken
him. Explain what this means.
Chapter 27
1. What is the result of Anna’s visit to Jude?
2. What is the result of Harry’s visit to Jude?
Chapter 28
1. What was Jude’s original prison name?
2. What’s Jude’s new prison name? Why?
3. What happened to the Professor?
4. What injury does Jude sustain in the fight? Does this particular wound remind you of
anyone else in history?
Chapter 29
1. What happens in Jude’s 2nd fight with Lefty?
2. Who is Fats? What does he give to Jude after the fight? What does Jude do with the item?
3. Look closely at the things Fats says to Jude. Significance? (Hint: return to Chapter 28,
questions 4).
4. Where is Jude led to at the end of the chapter?
Chapter 30
1. How much time has passed since Chapter 29?
2. What has happened over the course of this period of time?
3. What injuries has Jude sustained from his fights?
4. a) Who is the newest inmate?
b) What was he charged with and convicted of?
5. What happens to the new inmate?
Chapter 31
1. While Jude lays on his bunk in solitary confinement, he thinks about the lifers: “The
lifers clung to a sort of hope too. They still poured over trial transcripts and law books to
find the hole in the case that could get them an appeal, but deep down they, and everyone
else, knew that there was only one date for them to count down to, and that was a
different kind of release” (170). What does this mean?
2. What nightmares and images does Jude see when he closes his eyes?
3. Why does Jude cry at the end of the chapter?
Chapter 32
1. What has Jude come to realize about himself?
2. What are the two things Jude wanted in life?
3. What is Jude’s plan for the future?
4. Note the setting (page 173-2nd paragraph). Where does this chapter take place in regards
to literary cycle?
Chapter 33
1. a) Who is Mack?
b) Why is Mack different from all the other inmates?
c) What book does Mack read to Jude?
d) Why is this book significant to Jude (the novel)?
2. Briefly summarize River’s confession to Jude.
3. This chapter takes place in the winter of Jude’s 4th year in prison. According to Literary
Cycle, what story type is this? Why is this fitting?
4. Why do River’s last words to Jude make “more sense than anything Jude had heard
before”?
Chapter 34
1. Who is Davis Marshall?
2. How does he know Jude?
3. Why does Marshall want to tell Jude’s story?
4. Why does Jude decline the offer?
PART IV
Chapter 35
1. Who picks up Jude from prison?
2. Where is Jude headed?
3. How old is Jude now?
4. a) What does Harry arrange regarding Jude’s release?
b) If Harry has it out for Jude, why would he do this?
5. Why doesn’t Jude take the money from Dolores?
6. What job placement is Jude given?
7. What is the result of Jude’s 10 applications to law schools?
Chapter 36
1. Why doesn’t Jude want Davis to publish his story?
2. How does Jude intend to tell Anna “the truth”?
Chapter 37
1. Who do Jude and Davis go visit? Who is he and how does Jude think he can help?
2. Who is Joseph Palazzo and how is he connected to Jude?
3. What does Mr. Levy do for Davis?
4. How does Jude intend to get information on Harry now?
Chapter 38
1. Why is Jude “afraid” at the end of the chapter?
Chapter 39
1. What are Jude’s new living arrangements?
2. How long have Jude and Davis been searching Harry’s files?
3. What does Jude tell Lizzie at the end of the chapter?
Chapter 40
1. What does Lizzie find while searching Harry’s files?
2. a) What does Jude overhear when he takes the day off work?
b) What does Jude decide to do after overhearing the conversation?
Chapter 41
1. In decorating his new apartment, Jude chooses to pain the walls Deep Ocean, and also
takes in a dying plant he finds on the sidewalk. How can we argue that these act as
symbols? (Hint: look at their descriptions on page 237)
2. What does Jude discover after looking at the chart for endless days?
3. With this new information, what does Jude plan to do now?
Chapter 42
1. What deal does Jude make with Harry?
2. What is the second deal Jude makes with Harry?
Chapter 43
1. While Harry tells Anna about the set up, what piece of evidence (or lack of evidence)
does he mention that helps prove it was a set up?
2. What is Anna’s reaction to the news?
3. Besides Anna getting elected, why does Jude believe his five years in prison were not a
waste?
Chapter 44
1. How does the setting set the mood (261)?
2. How does Davis get around signing the legal paper that would forbid him to print the
story?
3. How does Jude test Anna? What is the result?
Chapter 45
1. How does Joseph Palazzo end up in prison? How does this relate to Jude’s life story?
2. How does Palazzo know Harry? What is their history?
3. Why is four ounces of heroin such an interesting amount?
Six Months Later
Chapter 46
1. What news does Jude receive in the mail?
2. a) What has happened to Davis?
b) Why do Lizzie and Davis speak so little now?
3. What has happened to Davis?
4. What has happened to Anna?
5. Why does Anna not “really matter anymore” to Jude? In other words, what has he come
to realize?