Lullabies for Little Criminals

Life with Jules: Questions

1. What is a metaphor? What is a simile? What purpose does an author have for using
metaphors and similes?

A metaphor is a figure of speech, where a word is applied to an object or action and that
word is not that appropriate or related. A simile is another figure of speech that involves
comparison of a word to another, to make it sound more interesting. The purpose is to give
more prescriptive and explanation on what’s being told.

2. What is a narrator? In general, how is the narrator different from the main character?

A narrator is the speaker of a story, recounts events and they’re only there to do that, while a
main character is someone important to the story and makes the events happen for the narrator
to speak of.

3. In Lullabies for Little Criminals, who is the narrator and who is the main character?
Are they the same or are they different? How so?

The narrator and the main character are the same person so that makes them the same
because they’re both doing the jobs of them both.

4. What is present tense? What is past tense? Is Lullabies for Little Criminals told in the
present or past tense? What effect might this have on how the story is told?

Present tense is the kind of tense that expresses an action that is currently happening or a
state that currently or generally exists and past tense is is used to talk about a completed
action in a time that has passed. The novel is being told in present tense and the effect it’ll
have on the story is that it’ll make it more exhilarating.

5. Why did Jules and Baby’s mother decide to name her Baby? What might be
significant about her having the name Baby, considering her circumstances?

They decided it on the popular use of it in songs and writings on pedants. It might be
significant to her being treated more maturely.

6. Think back to our discussion about the title of the novel and how it uses juxtaposition
for effect. The graffiti that Baby notices depicts “a girl with an oxygen mask holding a tiny
baby on her arms” (pg. 1).
What juxtaposition is being represented in this image? What deeper meaning
might this image be trying to convey? It is likely that the idea behind this image will be
significant throughout the novel.
 The juxtaposition is the contrast of the oxygen mask and the tiny baby. I guess the deeper
meaning would be it’s selfless because despite how sick the woman is, they’re caring for the
child.

7. “I screamed, hopping from foot to foot on the couch cushions” (pg. 3).
What is significant about how Baby reacts to Jules in this scenario? What does
it reveal about their relationship?

It’s significant because it shows she cares and understands the situation at hand and it
reveals that they’re close.

8. “My belly button felt as if it had come unthreaded and had fallen down
through the floorboards” (pg. 4).
“Each candy was like taking a chick out of its egg too early” (pg. 9).
“A few big snowflakes … like spiders on their invisible webs coming down”
(pg. 12).
“The echo of their voices made it sound as if we were all at the bottom of a
well” (pg. 15).
“My breath in the cold air was bleach that accidentally spilled on a black t-
shirt” (pg. 17).
a. What kind of literary devices are being used in all of these quotations?
(Hint: the first four quotations use the same literary device, but the last
quotation uses a different one.)

The first four are similes and the last is a metaphor.

b. How do you feel when you read each of these quotations? Provide one
sentence for each quotation. Do these quotations have positive or negative
connotations? What mood do you think the author is trying to create?

(pg. 4) Quote - It makes feel a little uneasy, mostly because I never read a
sentence describing one’s belly button in such a way.
(pg. 9) Quote - I’m confused because it’s a strange way to describe eating candy,
I’m not sure if I should take it as a good or bad thing.
(pg. 12) Quote - I like this one, I feel calm because it’s a great way to put a visual
to snowflakes.
(pg. 15) Quote - This one makes me feel intrigued and alert because you can
picture hearing them well from the description.
(pg. 17) Quote - The choice of words makes me feel engaged and curious
because I wonder what that actually looked like.

Some of them have negative and some of them have positive. I think the mood is
graphic and sensible.
 c. Do you think these quotations are effective? Why or why not?

I think they are because the words chosen are bold words put to things that
aren’t really taken seriously.

9. For Jules, using heroin “was like shaking hands with God” (pg. 10).
After Jules and his friends used heroin, Baby states that they looked like they
were “about to sail off into the starry universe … as if they were bored
aristocrats … [they] looked like a dismantled chandelier” (pg. 18).
“Smoke came out of his mouth like ribbons being pulled off of a present” (pg.
21).
a. What kind of literary device is being used in all of these quotations?

Metaphors.

b. How do you feel when you read each of these quotations? Do these
quotations have positive or negative connotations? How is the mood
created from these quotations different from the mood created from the
quotations listed in question 8?

(pg. 10) - The saying made me think, I don’t know a lot about drugs so it put
thought into my mind about how drugs are. It gave me vision, so I guess I felt
interested.
(pg. 18) - I felt a bit surprised since I was expecting that end of describing it as a
dismantled chandelier.
(pg. 21) - This quotations made me feel content because I can agree smoke can
be described that way, it’s easy to picture and the visual you get is pretty.

It can have both connotations in my opinion, she’s putting beauty to things that
aren’t really good for someone and that’s what makes it different from the
ones in question 8.

c. What is unusual about the shift in mood when considering what is being
described?

From what I pointed out, that can make it unusual. She’s putting an effort in
describing things that have such negative impact on someone with words that
make it look delicate and sweet.
10. Baby describes her friend’s missing finger as “disgusting and beautiful at the same
time” (pg. 14). How is this description significant when considering the quotations listed in
question 8 and 9?

Instead of comparing her missing finger to something, she describes it with just 2 words but
those 2 words also mean 2 different things and aren’t related. It’s significant because it’s
different from the others.

11. “Roxanne just laughed. She was a survivor, Roxanne. I guessed that I’d give her
that” (pg. 14).
Who is Roxanne? Be specific. Why does Baby feel such a strong connection
towards Roxanne? Keeping this in mind, what might Roxanne symbolize?

Roxanne is a doll that Baby got from her dad as a birthday gift. She feels a connection
because she can relate to Roxanne of being a survivor through harsh and sensitive things.
She might symbolize hope, maybe.

12. What is significant about Baby “saving” the rocks (pg. 12)?

It shows Baby is considerate and that she has been exposed to cruel things in her life.

13. “Home was something that you could fit into a suitcase and move in a taxi for ten
dollars. Home was wherever Jules and I were together” (pg. 17). This is how Baby
describes her home.
a. What is your definition of home? Where is home for you?

My definition of home is some place or someone that makes you feel comfortable
and protected. My home is my parent’s house, more specifically my room.

b. What words would you associate with the word home in general? Did the
words you picked have positive or negative connotations?

Comfortable, protected, safe and pleasant, the words I picked have positive
connotations.

c. What words would you associate with Baby’s home? Do the words you
picked have positive or negative connotations?

Bittersweet, tolerable and average. I tried to pick words that can have both
connotations because her home has both positive and negative attributes
such as, she still has her father but she lives in a bad neighbourhood in a old
and worn apartment.
 14. “The stories about Val des Loups helped me to feel better than other kids. Unlike
them, I had come from a country of great mystery and pain” (pg. 21).
Why might the fact that Baby came from “a country of great mystery and pain”
make her feel better about herself in comparison to the kids she hangs out with?

It makes her think she knows more than them and thinks of herself as more mature because
she has been through more.

15. “Even the little cockroaches in the wall were clockwork. They were made with the
most beautiful tiny bolts from a factory in Malaysia, with little buttons underneath to
switch them on and off” (pg. 22).
Keeping this quotation, along with all of the other quotations you have discussed
in mind, how does Baby cope with the ugliness in her life?

She makes an effort to see beauty in everything.