Heart-Shaped Box

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2007

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Before You Read

Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapters 1-12

Part 1, Chapter 13-Part 2, Chapter 22

Part 2, Chapters 23-31

Part 2, Chapter 32-Part 3, Chapter 41

Part 3, Chapter 42-Part 4

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Discussion Questions

Essay Topics

If one considers Heart-Shaped Box a contemporary Gothic story, what genre mainstays does Joe Hill modernize? Are there mainstays that he rejects?

Jude is critical of his assistant, Danny, going so far as to call him a “sycophantic little suck-ass” (8). Why does Jude keep him as an assistant? What does this decision say about Jude’s character early in the novel?

Why does Craddock first appear to Jude in the form of a suit? What is the symbolism of this suit?