==Factual Information==
A [[novel]]/[[novella]] by American writer [[Truman Capote]] published in 1958 by Random House, Inc., New York.

http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/capote.htm Truman Capote (1924-1984) - original name Truman Streckfus Persons

==Study Guide==
Below are the thirteen major sections of the [[novella]]. Since Capote did not use chapters, these are indicated by the double line break on the page. There might be more sections, or a more logical means of distinguishing them, but these arbitrary divisions will work for our purposes.

#[[Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 1|Section one (3-14)]]
#[[Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 2|Section two (14-47)]]
#[[Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 3|Section three (47-53)]]
#[[Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 4|Section four (53-55)]]
#[[Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 5|Section five (55-63)]]
#[[Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 6|Section six (63-72)]]
#[[Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 7|Section seven (72-74)]]
#[[Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 8|Section eight (74-85)]]
#[[Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 9|Section nine (85-93)]]
#[[Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 10|Section ten (93-97)]]
#[[Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 11|Section eleven (97-104)]]
#[[Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 12|Section twelve (104-109)]]
#[[Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 13|Section thirteen (109-111)]]

==Characters==
===Paul/Narrator===
An aspiring writer who lives above Holly in his New York apartment. He is affectionately referred to as "Fred" by Holly until her brother dies. After her brother's death, she only refers to him as "Buster". He enjoys drinking bourbon and reading Simenon. He becomes friends with Holly and Joe Bell and he later falls in love with Holly. He seems to be a passive man, and is suspected of being homosexual due to the lack of sexual nature of his and Holly's relationship. His character closely resembles Capote in his own life.

===Holly Golightly===
True name is Lulamae Barnes. At age 14 she married Doc Golightly near Tulip, Texas. Her parents both passed away from TB, and she was sent to stay with some ‘mean people’ approximately 100 miles east of Tulip. She and her brother, Fred, ran away and would steal in order to eat. After being caught stealing by one of Doc’s daughters, he fell in love with her and asked her to marry him. Though she ran away from him at age 14, she feels she owes a lot to Doc because he gave her confidence in herself. Discovered in California by O.J. Berman, she was given French lessons to rid her of her country accent, and modeled after Margaret Sullavan. Later she posed as niece to Sally Tomato in exchange for money to deliver ‘weather reports’ from Sing Sing to his lawyer.

Just shy of being 19 at the beginning of the story, Holly is described physically as ageless, having short, boy styled hair with a hodgepodge of colors including white blonde and yellow streaks(self colored), and being thin but a clean and healthy look about her. Her cheeks are pink and she has very large mouth and warm, blue, green, and brown eyes, which she hides behind large, prescription sunglasses at all hours. Her nose is turned up at the end, like a pixie. She is always well groomed, with a tendency to dress in good taste, but plainly, in grays and blues which seems to make her shine even more.

Holly believes strongly in being free to roam where ever her whim should take her. Although she resides in apartment 2 of the brownstone, she seems to not have a home. Her inability to keep up with her apartment key, her nameless cat, and the sparse furnishings in her apartment illustrate well her lack of commitment to one place or thing. Even her mail box card is non-committing : Miss Holiday Golightly, Traveling. Although she seems so free spirited, later in the novella we find that she desperately does want to find a place to call her own; a place that makes her feel secure as Tiffany’s does.

Holly smokes Picayunes, a type of cigarette; which irony is found when one realizes in Spanish it means “something of very little value, a trifle.” On occasion she also confessed to smoking marijuana, and seems to be a drinker. She loyally reads tabloids, travel folders, and astrological charts, as well as letters from her brother overseas. She plays the guitar very well (taught to her by Doc) and sings a little. Although her profession is never named, she makes it part of her job to study horses and baseball, and trained herself to like men over 40 who give her considerable amounts of money to visit the powder room. Holly considers herself bisexual.

She has no qualms about lying when it amuses or benefits her. She seems to have loyalties to no one except for her brother, Fred, with whom she fantasizes about having a horse farm near the sea in Mexico. Being rich and famous is in the top of her priorities. The narrator describes her as a lop sided romantic, as well as a crude exhibitionist, a time waster, and an utter fake.

Holly is a spunky 19 year old woman who goes her own way and does her own thing. She is a bit of a vagabond. She only stays in one place for so long. If something starts to go awry, she will pack up her stuff and move on to another place. She lives in apartment #2 of a brownstone apartment complex in New York City. Her apartment reflects her personality, for it always has the look of being just moved in to, and the look of just about to be moved out of.

===Joe Bell===
Owner of a quiet bar on Lexington Avenue, referred to as Joe Bell's. Physically described to be small, with fine coarse white hair, a sloping bony face better suited to a tall person, and a complexion which always appears sunburnt. He has a froggy voice. Suspected to be homosexual. Devoted to and loves Holly; took numerous phone messages for her when she was in New York, and through out the years during her absence has constantly looked for her in the streets. He doesn't have an easy nature, self described due to being a bachelor and having a sour stomach, which he regularly self medicates with Tums. He is very difficult to talk to unless you are interested in Holly, ice hockey, Weimaraner dogs, Our Gal Sunday (Soap serial on for 15 years), and Gilbert or Sullivan. Has a froggy voice. He's talented at flower arranging, and keeps fresh flowers in his bar.

===I. Y. Yunioshi===
Mistakenly said to be from Japan by Bell; but truly from California. He is a photographer featured in a magazine called Winchell, and lived in the studio apartment, top floor of brownstone, during Holly’s time living there.

===Negro man from Africa===
Tall, delicate, man, who wore a calico skirt. He is a talented wood sculptor from the S Tribe, in Tococul, East Anglia. He was photographed by Yunioshi on Christmas Day in 1956, depicting him with a "shy, yet vain smile, displaying in his hands an odd wood sculpture," of the head of Holly Golightly (p6). Shared a mat with Holly Golightly in Spring of that same year.

===Madame Sapphia Spanella===
Tenant of brownstone. Described as a husky, coloratura (a singer, usually a soprano, who specializes in music characterized by trills and runs) who goes roller-skating every afternoon in Central Park. She began a petition in brownstone to evict Holly for being “morally objectionable and the perpetrator of all night gatherings that endanger the safety and sanity of her neighbors (p. 64).”

===Sid Arbuck===
Escorted Holly home the first evening Fred sees her. He picked up the check for five of her friends, whom he did not know, and expected to stay the evening with her. Apparently he did not succeed due to giving her only twenty cents to go to the powder-room.

===Fred===
Holly’s favorite of four brothers. He was the only one who would let her hug him when it was cold as children. Described to be 6’2” and ‘slow’ or ‘stupid’. Was in the 8th grade for three years, then was drafted into the army where he died.

===Sally Tomato===
Looks like a monk with gold teeth to Holly. He speaks very little English. While in Sing Sing prison, he was visited every Thursday by Golightly, and gives her a “weather report”. Suspected to be Black hand Mafia. At one time he would hang out at Joe Bell’s often, but didn’t socialize with anyone.

===O.J. Berman===
An agent who met Holly at Santa Anita, CA when she was 15. Smokes cigars, wears Knize cologne. Wears elevated heals, appears to be a midget, freckled, large head, bald, pointed elven ears, Pekingese eyes which are bulged and unpitying. Hair sprouts from his ears and nose, and has hairy hands. He has a jerky metallic rhythm to his speech. Considers himself sensitive, and loves Holly.

===Benny Polan===
Asked Holly to marry him; he spent thousands of dollars sending her to psychiatrists.

===Cecil B. DeMille & Gary Cooper===
Actors starring in The Story of Dr Wassell.

===Rutherford (Rusty) Trawler===
Middle aged, baby faced, fat and appeared to be a spoiled child. Lost both parents in 1908 at age 5, his father a victim of anarchist and his mother died of shock. This made him instantly a millionaire and celebrity. His godfather arrested for sodomy due to him, and has divorced 3 times. He offered to marry Unity Mitford if Hitler didn’t, thus was referred to as a Nazi by many. Attended rallies in Yorkville. Acts as though he should be in diapers, Holly said he should be wearing a skirt. Talks in a whiney voice. Thinks girls are literally dolls. And although believed to be homosexual, he marries Mag Wildwood.

===Mag Wildwood (Margaret Thatcher Fitzhue Wildwood)===
Her home town is Wildwood, Arkansas. Models for Yunioshi for the Bazaar. Described to be extremely thin, flat chested, and over 6 feet tall, with a stutter that she over exaggerates. She lives at the Winslow. All men in her family were soldiers, and there is a statue of her father in Wildwood. She is very proud of her country, and considers herself a warmhearted person. She knits. Temporarily roomed with Holly and was engaged to Jose.

===Jose Ybarra-Jaegar===
A Brazilian with a German mother. He aims to be the president of Brazil. Has a strong latin accent, originally Wildwood’s lover and became Holly’s. He is described to be intelligent, presentable, and very serious about his work, which is related to the government. He is in Washington 3 days a week. His priorities are his name and work, and broke his engagement with Holly due to her publicity with Sally Tomato.

===Mildred Grossman===
A girl who went to school with the narrator. Described as a top heavy realist with moist hair greasy glasses covering flat eyes. She dissected frogs and went to picket lines, only examined stars to gauge their chemical tonnage. Compared to Holly by the narrator to be a Siamese twin; they would never change because they’d been given their character too soon. (p.58)

===Doc Golightly===
Farmer, horse doctor, and husband of Holly/Lulamae, from Tulip, Texas. He is described to be very provocative, early fifties w/ a hard weathered face, and gray forlorn eyes. He appeared in New York outside the brownstone wearing an old sweat-stained gray hat, a pale blue, cheap summer suit, loose on his lanky frame. He wore brand new brown shoes. He likes to whistle, and has a very countrified drawl. Smells of tobacco and sweat, and keeps a toothpick in his mouth to chew on. He is very forward when speaking with the narrator. He came via Greyhound to see Holly/Lulamae. His first wife passed away on July 4th 1936, and married Holly/Lulamae December 38 when she was just shy of age 14.

===Nellie===
Doc’s oldest daughter, discovered Fred and Lulamae stealing milk and turkey eggs.

==Major Themes==
===Delight in the Unorthodox===
Plimpton writes that the theme in ''Breakfast at Tiffany’s'' is that there are special, strange gifted people in the world and they have to be treated with understanding (175). When something is unorthodox it breaks with convention or tradition. All of the characters in the novella ''Breakfast at Tiffany's'' took delight in unique unorthodox ways. Homosexuality was considered to be unorthodox in the fifties and some people even consider it to be unorthodox today.

Holly Golightly was unorthodox by leaving her husband and by embracing homosexuality like she did. Tison Pugh writes, "...we can see that Holly's friendships with gay men are one sign of her progressive sexual politics" (2). Holly believed in things that were unconventional and unorthodox. Paul Levine writes that,"...Holly too is a hard-headed romantic, a [http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=pragmatic pragmatic] [http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=idealist idealist]" (351). Holly definitely took delight in her unorthodox ways. Not only did Holly Golightly take delight in her unorthodox ways, but the narrator also took delight in his unorthodox ways.

The narrator was more content with just being himself than he was with fitting the mold. Holly Golightly says that all straight men either like baseball or horses, and in her apartment there are books about horses and baseball. The narrator goes over to the book shelf and pretends to be interested when he says, "Pretending an interest in horseflesh and How to Tell It gave me sufficiently private opportunity for sizing Holly's friends" (Capote 35). If the narrator had liked baseball he would have picked up a book on baseball instead of pretending he liked horses. In other words the narrator is gay, and he is not really concerned with other's thoughts.

Joe Bell is also a different type of character. He owns a bar, pops tums like candy, and takes care of flowers. Joe Bell's hobbies are hockey players, [http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art4814.asp weimaraner dogs], and [http://math.boisestate.edu/GaS/ Gilbert and Sullivan] (Capote 4). The narrator even goes on to say that Joe Bell is related to either Gilbert or Sullivan. "Since Sullivan is rumored to be have been a homosexual...the passage slyly hints that the bartender is part of Sullivan's family, a fellow gay man to his beloved composer" (Tison 2). Joe Bell also "arranges flowers with matronly care" (Capote 5). In today's society a masculine straight man does not arrange flowers with matronly care. All three of the main characters took delight in their unorthodox ways.

===Quest for Home/Belonging===

Holly Golightly is a pure example of someone that is untameable. It's no wonder how she got that way. Doc Golightly, her husband, says, "Story was: their mother died of TB ([http://www.cdc.gov/nchstp/tb/faqs/qa.htm Tuberculosis]), and their papa done the same - and all the churren, a whole raft of 'em, they been sent off to live with different mean people" (Capote 68). From that line it is obvious that Holly Golightly never really had a home. She appears to spend the rest of her time trying to find one.

One home that Holly has is at Tiffany's. Holly says, "It calms me down right away, the quietness and proud look of it; nothing bad could happen to you there, not with those kind of men in their nice suits, and that lovely smell of silver and alligator wallets. If I could find a real life place that made me feel like Tiffany's, then I'd buy some furniture and give the cat a name" (Capote 40). Matthew Cash states that this scene shows Holly's innocence and search for a home (3).

Holly spends much of her time trying to belong to something or someone while at the same time trying not to. Perhaps she had abandonment issues. "On the first night that Holly came to visit the narrator in his appartment she ends up sleeping beside him, showing that Holly needs someone who is comforting instead of lusting toward her" (Cash 4). Perhaps Holly just needed to feel a love that didn't require anything back of her. Holly was human and she desired love, but at the same time she retreated when the narrator asked her why she was crying. Holly jumps up and heads for the window while hollering, "I hate snoops" (Capote 27). Holly had a desire for a home and a place to belong, but she appeared to be very leary of it all.

===Never Love a Wild Thing===

Holly Golightly considered herself to be wild. She gives Joe Bell this speach and she says, "Never love a wild thing, Mr. Bell...That was Doc's mistake. He was always lugging home wild things. A hawk with a hurt wing. One time it was a full-grown bobcat with a broken leg. But you can't give your heart to a wild thing: the more you do, the stronger they get. Until they're strong enough to run into the woods. Or fly into a tree. then a taller tree. Then the sky. That's how you'll end up, Mr. Bell. If you let yourself love a wild thing. You'll end up looking at the sky" (Capote 74).

Holly goes on to say, "Good luck: and believe me, dearest Doc - it's better to look at the sky than live there. Such an empty place; so vague. Just a country where the thunder goes and things disappear" (Capote 74). In one sentence she is telling Joe Bell not to love a wild thing and in the next she is admitting how unhappy she is. In the beginning of the story Joe Bell admits his love for Holly when he says, "Sure I loved her. But it wasn't that I wanted to touch her" (Capote 9). Maybe Holly knew about Joe Bell's love and was trying to warn him not to love her. While Holly admitted that she was wild she also admitted that she was unhappy.

===Joy/Difficulty of Traveling===

Holly Golightly is a traveler who is searching for somewhere to call home. She even goes so far as to say:"...home is where you feel at home. I'm still looking," she says (Capote 102). Everything she does throughout the book is based on that very way she looks at life (Cash). "I'll never get used to anything. Anybody that does, they might as well be dead" (Capote 19).

Holly only seems to find happiness for a short time and it is quickly followed by something that drives her away. She has bad memories of almost every step of the way. From her marriage to Doc in Texas to her many male callers in New York, there is always something that drives at her.

Holly's age, inexperience, and lack of direction may contribute to her inability to be happy. Her age is revealed by the narrarator:"I thought her anywhere between sixteen and thirty; as it turned out, she was shy two months of her nineteenth birthday."(Capote 12-13). Her inexperience and young age has her unsure what she really wants out of her life. Holly would finally come to realization after losing her no-name cat. And even at the end of the novel, she is still in search of home.

==Major Symbols==
===Tiffany & Co. ===

Tiffany's is a jewelry store Holly feels is the best place for her to calm down and feel at home. She explains it as the cure for her "mean reds" to the narrarator (Cash):"What I've found does the most good is just to get into a taxi and go to Tiffany's," Holly says (Capote 40).

Tiffany's also symbolizes what Holly is searching for: a place she feels she belongs. A place she feels no harm can be done to her and she feels safe around men in particular."It calms me down right away, the quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there, not with those kind men in their nice suits, and that lovely smell of silver and alligator wallets" (Capote 40).

===The "Mean Reds"===

The "mean reds" was a reoccuring problem Holly has. The narrarator first associated the "mean reds" with the blues (Cash). Holly is quick to denounce that theory. "No, the blues are because you're getting fat or maybe it's been raining too long. You're sad, that's all. But the mean reds are horrible. You're afraid and you sweat like hell, but you don't know what you're afraid of. Except something bad is going to happen, only you don't know what it is"(Capote 40). The narrarator makes another attempt to give an explanation by calling it angst, claiming everyone feels that same way (Cash). Holly takes the suggestion of Rusty Trawler and smokes marijuana and took an aspirin.

===The Fat Lady===
The fat lady was the female detective that wore the civilian clothes. The fat lady hair was " thick yellow braids roped around her head." The fat lady detective talk in a baby voice. She told Holly "come along, sister." You're going places." At this time, Holly did not want the fat lady hands touching her. Holly said: "Get them cotton-pickin hands off of me, you dreary,driveling old bull-dyke." This made the fat lady angry, so she slapped Holly so damned hard across her face,her head spinned to her over shoulder. As the detectives started to escort Holly down the stairs, she yells "please feed the cat."

===The Cat===
Although Holly tries to act like the cat doesn't really matter to her as a possession, she really does feel that it belongs to her. Holly never really admits this fact until she leaves the cat, then can't find it. "Oh Jesus God. we did belong to each other. He was mine." (Capote 109) The cat is one of the few things that holly truly feels is hers. Every time the cat appears in the story he seems to be the exact opposite of Holly, or acting in a complete opposite manner as Holly. "Her at losing her nameless, battered "slob" of a cat, far from being a sentimental excess on her part (and the narrator's), is an intensely serious expression of profound fear of relinquishment." (Nance) Holly shares a feeling of not belonging and acting on a moments notice with the cat. "Like the ugly tom cat she picks up by the river one day, her existence is improvised" (Hassan) Holly finally shows her fear of "perpetual homelessness" (Hassan) when she drops the cat off in Spanish Harlem, and after not being able to find it says: “I’m very scared, Buster. Yes, at last. Because it could go on forever. Not knowing what's yours until you've thrown it away." (Capote 109)

===The Bird Cage===

The narrator gives Holly the bird cage as a gift. The bird cage cost three-hundred fifty dollars. The bird cage came from Tiffany's. In return Holly gives the narrtor a Saint Christopher's Metal.

==Influences==
The somewhat "curious" title Breakfast at Tiffany's was inspired by a man from out-of-town that Capote heard about, who was "ignorant of New York" (Plimpton 161). As Plimpton asserts, when the man was asked to pick from the best restaurants in New York where to eat breakfast, he replied: "Well, let's have breakfast at Tiffany's," which was the only place he knew of (161).

Capote's life had a great deal of influence on the novella. Capote was a teenager when he began writing books, and the narrator also was a writer in his teens. Capote once said, "I always knew that I wanted to be a writer and that I wanted to be rich and famous" (Krebs). The narrator wanted to be a success early in life, and Capote expressed himself in the same sense. He knew "[he] had to be successful, and [he] had to be successful early" (Krebs). Capote turned into an alcholic because of his drinking at a young age. The narrator was also a heavy drinker. Holly and the narrator would go to the bar and drink many times. Capote was also a homosexual; his partner was Jack Dunphy [http://www.axiongraphicx.com/Capote.html]. In the novella, when the narrator is looking through Holly's book collection, he realizes that she only owns books about horses and baseball. The narrator has no interest in either subjuct. Holly mentions her love for horses and explains to the narrator how she does not like baseball at all, but she reads books about it for research purposes. Holly informs the narrator that if a man does not like either subject then she is in trouble any way because he does not like girls. The narrator's life in the novella is almost a mirror image of Capote.

In real life, Truman Capote's mother's name was Lillie Mae [http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/capote.htm] which is very similar to the real name he chose to give Holly of Lulamae. It is also interesting that the narrator in the novella is an aspiring writer just as Capote had been when he moved to New York and he also is given the same birthday as Capote which is September 30th.

Some have said that Capote's works were possibly influenced by the works of Edgar Allan Poe, but looking closely to Capote's own life experiences, this novella seems to be solely influenced by his own life with a bit of a flare. He was inspired by the women in his life to create Holly Golightly's character. As Clarke asserts, Capote modeled “his scatty central character...on half a dozen of the charming young beauties he had squired around Manhattan during and after World War II” (64). One woman who likes to take credit for inspiring Holly's character is Doris Lilly, who was like a sister to Capote in his youth. She actually lived in a “brownstone walk-up on East Seventy-eighth Street, exactly [like] the one in the book,” and says “there’s an awful lot of [her] in Holly Golightly” (Lilly 164).

==Other Novella's and Novels==
* Summer Crossing

* Other Voices, Other Rooms

* The Grass Harp

* The Muses Are Heard

* Breakfast at Tiffany's

* The Thanksgiving Visitor

* Summer Crossing
==Time Line==
* 1943 Summer Crossing
* 1945 "Miriam"
* 1948 Other Voices, Other Rooms
* 1949 A Tree of Night and Other Stories
* 1951 The Grass Harp - Novel
* 1952 The Grass Harp - Play
* 1953 Beat the Devil
* 1954 House of Flowers
* 1956 The Muses Are Heard
* 1956 "A Christmas Memory"
* 1957 "The Duke in His Domain"
* 1958 Breakfast at Tiffany's
* 1960 The Innocents
* 1963 The Collected Writings of Truman Capote
* 1966 In Cold Blood
* 1968 The Thanksgiving Visitor
* 1971 The Great Gatsby
* 1975 "Mojave" and "La Cote Basque, 1965"
* 1976 "Unspoiled Monsters" and "Kate McCloud"
* 1980 Music for Chameleons
* 1986 Answered Prayers: The Unfinished Novel
* 2005 Summer Crossing - * Previously unpublished Novel

==Additional Resources==
*Capote, Truman. The Complete Stories of Truman Capote. New York: The Random House Publishing Group, 2004.
*Clarke, Gerald. Capote: A Biography. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1988.
*Garsen, Helen S. Truman Capote. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Company, 1980.
*Goyen, William. "That Old Valentine Maker." New York Times Book Review. November 1958:5,38.

==Works Cited==
*Capote, Truman. ''Breakfast at Tiffany's''. New York: Vintage Books - A division of Random House, 1993.
*Cash, Matthew. ''The Breakfast at Tiffany's Homepage''. 1996. University of Michigan. 14 March 2006. <www.personal.umich.edu/~bcash/criticalanalysis.html>
*Clarke, Gerald. ''Too Brief a Treat: The Letters of Truman Capote''. New York: Random House, 2004.
*Grzesiak, Rich. "My Significant Other, Truman Capote". [http://axiongrafix.com/capote.html]. 1987.
*Hassan, Ihab H. "Wisconsin Studies in Contemporary Literature". Vol.1, No.2. Spring, 1960. pp.5-21
*Krebs, Albin. "Truman Capote Is Dead at 59; Novelist of Style and Clarity". The New York Times on the web. 28 Aug.1984 <www.nytimes.com/books/97/12/28/home/capote-obit.html>
*Levine, Paul. ''Book Review of Breakfeast at Tiffany's/Levine''. The Georgia Review.3/(1959): 350-352
*Lilly, Doris. ''Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances, and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career''. Ed. George Plimpton. New York: Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, 1997.
*Nance, Willaim L."The Worlds of Truman Capote, Stein and Day" 1970.Contemporary Literary Criticism.
*Plimpton, George. ''Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances,and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career''. New York: Doubleday Dell Publishing Group. 1997.
*Pugh, Tison. ''Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's''. ''The Explicator''. 6/(2002): 51-53

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 6

2006-03-23T03:43:22Z

Kwalker: /* Commentary */

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 6

2006-03-23T03:29:56Z

Kwalker: /* Notes */

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 12

2006-03-22T21:30:57Z

Kwalker: /* Study Questions */

==Summary==
The narrator is sent to Holly's apartment to gather up some of her things, and the cat. He took them to Joe Bell's, where Holly was waiting for him. They then leave in a limousine and head to the airport. On the way there, Holly drops the cat off on a street block, and leaves him there. A block down the road she realizes that she wants the cat back and runs back there to look for him. She could not find him, so the narrator promises her that he will find and take care of the cat. She gets back in the limo and leaves for the airport, to go to Rio. At that point, she realizes that she and the cat were the same. They were both wild and did not want to be caged, but she believes that they belong to each other and is sorry that she no longer has the cat with her.

==Notes==
'''bon voyage''' (106)- French, literally translated as "good journey".

'''oompahpah''' (106)- A rhythmic bass accompaniment, that repeats.

'''rhapsodic''' (106)- Emotional, extravagant music.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Harlem'''Spanish Harlem'''](107)- Also known as East Harlem or El Barrio, a neighborhood in northeastern part of the borough of Manhattan, one of the largest predominantly Hispanic communities in New York City. Since the 1950s, it has been populated by a large number of people of Puerto Rican descent, sometimes called Nuyoricans. In recent years the neighborhood has also become home to many Mexican American immigrants.

[http://lionreference.chadwyck.com/searchFulltext.do?id=R01659106&divLevel=0&queryId=../session/1140713136_4425&area=abell&forward=critref_ft '''Nancy's Landing'''] (105)- Fictional town created by Capote. "Nancy's Landing," serves as Capote's code phrase for a gay resort, a make-believe, southern Fire Island or Provincetown. Thus, the narrator's coy rejoinder that the reader should "[n]ever mind why" he made the trip appears as a subtle move to direct attention away from his self-confession.

==Commentary==
One of the underlying themes presented in this section is a heightened awareness of homosexuality of the narrator and Joe Bell. The first example is the narrator's reference to Nancy's Landing in comparison to his trip to Joe Bell's bar:

''"Never mind why, but once I walked from New Orleans to Nancy's Landing, Mississippi, just under five hundred miles. It was a light-hearted lark compared to the journey to Joe Bell's bar" (105).''

Nancy's Landing is a fictional place, a gay resort invented by Capote. The fact that he doesn't give a reason for the journey suggest that he intends to put the idea out there, without revealing too much about himself.

Joe Bell's homosexuality is apparant in the list of his passions, which include hockey, soap operas, and flower arranging. He also appreciates horses and baseball. His interest are a bit confusing, but shows that people cannot be stereotyped. All the characteristics suggest that he is gay, but the idea of horses and baseball as a key to heterosexuality presents cofusion to the reader.

"Our Gal Sunday (a soap serial he had listened to for fifteen years), and Gilbert and Sullivan," both of which indicate less stereotypically masculine aspects to his character. Capote develops the reference to Gilbert and Sullivan further, noting that "[Bell] claims to be related to one or the other, I can't remember which" (4). Since Sullivan is rumored to have been a homosexual because of the many coded references to sexual partners in his diaries, the passage slyly hints that the bartender is part of Sullivan's "family," a fellow gay man to his beloved composer." (Pugh)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1145000/images/_1148706_hepb_300.jpg

==Study Questions==
*What were the five items that Holly requested from her apartment?
*What did the narrator use to transport the cat?
*What was Holly transported to the airport in, and who arranged it?
*Where was the cat abandoned?
*What was Joe Bell's reaction to the news that Holly was leaving?
*Where was Holly planning to go?
*What did Holly ask the narrator to do when she went back and could not find her cat?

==External Resources==

==Works Cited==
Pugh, Tison.[http://lionreference.chadwyck.com/searchFulltext.do?id=R01659106&divLevel=0&queryId=../session/1140713136_4425&area=abell&forward=critref_ft Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's.] Explicator (Helen Dwight Reid Educational Foundation, Washington, DC) (61:1) [Fall 2002] , p.51-53

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< [[Breakfast at Tiffany's 11|Section eleven]] | [[Breakfast at Tiffany's]] | [[Breakfast at Tiffany's 13|Section thirteen]] >

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 12

2006-03-22T21:26:59Z

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 6

2006-03-19T23:12:03Z

Kwalker: /* Summary */

==Summary==
Previously, Holly and the narrator had a fight and the narrator decides to leave the birdcage that Holly had given him as a gift by her apartment door. This symbolizes that he wants to cut ties with her, at least at that moment in the story. Later he finds the birdcage outside with the rest of the garbage. He “rescues” the birdcage from being thrown away, but he is still angry. The narrator and Holly go a while without talking. Then one day, the narrator notices a “provocative man” lurking around the brownstone, and looking at Holly’s card. After the man follows the narrator for several blocks to a bar, the narrator talks to this man and learns that this is Holly’s husband, and her name is really Lulamae Barnes.

The man's name is Doc Golightly. He had found Lulamae (Holly) and her brother trying to steal food from him in Tulip, Texas. He learned that both of their parents had died from Tuberculosis and that all of the children, including Lulamae (Holly) and Fred had been sent to live with mean people. He took in Lulamae and her brother and allowed them to live with he and his four children on his farm. He later married Lulamae when she was fourteen and told the narrator that she was very "plump and happy" and did not understand why she would have just "run off" the way that she did. Doc Golightly had obtained her current address from her brother who was in the Army and had heard from her in recent months. At the end of this section, the narrator meets Holly at her front door as she is leaving to go out. When he calls her by the name "Lulamae", she believes that Fred is there and looks for him only to find Doc coming up the stairs. They hug and talk briefly before the narrator "squeezes past them to return to his own apartment.

==Notes==

'''coloratura''' (64)- A soprano specializing in elaborate and ornate vocal music.

'''plaintive''' (65)- Expressive of suffering or woe.

'''implausible''' (68)- Unbelievable or hard to believe or imagine.

'''dovetailed''' (68)- To fit skillfully together.

==Commentary==

==Study Questions==

1. Why did the narrator retrieve the birdcage when he saw it outside as he was leaving?

2. Why were Holly and the narrator not speaking to each other?

3. What was Madame Spanella circulating among the brownstone tenants in referance to Holly?

4. What did the narrator say that Madame Spanella said about Holly?

5. What season was it when the narrator first noticed Doc Golightly examining Holly's mailbox?

6. What was Doc Golightly wearing?

7. Where was the narrator going when Doc Golightly followed him?

8. How busy was the restaurant when the narrator arrived?

9. What did Doc Golightly show the narrator at the counter?

10. How many children did Doc Golightly say that Holly had?

11. What was the name of Doc Golightly's oldest daughter?

12. When did Doc Golightly's first wife die?

13. What animal did Doc Golightly teach to say "Lulamae" for Holly?

==External Resources==

==Works Cited==

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< [[Breakfast at Tiffany's 5|Section five]] | [[Breakfast at Tiffany's]] | [[Breakfast at Tiffany's 7|Section seven]] >

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 6

2006-03-18T19:12:46Z

Kwalker: /* Study Questions */

==Summary==
Previously, Holly and the narrator had a fight and the narrator decides to leave the birdcage that Holly had given him as a gift by her apartment door. This symbolizes that he wants to cut ties with her, at least at that moment in the story. Later he finds the birdcage outside with the rest of the garbage. He “rescues” the birdcage from being thrown away, but he is still angry. The narrator and Holly go a while without talking. Then one day, the narrator notices a “provocative man” lurking around the brownstone, and looking at Holly’s card. After the man follows the narrator for several blocks to a bar, the narrator talks to this man and learns that this is Holly’s husband, and her name is really Lulamae Barnes. The man's name is Doc Golightly. He had found Lulamae (Holly) and her brother trying to steal food from him in Tulip, Texas. He learned that both of their parents had died from Tuberculosis and that all of the children, including Lulamae (Holly) and Fred had been sent to live with mean people. He took in Lulamae and her brother and allowed them to live with he and his four children on his farm. He later married Lulamae when she was fourteen and told the narrator that she was very "plump and happy" and did not understand why she would have just "run off" the way that she did. Doc Golightly had obtained her current address from her brother who was in the Army and had heard from her in recent months. At the end of this section, the narrator meets Holly at her front door as she is leaving to go out. When he calls her by the name "Lulamae", she believes that Fred is there and looks for him only to find Doc coming up the stairs. They hug and talk briefly before the narrator "squeezes past them to return to his own apartment.

==Notes==

'''coloratura''' (64)- A soprano specializing in elaborate and ornate vocal music.

'''plaintive''' (65)- Expressive of suffering or woe.

'''implausible''' (68)- Unbelievable or hard to believe or imagine.

'''dovetailed''' (68)- To fit skillfully together.

==Commentary==

==Study Questions==

1. Why did the narrator retrieve the birdcage when he saw it outside as he was leaving?

2. Why were Holly and the narrator not speaking to each other?

3. What was Madame Spanella circulating among the brownstone tenants in referance to Holly?

4. What did the narrator say that Madame Spanella said about Holly?

5. What season was it when the narrator first noticed Doc Golightly examining Holly's mailbox?

6. What was Doc Golightly wearing?

7. Where was the narrator going when Doc Golightly followed him?

8. How busy was the restaurant when the narrator arrived?

9. What did Doc Golightly show the narrator at the counter?

10. How many children did Doc Golightly say that Holly had?

11. What was the name of Doc Golightly's oldest daughter?

12. When did Doc Golightly's first wife die?

13. What animal did Doc Golightly teach to say "Lulamae" for Holly?

==External Resources==

==Works Cited==

----
< [[Breakfast at Tiffany's 5|Section five]] | [[Breakfast at Tiffany's]] | [[Breakfast at Tiffany's 7|Section seven]] >

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 6

2006-03-18T18:59:12Z

Kwalker: /* Notes */

==Summary==
Previously, Holly and the narrator had a fight and the narrator decides to leave the birdcage that Holly had given him as a gift by her apartment door. This symbolizes that he wants to cut ties with her, at least at that moment in the story. Later he finds the birdcage outside with the rest of the garbage. He “rescues” the birdcage from being thrown away, but he is still angry. The narrator and Holly go a while without talking. Then one day, the narrator notices a “provocative man” lurking around the brownstone, and looking at Holly’s card. After the man follows the narrator for several blocks to a bar, the narrator talks to this man and learns that this is Holly’s husband, and her name is really Lulamae Barnes. The man's name is Doc Golightly. He had found Lulamae (Holly) and her brother trying to steal food from him in Tulip, Texas. He learned that both of their parents had died from Tuberculosis and that all of the children, including Lulamae (Holly) and Fred had been sent to live with mean people. He took in Lulamae and her brother and allowed them to live with he and his four children on his farm. He later married Lulamae when she was fourteen and told the narrator that she was very "plump and happy" and did not understand why she would have just "run off" the way that she did. Doc Golightly had obtained her current address from her brother who was in the Army and had heard from her in recent months. At the end of this section, the narrator meets Holly at her front door as she is leaving to go out. When he calls her by the name "Lulamae", she believes that Fred is there and looks for him only to find Doc coming up the stairs. They hug and talk briefly before the narrator "squeezes past them to return to his own apartment.

==Notes==

'''coloratura''' (64)- A soprano specializing in elaborate and ornate vocal music.

'''plaintive''' (65)- Expressive of suffering or woe.

'''implausible''' (68)- Unbelievable or hard to believe or imagine.

'''dovetailed''' (68)- To fit skillfully together.

==Commentary==

==Study Questions==

==External Resources==

==Works Cited==

----
< [[Breakfast at Tiffany's 5|Section five]] | [[Breakfast at Tiffany's]] | [[Breakfast at Tiffany's 7|Section seven]] >

[[Category:Literature]]

2006-02-13T22:35:43Z

Kwalker: