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Henry

2006-04-27T17:19:15Z

Lkodra:

[[Image:James Cromwell.jpg|thumb|right|James Cromwell as Henry]] Roy Cohn's doctor, whom he has been going to since 1958. Diagnoses Roy with [http://www.aidsinfo.nih.gov/ AIDS]. Henry is almost considered a small character in the play. He is first seen in Act 1, Scene 9. The scene starts off with information about the virus. Henry tells Roy, "Nobody knows what causes it. And nobody knows how to cure it. The best theory is that we blame a retrovirus, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. It's presence is made known to us by the useless antibodies which appear in reaction to its entrance into the bloodstream through a cut, or an orifice. The antibodies are powerless to protect the body against it... (Kushner 48). Henry diagnoses Roy with the disease after removing lesions called [http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000661.htm Kaposi's sarcomas].
Henry also tells Roy, "...And you have a pronounced swelling of glands in your neck, groin, and armpits-[http://www.iapm.net/medicalcase_old.htm lymphadnopathy] is another sign. And you have [http://www.dentalcare.com/soap/intermed/oralcan.htm oral candidiasis] and maybe a little more [http://www.davidlnelson.md/Fingernail_fungus.htm fungus] under the fingernails of two digits on your right hand..." (Kushner 48). Henry is a character that is either afraid of Roy, loyal to Roy, or indifferent to Roy. Henry knows that Roy is a gay man in the closet. In one part during the scene Roy gets angry at Henry for telling him that he has a homosexual/drug addict disease. Henry replies, "Roy, you have been seeing me since 1958. Apart from facelifts I have treated you for everything from syphilis...to venereal warts. In your rectum. which you may have gotten from a whore in Dallas, but it wasn't a female whore" (Kushner 50). In the end Henry writes down that Roy has liver cancer, but he puts Roy on the AIDS level of the hospital. There is some evidence to suggest that Henry is afraid of Roy, and some evidence to suggest that he can't wait for Roy to die.

After Roy is in the hospital, Belize goes to talk to him. Roy tells Belize that they did his facelifts without putting him out. Belize replies, "No doctor would agree to do that" (Kushner 157). Roy replies, "I can get anyone to do anything I want..." (Kushner 157). On page fifty in the play Henry admits to doing Roy's facelifts for him. Apparently the doctor that was manipulated by Roy to do a facelift without anestesia was Henry. The evidence that Henry can't wait for Roy to die is circumstantial. When Henry is admitting Roy into the hospital he tells Belize, "Emergency admit, Room 1013. Here are the charts. Start the drip, Gamma G and he'll ned a CTM, radiation in the morning so clear diet and..." (Kushner 155). When Belize is talking to Roy after Henry leaves he tells him, "This didn't come from me and I don't like you but let me tell you a thing or two: They have you down for radiation tomorrow for the sarcoma lesions, and you don't want to let them do that, because radiation will kill the T-Cells and you don't have any you can afford to lose..." (Kushner 160). Henry is a medical doctor and Belize is a nurse. Why did Henry schedule Roy for radiation if he already knew about the T-cells? Henry is also the one that told Roy about the AZT medicine and the waiting list on page 50. Belize tells Henry about the double blind. "Watch out for the double blind. They'll want you to sign something that says they can give you M&M's instead of the real drug. You'll die, but they'll get the kind of statistics they can publish in the New England Journal of Medicine..." (Kushner 160). Henry is a doctor and probably knows all about the placebo part of the trials but doesn't tell Roy. Why?

Henry is a character that really spells out the hatred that even professionals have for Roy.

----
[[Angels in America]]

Henry

2006-04-27T17:15:47Z

Lkodra:

[[Image:James Cromwell.jpg|thumb|right|James Cromwell as Henry]] Roy Cohn's doctor, whom he has been going to since 1958. Diagnoses Roy with [http://www.aidsinfo.nih.gov/ AIDS]. Henry is almost considered a small character in the play. He is Act 1, Scene 9. The scene starts off with information about the virus. Henry tells Roy, "Nobody knows what causes it. And nobody knows how to cure it. The best theory is that we blame a retrovirus, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. It's presence is made known to us by the useless antibodies which appear in reaction to its entrance into the bloodstream through a cut, or an orifice. The antibodies are powerless to protect the body against it... (Kushner 48). Henry diagnoses Roy with the disease after removing lesions called [http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000661.htm Kaposi's sarcomas].
Henry also tells Roy, "...And you have a pronounced swelling of glands in your neck, groin, and armpits-[http://www.iapm.net/medicalcase_old.htm lymphadnopathy] is another sign. And you have [http://www.dentalcare.com/soap/intermed/oralcan.htm oral candidiasis] and maybe a little more [http://www.davidlnelson.md/Fingernail_fungus.htm fungus] under the fingernails of two digits on your right hand..." (Kushner 48). Henry is a character that is either afraid of Roy, loyal to Roy, or indifferent to Roy. Henry knows that Roy is a gay man in the closet. In one part during the scene Roy gets angry at Henry for telling him that he has a homosexual/drug addict disease. Henry replies, "Roy, you have been seeing me since 1958. Apart from facelifts I have treated you for everything from syphilis...to venereal warts. In your rectum. which you may have gotten from a whore in Dallas, but it wasn't a female whore" (Kushner 50). In the end Henry writes down that Roy has liver cancer, but he puts Roy on the AIDS level of the hospital. There is some evidence to suggest that Henry is afraid of Roy, and some evidence to suggest that he can't wait for Roy to die.

After Roy is in the hospital, Belize goes to talk to him. Roy tells Belize that they did his facelifts without putting him out. Belize replies, "No doctor would agree to do that" (Kushner 157). Roy replies, "I can get anyone to do anything I want..." (Kushner 157). On page fifty in the play Henry admits to doing Roy's facelifts for him. Apparently the doctor that was manipulated by Roy to do a facelift without anestesia was Henry. The evidence that Henry can't wait for Roy to die is circumstantial. When Henry is admitting Roy into the hospital he tells Belize, "Emergency admit, Room 1013. Here are the charts. Start the drip, Gamma G and he'll ned a CTM, radiation in the morning so clear diet and..." (Kushner 155). When Belize is talking to Roy after Henry leaves he tells him, "This didn't come from me and I don't like you but let me tell you a thing or two: They have you down for radiation tomorrow for the sarcoma lesions, and you don't want to let them do that, because radiation will kill the T-Cells and you don't have any you can afford to lose..." (Kushner 160). Henry is a medical doctor and Belize is a nurse. Why did Henry schedule Roy for radiation if he already knew about the T-cells? Henry is also the one that told Roy about the AZT medicine and the waiting list on page 50. Belize tells Henry about the double blind. "Watch out for the double blind. They'll want you to sign something that says they can give you M&M's instead of the real drug. You'll die, but they'll get the kind of statistics they can publish in the New England Journal of Medicine..." (Kushner 160). Henry is a doctor and probably knows all about the placebo part of the trials but doesn't tell Roy. Why?

Henry is a character that really spells out the hatred that even professionals have for Roy.

----
[[Angels in America]]

Emily

2006-04-27T17:13:48Z

Lkodra:

[[Image:Photo emily prior.jpg|thumb|right|Emily with Prior Walter]]
The nurse practitioner who looks after [[Prior Walter]] while he is in the hospital, and does the check-ups for Prior after he is released from the hospital. Emily tries to act like she cares; however, she has too many patients to look after, which is evident when she says "Look, I'm sorry, I have a waiting room full of..." She continues on to console Prior about his mental state, but this shows she can only show so much empathy before she has to move on to the next patient. Emily is one of several characters who give voice to the same anti-migratory impulse as the Angel, she tells Prior in no uncertain terms to stay put.

----
[[Angels in America]]

Harper Amaty Pitt

2006-04-27T17:12:43Z

Lkodra:

[[Image:Harper.jpg|thumb|Mary Louise Parker as Harper]] Harper Pitt is (Joe) [[Joseph Porter Pitt]]'s wife. She is addicted to [http://www.rocheusa.com/products/valium/ valium] which causes her hallucinate. She suffers from [http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/english/Ag/Agoraphobia.html agoraphobia]and creates an imaginary friend, [[Mr. Lies]], to help her avoid bad situations. In one instance, [[Prior Walter]] and Harper cross over into one another's hallucinations. During this hallucination, she learns that her husband is a homosexual. Harper, appearing as a sexually frustrated and politically detached female, learns to manage these weaknesses she has and reshapes her life by leaving Joe and moving away from New York (Meisner 178). Though she appears as a weak character in the beginning of the play, she ends the play as an independent, confident woman newly in love with life and setting off to build her own life in San Francisco. According to Bloom, Kushner’s women are stronger than the men (with the exception of [[Roy Cohn]]), especially Harper (299).

Harper knows that her husband is distant and she suspects him of being a homosexual. Her solution to the painful feelings that she has is taking valium and hallucinations, which create a false sense of security and protection from the world for her. Harper’s immediate instinct when she arrives in the Antarctica is to develop her own place of security by building a city of frontier forts, which never happens. She wants nothing more than for her fantasies such as living in the Antarctica to be real. It is not until the end of the play that Harper realize her own strengths. She demands Joe’s credit card and leaves for San Francisco by plane, leaving the pain behind and dreaming ahead.

== Works Cited ==

see [[Angels in America]]

Harper Amaty Pitt

2006-04-27T17:12:32Z

Lkodra:

[[Image:Harper.jpg|thumb|Mary Louise Parker as Harper Pitt]] Harper Pitt is (Joe) [[Joseph Porter Pitt]]'s wife. She is addicted to [http://www.rocheusa.com/products/valium/ valium] which causes her hallucinate. She suffers from [http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/english/Ag/Agoraphobia.html agoraphobia]and creates an imaginary friend, [[Mr. Lies]], to help her avoid bad situations. In one instance, [[Prior Walter]] and Harper cross over into one another's hallucinations. During this hallucination, she learns that her husband is a homosexual. Harper, appearing as a sexually frustrated and politically detached female, learns to manage these weaknesses she has and reshapes her life by leaving Joe and moving away from New York (Meisner 178). Though she appears as a weak character in the beginning of the play, she ends the play as an independent, confident woman newly in love with life and setting off to build her own life in San Francisco. According to Bloom, Kushner’s women are stronger than the men (with the exception of [[Roy Cohn]]), especially Harper (299).

Harper knows that her husband is distant and she suspects him of being a homosexual. Her solution to the painful feelings that she has is taking valium and hallucinations, which create a false sense of security and protection from the world for her. Harper’s immediate instinct when she arrives in the Antarctica is to develop her own place of security by building a city of frontier forts, which never happens. She wants nothing more than for her fantasies such as living in the Antarctica to be real. It is not until the end of the play that Harper realize her own strengths. She demands Joe’s credit card and leaves for San Francisco by plane, leaving the pain behind and dreaming ahead.

== Works Cited ==

see [[Angels in America]]

Harper Amaty Pitt

2006-04-27T17:12:01Z

Lkodra:

[[Image:Harper.jpg|thumb|Harper Pitt]] Harper Pitt is (Joe) [[Joseph Porter Pitt]]'s wife. She is addicted to [http://www.rocheusa.com/products/valium/ valium] which causes her hallucinate. She suffers from [http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/english/Ag/Agoraphobia.html agoraphobia]and creates an imaginary friend, [[Mr. Lies]], to help her avoid bad situations. In one instance, [[Prior Walter]] and Harper cross over into one another's hallucinations. During this hallucination, she learns that her husband is a homosexual. Harper, appearing as a sexually frustrated and politically detached female, learns to manage these weaknesses she has and reshapes her life by leaving Joe and moving away from New York (Meisner 178). Though she appears as a weak character in the beginning of the play, she ends the play as an independent, confident woman newly in love with life and setting off to build her own life in San Francisco. According to Bloom, Kushner’s women are stronger than the men (with the exception of [[Roy Cohn]]), especially Harper (299).

Harper knows that her husband is distant and she suspects him of being a homosexual. Her solution to the painful feelings that she has is taking valium and hallucinations, which create a false sense of security and protection from the world for her. Harper’s immediate instinct when she arrives in the Antarctica is to develop her own place of security by building a city of frontier forts, which never happens. She wants nothing more than for her fantasies such as living in the Antarctica to be real. It is not until the end of the play that Harper realize her own strengths. She demands Joe’s credit card and leaves for San Francisco by plane, leaving the pain behind and dreaming ahead.

== Works Cited ==

see [[Angels in America]]

Harper Amaty Pitt

2006-04-27T17:06:12Z

Lkodra:

Harper Pitt is (Joe) [[Joseph Porter Pitt]]'s wife. She is addicted to [http://www.rocheusa.com/products/valium/ valium] which causes her hallucinate. She suffers from [http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/english/Ag/Agoraphobia.html agoraphobia]and creates an imaginary friend, [[Mr. Lies]], to help her avoid bad situations. In one instance, [[Prior Walter]] and Harper cross over into one another's hallucinations. During this hallucination, she learns that her husband is a homosexual. Harper, appearing as a sexually frustrated and politically detached female, learns to manage these weaknesses she has and reshapes her life by leaving Joe and moving away from New York (Meisner 178). Though she appears as a weak character in the beginning of the play, she ends the play as an independent, confident woman newly in love with life and setting off to build her own life in San Francisco. According to Bloom, Kushner’s women are stronger than the men (with the exception of [[Roy Cohn]]), especially Harper (299).

Harper knows that her husband is distant and she suspects him of being a homosexual. Her solution to the painful feelings that she has is taking valium and hallucinations, which create a false sense of security and protection from the world for her. Harper’s immediate instinct when she arrives in the Antarctica is to develop her own place of security by building a city of frontier forts, which never happens. She wants nothing more than for her fantasies such as living in the Antarctica to be real. It is not until the end of the play that Harper realize her own strengths. She demands Joe’s credit card and leaves for San Francisco by plane, leaving the pain behind and dreaming ahead.

[[Image:Harper.jpg]]

== Works Cited ==

see [[Angels in America]]

Angels in America

2006-04-06T17:48:50Z

Lkodra: /* Characters */

[[Image:Angels-in-america-04.jpg|thumb|Angels in America]]

==Factual Information==

==Study Guide==

===Part One: Millennium Approaches===
====Act One: Bad News====
#[[Millennium Approaches 1.1|Act One, Scene 1]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 1.2|Act One, Scene 2]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 1.3|Act One, Scene 3]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 1.4|Act One, Scene 4]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 1.5|Act One, Scene 5]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 1.6|Act One, Scene 6]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 1.7|Act One, Scene 7]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 1.8|Act One, Scene 8]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 1.9|Act One, Scene 9]]
====Act Two: In Vitro====
#[[Millennium Approaches 2.1|Act Two, Scene 1]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 2.2|Act Two, Scene 2]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 2.3|Act Two, Scene 3]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 2.4|Act Two, Scene 4]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 2.5|Act Two, Scene 5]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 2.6|Act Two, Scene 6]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 2.7|Act Two, Scene 7]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 2.8|Act Two, Scene 8]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 2.9|Act Two, Scene 9]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 2.10|Act Two, Scene 10]]
====Act Three: Not-Yet-Conscious, Foward Dawning====
#[[Millennium Approaches 3.1|Act Three, Scene 1]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 3.2|Act Three, Scene 2]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 3.3|Act Three, Scene 3]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 3.4|Act Three, Scene 4]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 3.5|Act Three, Scene 5]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 3.6|Act Three, Scene 6]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 3.7|Act Three, Scene 7]]

===Part Two: Perestroika===
====Act One: Spooj====
#[[Perestroika 1.1|Act One, Scene 1]]
#[[Perestroika 1.2|Act One, Scene 2]]
#[[Perestroika 1.3|Act One, Scene 3]]
#[[Perestroika 1.4|Act One, Scene 4]]
#[[Perestroika 1.5|Act One, Scene 5]]
#[[Perestroika 1.6|Act One, Scene 6]]
====Act Two: The Epistle====
#[[Perestroika 2.1|Act Two, Scene 1]]
====Act Three: Borborygmi====
#[[Perestroika 3.1|Act Three, Scene 1]]
#[[Perestroika 3.2|Act Three, Scene 2]]
#[[Perestroika 3.3|Act Three, Scene 3]]
#[[Perestroika 3.4|Act Three, Scene 4]]
#[[Perestroika 3.5|Act Three, Scene 5]]
====Act Four: John Brown's Body====
#[[Perestroika 4.1|Act Four, Scene 1]]
#[[Perestroika 4.2|Act Four, Scene 2]]
#[[Perestroika 4.3|Act Four, Scene 3]]
#[[Perestroika 4.4|Act Four, Scene 4]]
#[[Perestroika 4.5|Act Four, Scene 5]]
#[[Perestroika 4.6|Act Four, Scene 6]]
#[[Perestroika 4.7|Act Four, Scene 7]]
#[[Perestroika 4.8|Act Four, Scene 8]]
#[[Perestroika 4.9|Act Four, Scene 9]]
====Act Five: Heaven, I'm in Heaven====
#[[Perestroika 5.1|Act Five, Scene 1]]
#[[Perestroika 5.2|Act Five, Scene 2]]
#[[Perestroika 5.3|Act Five, Scene 3]]
#[[Perestroika 5.4|Act Five, Scene 4]]
#[[Perestroika 5.5|Act Five, Scene 5]]
#[[Perestroika 5.6|Act Five, Scene 6]]
#[[Perestroika 5.7|Act Five, Scene 7]]
#[[Perestroika 5.8|Act Five, Scene 8]]
#[[Perestroika 5.9|Act Five, Scene 9]]
#[[Perestroika 5.10|Act Five, Scene 10]]
====Epilogue: Bethesda====
#[[Perestroika Epilogue]]

==Characters==
* '''Harper Amaty Pitt -''' Harper Pitt is Joseph (Joe) Pitt's wife.

* '''Mr. Lies -''' Harper Pitt's imaginary friend. He is a travel agent who sold Joe and Harper their plane tickets to Brooklyn, NY.

* '''Doctor Henry -''' Roy Cohn's doctor, whom he has been going to since 1958. Diagnosis Roy with AIDS.

* '''Nurse Emily -''' The nurse who looks after Prior Walter while he is in the hospital. Also does the checkups for Prior after he is released from the hospital.

==Major Themes==

==Major Symbols==

==Influences==

==Additional Resources==
*

==Works Cited==
*

[[Category:Literature]]

Angels in America

2006-04-06T17:47:22Z

Lkodra: /* Characters */

[[Image:Angels-in-america-04.jpg|thumb|Angels in America]]

==Factual Information==

==Study Guide==

===Part One: Millennium Approaches===
====Act One: Bad News====
#[[Millennium Approaches 1.1|Act One, Scene 1]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 1.2|Act One, Scene 2]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 1.3|Act One, Scene 3]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 1.4|Act One, Scene 4]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 1.5|Act One, Scene 5]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 1.6|Act One, Scene 6]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 1.7|Act One, Scene 7]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 1.8|Act One, Scene 8]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 1.9|Act One, Scene 9]]
====Act Two: In Vitro====
#[[Millennium Approaches 2.1|Act Two, Scene 1]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 2.2|Act Two, Scene 2]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 2.3|Act Two, Scene 3]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 2.4|Act Two, Scene 4]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 2.5|Act Two, Scene 5]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 2.6|Act Two, Scene 6]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 2.7|Act Two, Scene 7]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 2.8|Act Two, Scene 8]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 2.9|Act Two, Scene 9]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 2.10|Act Two, Scene 10]]
====Act Three: Not-Yet-Conscious, Foward Dawning====
#[[Millennium Approaches 3.1|Act Three, Scene 1]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 3.2|Act Three, Scene 2]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 3.3|Act Three, Scene 3]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 3.4|Act Three, Scene 4]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 3.5|Act Three, Scene 5]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 3.6|Act Three, Scene 6]]
#[[Millennium Approaches 3.7|Act Three, Scene 7]]

===Part Two: Perestroika===
====Act One: Spooj====
#[[Perestroika 1.1|Act One, Scene 1]]
#[[Perestroika 1.2|Act One, Scene 2]]
#[[Perestroika 1.3|Act One, Scene 3]]
#[[Perestroika 1.4|Act One, Scene 4]]
#[[Perestroika 1.5|Act One, Scene 5]]
#[[Perestroika 1.6|Act One, Scene 6]]
====Act Two: The Epistle====
#[[Perestroika 2.1|Act Two, Scene 1]]
====Act Three: Borborygmi====
#[[Perestroika 3.1|Act Three, Scene 1]]
#[[Perestroika 3.2|Act Three, Scene 2]]
#[[Perestroika 3.3|Act Three, Scene 3]]
#[[Perestroika 3.4|Act Three, Scene 4]]
#[[Perestroika 3.5|Act Three, Scene 5]]
====Act Four: John Brown's Body====
#[[Perestroika 4.1|Act Four, Scene 1]]
#[[Perestroika 4.2|Act Four, Scene 2]]
#[[Perestroika 4.3|Act Four, Scene 3]]
#[[Perestroika 4.4|Act Four, Scene 4]]
#[[Perestroika 4.5|Act Four, Scene 5]]
#[[Perestroika 4.6|Act Four, Scene 6]]
#[[Perestroika 4.7|Act Four, Scene 7]]
#[[Perestroika 4.8|Act Four, Scene 8]]
#[[Perestroika 4.9|Act Four, Scene 9]]
====Act Five: Heaven, I'm in Heaven====
#[[Perestroika 5.1|Act Five, Scene 1]]
#[[Perestroika 5.2|Act Five, Scene 2]]
#[[Perestroika 5.3|Act Five, Scene 3]]
#[[Perestroika 5.4|Act Five, Scene 4]]
#[[Perestroika 5.5|Act Five, Scene 5]]
#[[Perestroika 5.6|Act Five, Scene 6]]
#[[Perestroika 5.7|Act Five, Scene 7]]
#[[Perestroika 5.8|Act Five, Scene 8]]
#[[Perestroika 5.9|Act Five, Scene 9]]
#[[Perestroika 5.10|Act Five, Scene 10]]
====Epilogue: Bethesda====
#[[Perestroika Epilogue]]

==Characters==
'''Harper Amaty Pitt -''' Harper Pitt is Joseph (Joe) Pitt's wife.

'''Mr. Lies -''' Harper Pitt's imaginary friend. He is a travel agent who sold Joe and Harper their plane tickets to Brooklyn, NY.

'''Doctor Henry -''' Roy Cohn's doctor, whom he has been going to since 1958. Diagnosis Roy with AIDS.

'''Nurse Emily -''' The nurse who looks after Prior Walter while he is in the hospital. Also does the checkups for Prior after he is released from the hospital.

==Major Themes==

==Major Symbols==

==Influences==

==Additional Resources==
*

==Works Cited==
*

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's

2006-03-24T01:09:20Z

Lkodra: /* Capote/Narrator */

==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==
===Capote/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. 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. AKA the Capote Narrator.

===Holiday "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 lopsided romantic, as well as a crude exhibitionist, a time waster, and an utter fake.

===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. He 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 the 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. When the family was separated to live with different foster homes after their parents' death, she and Fred were together. He was the only one who would let her hug him when it was cold as a child. Described to be 6’2” and ‘slow’ or ‘stupid’. Had a great love for peanut butter. Was in the 8th grade for three years, then was drafted into the army where he eventually 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”. Revealed to be the notorious Mafia-führer Salvatore "Sally" Tomato. 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 even though she was often referred to as being a lesbian.

===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 later 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 maintaining his good name and work, and broke his engagement with Holly due to her arrest and 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." Holly refers to death as the fat lady, like the old saying "it ain't over till the fat lady sings".

===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 birdcage first appears in the story wile the narrator is walking down Third Avenue and sees it in the window of an antique store. The cage is described as "a mosque of minarets and bamboo rooms yearning to be filled with talkative parrots." (Capote 15) The narrator likes the cage but doesn’t purchase it because it costs three hundred and fifty dollars. Wile out on Third Avenue with Holly one afternoon the narrator remembers the birdcage and decides to show it to her where upon seeing it Holly "enjoyed the point, its fantasy", and said "But its still a cage." (Capote 55) The narrator is at Holly's apartment for Christmas when she presents him with the cage. "But holly! It's dreadful!" "I couldn't agree more; but I thought you wanted it." The narrator views the cage is dreadful because Holly spent the great amount of money on it as she did, but Holly views it in that manner due to what a cage symbolizes. Holly is a "free spirit" and tries to stay away from the caging of anything either in idea or physically caging something. An example of this would be when Holly is speaking to the narrator and says "A person ought to be able to marry men or women or-listen, if you came to me and said you wanted to hitch up with Man o' War, I'd respect your feeling" (Capote 83) Upon giving the narrator the cage Holly makes him promise to "never put a living thing in it". (Capote 59) In return the narrator gives Holly a Saint Christopher's Metal from Tiffany's.

==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). Also, Clarke states that "the one Holly most resembles, in spirit if not in body, is her creator. She not only shares his philosophy, but his fears and anxieties as well." (Clarke 313)

One more connection that can be made to see how Capote's own life was a big influence in the writing of the novel is the homosexual references in the book. Capote was a homosexual, one of the first well known people to actually come out and let people know he was a homosexual. This is very substantial, because in 50's and 60's it was not something that people talked about, it was taboo.

==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
*In Cold Blood
==Aditional Reading==
* Miriam
* A Christmas Memory
* Mojave
* La Cote Basque
* Unspoiled Monsters
* Kate McCloud
* Music for Chameleons
==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
==Awards==
* 1946 O. Henry Memorial Award

==Additional Resources==
*Capote, Truman. The Complete Stories of Truman Capote. New York: The Random House Publishing Group, 2004.
*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.
*Cash, Mathew. [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bcash/criticalanalysis.html The Breakfast at Tiffany's Homepage - A Critical Analysis]. 1996. ''University of Michigan''. 14 March 2006.

==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. ''Capote: A Biography''. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1988.
*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

2006-03-23T22:07:48Z

Lkodra: /* Additional Resources */

==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. 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. AKA the Capote Narrator.

===Holiday "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 lopsided romantic, as well as a crude exhibitionist, a time waster, and an utter fake.

===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. He 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 the 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. When the family was separated to live with different foster homes after their parents' death, she and Fred were together. He was the only one who would let her hug him when it was cold as a child. Described to be 6’2” and ‘slow’ or ‘stupid’. Had a great love for peanut butter. Was in the 8th grade for three years, then was drafted into the army where he eventually 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”. Revealed to be the notorious Mafia-führer Salvatore "Sally" Tomato. 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 even though she was often referred to as being a lesbian.

===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 later 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 maintaining his good name and work, and broke his engagement with Holly due to her arrest and 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 birdcage first appears in the story wile the narrator is walking down Third Avenue and sees it in the window of an antique store. The cage is described as "a mosque of minarets and bamboo rooms yearning to be filled with talkative parrots." (Capote 15) The narrator likes the cage but doesn’t purchase it because it costs three hundred and fifty dollars. Wile out on Third Avenue with Holly one afternoon the narrator remembers the birdcage and decides to show it to her where upon seeing it Holly "enjoyed the point, its fantasy", and said "But its still a cage." (Capote 55) The narrator is at Holly's apartment for Christmas when she presents him with the cage. "But holly! It's dreadful!" "I couldn't agree more; but I thought you wanted it." The narrator views the cage is dreadful because Holly spent the great amount of money on it as she did, but Holly views it in that manner due to what a cage symbolizes. Holly is a "free spirit" and tries to stay away from the caging of anything either in idea or physically caging something. An example of this would be when Holly is speaking to the narrator and says "A person ought to be able to marry men or women or-listen, if you came to me and said you wanted to hitch up with Man o' War, I'd respect your feeling" (Capote 83) Upon giving the narrator the cage Holly makes him promise to "never put a living thing in it". (Capote 59) In return the narrator gives Holly a Saint Christopher's Metal from Tiffany's.

==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). Also, Clarke states that "the one Holly most resembles, in spirit if not in body, is her creator. She not only shares his philosophy, but his fears and anxieties as well." (Clarke 313)

One more connection that can be made to see how Capote's own life was a big influence in the writing of the novel is the homosexual references in the book. Capote was a homosexual, one of the first well known people to actually come out and let people know he was a homosexual. This is very substantial, because in 50's and 60's it was not something that people talked about, it was taboo.

==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
*In Cold Blood

==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.
*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.
*Cash, Mathew. [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bcash/criticalanalysis.html The Breakfast at Tiffany's Homepage - A Critical Analysis]. 1996. ''University of Michigan''. 14 March 2006.

==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. ''Capote: A Biography''. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1988.
*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

2006-03-23T22:07:25Z

Lkodra: /* Works Cited */

==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. 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. AKA the Capote Narrator.

===Holiday "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 lopsided romantic, as well as a crude exhibitionist, a time waster, and an utter fake.

===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. He 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 the 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. When the family was separated to live with different foster homes after their parents' death, she and Fred were together. He was the only one who would let her hug him when it was cold as a child. Described to be 6’2” and ‘slow’ or ‘stupid’. Had a great love for peanut butter. Was in the 8th grade for three years, then was drafted into the army where he eventually 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”. Revealed to be the notorious Mafia-führer Salvatore "Sally" Tomato. 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 even though she was often referred to as being a lesbian.

===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 later 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 maintaining his good name and work, and broke his engagement with Holly due to her arrest and 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 birdcage first appears in the story wile the narrator is walking down Third Avenue and sees it in the window of an antique store. The cage is described as "a mosque of minarets and bamboo rooms yearning to be filled with talkative parrots." (Capote 15) The narrator likes the cage but doesn’t purchase it because it costs three hundred and fifty dollars. Wile out on Third Avenue with Holly one afternoon the narrator remembers the birdcage and decides to show it to her where upon seeing it Holly "enjoyed the point, its fantasy", and said "But its still a cage." (Capote 55) The narrator is at Holly's apartment for Christmas when she presents him with the cage. "But holly! It's dreadful!" "I couldn't agree more; but I thought you wanted it." The narrator views the cage is dreadful because Holly spent the great amount of money on it as she did, but Holly views it in that manner due to what a cage symbolizes. Holly is a "free spirit" and tries to stay away from the caging of anything either in idea or physically caging something. An example of this would be when Holly is speaking to the narrator and says "A person ought to be able to marry men or women or-listen, if you came to me and said you wanted to hitch up with Man o' War, I'd respect your feeling" (Capote 83) Upon giving the narrator the cage Holly makes him promise to "never put a living thing in it". (Capote 59) In return the narrator gives Holly a Saint Christopher's Metal from Tiffany's.

==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). Also, Clarke states that "the one Holly most resembles, in spirit if not in body, is her creator. She not only shares his philosophy, but his fears and anxieties as well." (Clarke 313)

One more connection that can be made to see how Capote's own life was a big influence in the writing of the novel is the homosexual references in the book. Capote was a homosexual, one of the first well known people to actually come out and let people know he was a homosexual. This is very substantial, because in 50's and 60's it was not something that people talked about, it was taboo.

==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
*In Cold Blood

==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.
*Cash, Mathew. [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bcash/criticalanalysis.html The Breakfast at Tiffany's Homepage - A Critical Analysis]. 1996. ''University of Michigan''. 14 March 2006.

==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. ''Capote: A Biography''. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1988.
*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

2006-03-23T22:04:58Z

Lkodra: /* Influences */

==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. 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. AKA the Capote Narrator.

===Holiday "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 lopsided romantic, as well as a crude exhibitionist, a time waster, and an utter fake.

===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. He 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 the 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. When the family was separated to live with different foster homes after their parents' death, she and Fred were together. He was the only one who would let her hug him when it was cold as a child. Described to be 6’2” and ‘slow’ or ‘stupid’. Had a great love for peanut butter. Was in the 8th grade for three years, then was drafted into the army where he eventually 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”. Revealed to be the notorious Mafia-führer Salvatore "Sally" Tomato. 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 even though she was often referred to as being a lesbian.

===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 later 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 maintaining his good name and work, and broke his engagement with Holly due to her arrest and 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 birdcage first appears in the story wile the narrator is walking down Third Avenue and sees it in the window of an antique store. The cage is described as "a mosque of minarets and bamboo rooms yearning to be filled with talkative parrots." (Capote 15) The narrator likes the cage but doesn’t purchase it because it costs three hundred and fifty dollars. Wile out on Third Avenue with Holly one afternoon the narrator remembers the birdcage and decides to show it to her where upon seeing it Holly "enjoyed the point, its fantasy", and said "But its still a cage." (Capote 55) The narrator is at Holly's apartment for Christmas when she presents him with the cage. "But holly! It's dreadful!" "I couldn't agree more; but I thought you wanted it." The narrator views the cage is dreadful because Holly spent the great amount of money on it as she did, but Holly views it in that manner due to what a cage symbolizes. Holly is a "free spirit" and tries to stay away from the caging of anything either in idea or physically caging something. An example of this would be when Holly is speaking to the narrator and says "A person ought to be able to marry men or women or-listen, if you came to me and said you wanted to hitch up with Man o' War, I'd respect your feeling" (Capote 83) Upon giving the narrator the cage Holly makes him promise to "never put a living thing in it". (Capote 59) In return the narrator gives Holly a Saint Christopher's Metal from Tiffany's.

==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). Also, Clarke states that "the one Holly most resembles, in spirit if not in body, is her creator. She not only shares his philosophy, but his fears and anxieties as well." (Clarke 313)

One more connection that can be made to see how Capote's own life was a big influence in the writing of the novel is the homosexual references in the book. Capote was a homosexual, one of the first well known people to actually come out and let people know he was a homosexual. This is very substantial, because in 50's and 60's it was not something that people talked about, it was taboo.

==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
*In Cold Blood

==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.
*Cash, Mathew. [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bcash/criticalanalysis.html The Breakfast at Tiffany's Homepage - A Critical Analysis]. 1996. ''University of Michigan''. 14 March 2006.

==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 12

2006-03-23T22:00:41Z

Lkodra: /* Summary */

==Summary==
Against both the narrator and Joe Bell's wishes, Holly decides to leave for Rio, Brazil.

Holly waits at the bar while Joe Bell delivers her request to the narrator to gather her things, including her cat, and bring them to her at Joe Bell's bar. Though refusing to partake in a drink to Holly's departure, Bell arranges for a limousine to take Holly to the airport.

On the way to the airport, Holly drops the cat off on a street block in Spanish Harlem, and leaves him there. At a stop light a block away, she realizes that she and the cat ''do'' belong to one another. She jumps out of the car and runs back to look for him. When she is unable to find him, the narrator promises her that he will find and take care of the cat. Just before Holly gets into the limousine, she tells the narrator that she is scared. "I'm very scared Buster. Yes, at last. Because it could go on forever. Not knowing whats yours until you've thrown it away." (Capote 109) Holly "sinks" back in the limousine seat and leaves for the airport to go to Brazil. That was the last time the narrator saw Holly.

==Notes==
*'''Squall''' (104) - A brief sudden violent windstorm, often accompanied by rain or snow.
*'''Inclement''' (105) - severe, unrelenting; cruel
*'''Poignant''' (105) - Neat, skillful
*'''Lark''' (105) - A carefree or spirited adventure.
*[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.
*'''Bon voyage''' (106)- French, literally translated as "good journey".
*'''Oompahpah''' (106)- A repeating rhythmic bass accompaniment.
*'''Rhapsodic''' (106)- Emotional and 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.
*'''Hope Chest''' (106)- A chest used by a young woman for clothing and household goods, such as linens and silver, in anticipation of marriage.
*'''Slap dash''' (107) - In a reckless haphazard manner; hasty and careless
*'''The fat woman''' (109) - Death

==Commentary==
Friday night, the day before departure, is described as ‘red,’ perhaps a parallel to the mean reds Holly must be feeling in anticipation of her journey to Brazil. Saturday itself, however, was under such a heavy rain it was questionable that a plane could take off. It is a fine forecast and foreshadowing of her grief to follow in this chapter.

Holly, against the wishes of the narrator and Joe Bell, continued to make her plans to leave. After being discharged from the hospital, she promptly went to a bank and then to Joe Bell’s bar. Bell himself delivered Holly’s message to the narrator, requesting that he gather the majority of her things (her jewelry, guitar, toothbrushes and stuff, bottle of hundred-year-old brandy, and the cat) from her apartment since it was under surveillance by police, reporters, and/or other interested parties, suggesting that perhaps they could be linked to Tomato.

On the way to Bell’s from the brownstone, the narrator reminisces about a time he walked nearly 500 miles from New Orleans to Nancy’s Landing, Mississippi, referencing it as a “light-hearted lark compared to the journey to Joe Bell’s bar” (p.105). We understand that the walk from the brownstone to the bar would be stressful; partly because the paper sacks he carried were falling apart and items were falling to the ground, but also because he feared being caught aiding an ‘outlaw.’ Comparing Nancy’s Landing to such a trying time suggests there is more to be known regarding the nature of his trip. Per The Explicator, “According to A Dictionary of the Underworld, "Nancy" refers either to the posterior or to "an effeminate man, especially a passive homosexual." "Nancy's Landing," then serves as Capote's code phrase for a gay resort...” The narrator’s lack of explanation for his journey is strongly suggestive of his homosexuality which plays into one of the underlying themes of BaT.

Though vehemently refusing to drink the hundred-year-old brandy with the narrator and Holly, Bell did call for a limousine to take Holly to the airport. Holly had the chauffer stop on a curb in Spanish Harlem where she stepped out of the limousine with the cat. She commences to have a one way conversation with the cat, seemingly trying to convince herself more than anyone, that this was the right place for him. She dropped him to the ground, and even after yelling and stomping her foot, he merely looked at her and rubbed against her leg. She jumped into the limousine only to go a block, and at a traffic light opened the door and ran back to attempt to find him. She realizes that they did belong to one another. Although Holly holds contempt for cages, the relationship with her cat is "symbolic of Holly's divided beliefs... (p.86, Garson)" She realizes that they did belong to one another, and illustrates how she longs to settle down and have a home. There is also a touch of irony in this situation; according to Garson her reason for ridding herself and the treatment of the cat "parallel Jose's treatment of Holly" (p86).

Unable to find the lost cat, the narrator promises Holly that he will find the cat and take care of him. She is not comforted by this, she instead “confesses her most private, deep-seated fear of what her life will always be: “Not knowing what’s yours until you’ve thrown it away. (p 86, Garson)”

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)

==Study Questions==
#What are the five items that Holly requests from her apartment?
#What does the narrator use to transport the cat?
#How is Holly transported to the airport?
#Who arranges the transportation to the airport for Holly?
#Where is the cat abandoned?
#What is Joe Bell's reaction to the news that Holly is leaving?
#Where is Holly planning to go?
#What does Holly ask the narrator to do after she goes back and cannot find her cat?
#What does the narrator think when he finds the cat?

==External Resources==
*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

*Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. 22 Mar. 2006 [http://dictionary.reference.com/<Dictionary.com>].

==Works Cited==
*Garson, Helen S. '''Truman Capote'''. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., Inc., 1980.

*Capote, Truman. '''Breakfast at Tiffany's'''. New York: Vintage Books. 1993.

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

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 12

2006-03-23T21:55:57Z

Lkodra: /* Notes */

==Summary==
Against both the narrator and Joe Bell's wishes, Holly decides to leave for Rio, Brazil. Holly waits at the bar while Joe Bell delivers her request to the narrator to gather her things, including her cat, and bring them to her at Joe Bell's bar. Though refusing to partake in a drink to Holly's departure, Bell arranges for a limousine to take Holly to the airport.

On the way to the airport, Holly drops the cat off on a street block in Spanish Harlem, and leaves him there. At a stop light a block away, she realizes that she and the cat ''do'' belong to one another, and runs back to look for him. Unable to find him, the narrator promises her that he will find and take care of the cat. Holly then gets back in the limousine and leaves for the airport to go to Brazil. That was the last time the narrator saw Holly.

==Notes==
*'''Squall''' (104) - A brief sudden violent windstorm, often accompanied by rain or snow.
*'''Inclement''' (105) - severe, unrelenting; cruel
*'''Poignant''' (105) - Neat, skillful
*'''Lark''' (105) - A carefree or spirited adventure.
*[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.
*'''Bon voyage''' (106)- French, literally translated as "good journey".
*'''Oompahpah''' (106)- A repeating rhythmic bass accompaniment.
*'''Rhapsodic''' (106)- Emotional and 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.
*'''Hope Chest''' (106)- A chest used by a young woman for clothing and household goods, such as linens and silver, in anticipation of marriage.
*'''Slap dash''' (107) - In a reckless haphazard manner; hasty and careless
*'''The fat woman''' (109) - Death

==Commentary==
Friday night, the day before departure, is described as ‘red,’ perhaps a parallel to the mean reds Holly must be feeling in anticipation of her journey to Brazil. Saturday itself, however, was under such a heavy rain it was questionable that a plane could take off. It is a fine forecast and foreshadowing of her grief to follow in this chapter.

Holly, against the wishes of the narrator and Joe Bell, continued to make her plans to leave. After being discharged from the hospital, she promptly went to a bank and then to Joe Bell’s bar. Bell himself delivered Holly’s message to the narrator, requesting that he gather the majority of her things (her jewelry, guitar, toothbrushes and stuff, bottle of hundred-year-old brandy, and the cat) from her apartment since it was under surveillance by police, reporters, and/or other interested parties, suggesting that perhaps they could be linked to Tomato.

On the way to Bell’s from the brownstone, the narrator reminisces about a time he walked nearly 500 miles from New Orleans to Nancy’s Landing, Mississippi, referencing it as a “light-hearted lark compared to the journey to Joe Bell’s bar” (p.105). We understand that the walk from the brownstone to the bar would be stressful; partly because the paper sacks he carried were falling apart and items were falling to the ground, but also because he feared being caught aiding an ‘outlaw.’ Comparing Nancy’s Landing to such a trying time suggests there is more to be known regarding the nature of his trip. Per The Explicator, “According to A Dictionary of the Underworld, "Nancy" refers either to the posterior or to "an effeminate man, especially a passive homosexual." "Nancy's Landing," then serves as Capote's code phrase for a gay resort...” The narrator’s lack of explanation for his journey is strongly suggestive of his homosexuality which plays into one of the underlying themes of BaT.

Though vehemently refusing to drink the hundred-year-old brandy with the narrator and Holly, Bell did call for a limousine to take Holly to the airport. Holly had the chauffer stop on a curb in Spanish Harlem where she stepped out of the limousine with the cat. She commences to have a one way conversation with the cat, seemingly trying to convince herself more than anyone, that this was the right place for him. She dropped him to the ground, and even after yelling and stomping her foot, he merely looked at her and rubbed against her leg. She jumped into the limousine only to go a block, and at a traffic light opened the door and ran back to attempt to find him. She realizes that they did belong to one another. Although Holly holds contempt for cages, the relationship with her cat is "symbolic of Holly's divided beliefs... (p.86, Garson)" She realizes that they did belong to one another, and illustrates how she longs to settle down and have a home. There is also a touch of irony in this situation; according to Garson her reason for ridding herself and the treatment of the cat "parallel Jose's treatment of Holly" (p86).

Unable to find the lost cat, the narrator promises Holly that he will find the cat and take care of him. She is not comforted by this, she instead “confesses her most private, deep-seated fear of what her life will always be: “Not knowing what’s yours until you’ve thrown it away. (p 86, Garson)”

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)

==Study Questions==
#What are the five items that Holly requests from her apartment?
#What does the narrator use to transport the cat?
#How is Holly transported to the airport?
#Who arranges the transportation to the airport for Holly?
#Where is the cat abandoned?
#What is Joe Bell's reaction to the news that Holly is leaving?
#Where is Holly planning to go?
#What does Holly ask the narrator to do after she goes back and cannot find her cat?
#What does the narrator think when he finds the cat?

==External Resources==
*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

*Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. 22 Mar. 2006 [http://dictionary.reference.com/<Dictionary.com>].

==Works Cited==
*Garson, Helen S. '''Truman Capote'''. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., Inc., 1980.

*Capote, Truman. '''Breakfast at Tiffany's'''. New York: Vintage Books. 1993.

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

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 6

2006-03-23T21:49:31Z

Lkodra: /* Commentary */

==Summary==
After a fight with Holly, the narrator decides to leave the birdcage by her apartment door. This symbolizes his desire to cut ties with her. 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.

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 he is Doc Golightly, Holly’s husband, and Holly's name is really Lulamae Barnes.

Doc Golightly tells the narrator "Son, I need a friend" (Capote 66). In the beginning the narrator assumes that the man is Holly's father. "You're Holly's father." (Capote 66). The narrator starts to laugh because of "nerves".

Doc tells the story of finding Lulamae (Holly) and her brother trying to steal food from him in Tulip, Texas. He learns that both of their parents had died from Tuberculosis and that all of the children, including Lulamae and Fred had been sent to live with mean people. He took in Lulamae and her brother and allowed them to live with him and his four children on his farm. He later married Lulamae when she was fourteen and told the narrator that she became 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 Fred, who was in the Army.

Doc pleads with the narrator to be his friend and "let her know I am here." (Capote 70). The narrator is eager to reunite Doc with Holly for his own personal gain. He wants Holly to be embrassed in front of her friends. The narrator starts to feel "ashamed" of his "anticipations" about the meeting. Doc is nervous and wonders if he looks ok to meet his wife. Although, Holly was expecting her brother Fred, her reaction to seeing Doc Golightly was very surprising. She acted very calm and not at all ashamed to see her husband. They hug and talk briefly before the narrator "squeezes past them to return to his own apartment" (Capote 72).

==Notes==
*'''Sheepishly''' (63)- Showing embarassment; meekness, timidity.
*'''Capitulation''' (63)- Act of surrendering.
*'''Exhibitionist''' (63)- A perversion marked by a tendency to indecent exposure.
*'''Perpetrator''' (64)- To bring about a crime or a deception.
*'''Vestibule''' (64)- A passage, hall, or room between the outer door and the interior of a building.
*'''Provocative''' (64)- Tending to provoke, stimulate, or excite.
*'''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.
*'''Churren''' (67)- Children
*'''TB''' (68)- Tuberculosis: a highly variable communicable disease of humans and some other vertebrates caused by the tubercle bacillus and rarely in the U.S. by a related mycobacterium (Mycobacterium bovis) and characterized by toxic symptoms or allergic manifestations which in humans primarily affect the lungs.
*'''Brownstone''' (70)- A reddish brown sandstone used for building. A dwelling faced with brownstone.

==Commentary==
The narrator is both surprised and a little excited to find who and why Doc Golightly was standing outside the brownstone. The narrator had not been speaking to Holly for quite some time and part of him wanted a reason to initiate a "truce", but he did not want to admit that he enjoyed Holly's friendship. The other part of him saw this as an opportunity to call her bluff and show everyone that she truly was a fake and a fraud. Perhaps he was also surpised to learn that Holly's real name was Lulamae Barnes, a name that truly did not fit the Holiday Golightly that he knew.

When Doc leaves without Holly, it is further evident that she is a true "wild thing" and that Doc has accepted. The fact that he does not fight harder to have her come back with him shows how much he is still "under her spell". Holly had an innate ability to make everyone fall in love with her. To some degree, she was aware of this and that is the reason why she told the ones that fell in love with her "not to fall in love with a wild thing". She was warning them that she would only disappoint and hurt them, but they never listened. Holly was afraid of commitment, even though deep down she desperately wanted stability.

In this way, I believe Capote was trying to address the compassionate side of most people. When they see someone who is clearly on a path leading to destruction, they try to help them whether through influence or suggestion. However, as Capote so clearly showed us, you can't save someone who does not want to be saved; Holly is one of those people who does not want to be saved and does not even feel the need to be saved. She knows what it takes for her self preservation and will do whatever is necessary to maintain that. According to Gerald Clarke, Tiffany was "bright, brash, and somewhat scatty" (Clarke 291). She was modeled after quite a few of the woman that Capote knew during the days when he was writing this book. But maybe she was also modeled after Capote as well. Everyone talks about how the narrator is so alike Capote, so much so that he is often called the Capote Narrator. No one really looks at the similarities between Capote and Holly. Clarke states that Capote "wanted to be able to entertain, as well as to be entertained... Holly Golightly had similar yearnings for permanence and stability." (Clarke 296). In Clarke's '''Capote: A Biography''', Oliver Smith is quoted as saying: "In some part of his nature he [Capote] was trying to find a home." (Clarke 296)

==Study Questions==

#Why does the narrator retrieve the birdcage when he sees it outside while leaving?
#Why are Holly and the narrator not speaking to each other?
#What does Madame Spanella circulate among the brownstone tenants in referance to Holly?
#What does the narrator say that Madame Spanella says about Holly?
#What season is it when the narrator first notices Doc Golightly examining Holly's mailbox?
#What is Doc Golightly wearing?
#Where is the narrator going when Doc Golightly follows him?
#How busy is the restaurant when the narrator arrives?
#What does Doc Golightly show the narrator at the counter?
#How many children does Doc Golightly say that Holly had?
#What is the name of Doc Golightly's oldest daughter?
#When does Doc Golightly's first wife die?
#What animal does Doc Golightly teach to say "Lulamae" for Holly?

==External Resources==

*Grzesiak, Rich. "My Significant Other, Truman Capote". [http://www.axiongrafix.com/capote.html]. 1987.

*Lackey, K. "Capote's Works". [http://itrs.scu.edu/english67/class/klackey/works.htm].

*Cash, Matthew. "Breakfast at Tiffany's -The Novel". [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bcash/novel.html].

*Garson, Helen S. Truman Capote. New York: Fredrick Unger Publishing. 1980.

==Works Cited==

*Capote, Truman. Breakfast at Tiffany's. New York: Random House Publishing. 1958.

*Clarke, Gerald. Capote: A Biography. New York: Simon & Schuster. 1988.

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

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 6

2006-03-23T21:49:06Z

Lkodra: /* Commentary */

==Summary==
After a fight with Holly, the narrator decides to leave the birdcage by her apartment door. This symbolizes his desire to cut ties with her. 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.

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 he is Doc Golightly, Holly’s husband, and Holly's name is really Lulamae Barnes.

Doc Golightly tells the narrator "Son, I need a friend" (Capote 66). In the beginning the narrator assumes that the man is Holly's father. "You're Holly's father." (Capote 66). The narrator starts to laugh because of "nerves".

Doc tells the story of finding Lulamae (Holly) and her brother trying to steal food from him in Tulip, Texas. He learns that both of their parents had died from Tuberculosis and that all of the children, including Lulamae and Fred had been sent to live with mean people. He took in Lulamae and her brother and allowed them to live with him and his four children on his farm. He later married Lulamae when she was fourteen and told the narrator that she became 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 Fred, who was in the Army.

Doc pleads with the narrator to be his friend and "let her know I am here." (Capote 70). The narrator is eager to reunite Doc with Holly for his own personal gain. He wants Holly to be embrassed in front of her friends. The narrator starts to feel "ashamed" of his "anticipations" about the meeting. Doc is nervous and wonders if he looks ok to meet his wife. Although, Holly was expecting her brother Fred, her reaction to seeing Doc Golightly was very surprising. She acted very calm and not at all ashamed to see her husband. They hug and talk briefly before the narrator "squeezes past them to return to his own apartment" (Capote 72).

==Notes==
*'''Sheepishly''' (63)- Showing embarassment; meekness, timidity.
*'''Capitulation''' (63)- Act of surrendering.
*'''Exhibitionist''' (63)- A perversion marked by a tendency to indecent exposure.
*'''Perpetrator''' (64)- To bring about a crime or a deception.
*'''Vestibule''' (64)- A passage, hall, or room between the outer door and the interior of a building.
*'''Provocative''' (64)- Tending to provoke, stimulate, or excite.
*'''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.
*'''Churren''' (67)- Children
*'''TB''' (68)- Tuberculosis: a highly variable communicable disease of humans and some other vertebrates caused by the tubercle bacillus and rarely in the U.S. by a related mycobacterium (Mycobacterium bovis) and characterized by toxic symptoms or allergic manifestations which in humans primarily affect the lungs.
*'''Brownstone''' (70)- A reddish brown sandstone used for building. A dwelling faced with brownstone.

==Commentary==
The narrator is both surprised and a little excited to find who and why Doc Golightly was standing outside the brownstone. The narrator had not been speaking to Holly for quite some time and part of him wanted a reason to initiate a "truce", but he did not want to admit that he enjoyed Holly's friendship. The other part of him saw this as an opportunity to call her bluff and show everyone that she truly was a fake and a fraud. Perhaps he was also surpised to learn that Holly's real name was Lulamae Barnes, a name that truly did not fit the Holiday Golightly that he knew.

When Doc leaves without Holly, it is further evident that she is a true "wild thing" and that Doc has accepted. The fact that he does not fight harder to have her come back with him shows how much he is still "under her spell". Holly had an innate ability to make everyone fall in love with her. To some degree, she was aware of this and that is the reason why she told the ones that fell in love with her "not to fall in love with a wild thing". She was warning them that she would only disappoint and hurt them, but they never listened. Holly was afraid of commitment, even though deep down she desperately wanted stability.

In this way, I believe Capote was trying to address the compassionate side of most people. When they see someone who is clearly on a path leading to destruction, they try to help them whether through influence or suggestion. However, as Capote so clearly showed us, you can't save someone who does not want to be saved; Holly is one of those people who does not want to be saved and does not even feel the need to be saved. She knows what it takes for her self preservation and will do whatever is necessary to maintain that.

According to Gerald Clarke, Tiffany was "bright, brash, and somewhat scatty" (Clarke 291). She was modeled after quite a few of the woman that Capote knew during the days when he was writing this book. But maybe she was also modeled after Capote as well. Everyone talks about how the narrator is so alike Capote, so much so that he is often called the Capote Narrator. No one really looks at the similarities between Capote and Holly. Clarke states that Capote "wanted to be able to entertain, as well as to be entertained... Holly Golightly had similar yearnings for permanence and stability." (Clarke 296). In Clarke's '''Capote: A Biography''', Oliver Smith is quoted as saying: "In some part of his nature he [Capote] was trying to find a home." (Clarke 296)

==Study Questions==

#Why does the narrator retrieve the birdcage when he sees it outside while leaving?
#Why are Holly and the narrator not speaking to each other?
#What does Madame Spanella circulate among the brownstone tenants in referance to Holly?
#What does the narrator say that Madame Spanella says about Holly?
#What season is it when the narrator first notices Doc Golightly examining Holly's mailbox?
#What is Doc Golightly wearing?
#Where is the narrator going when Doc Golightly follows him?
#How busy is the restaurant when the narrator arrives?
#What does Doc Golightly show the narrator at the counter?
#How many children does Doc Golightly say that Holly had?
#What is the name of Doc Golightly's oldest daughter?
#When does Doc Golightly's first wife die?
#What animal does Doc Golightly teach to say "Lulamae" for Holly?

==External Resources==

*Grzesiak, Rich. "My Significant Other, Truman Capote". [http://www.axiongrafix.com/capote.html]. 1987.

*Lackey, K. "Capote's Works". [http://itrs.scu.edu/english67/class/klackey/works.htm].

*Cash, Matthew. "Breakfast at Tiffany's -The Novel". [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bcash/novel.html].

*Garson, Helen S. Truman Capote. New York: Fredrick Unger Publishing. 1980.

==Works Cited==

*Capote, Truman. Breakfast at Tiffany's. New York: Random House Publishing. 1958.

*Clarke, Gerald. Capote: A Biography. New York: Simon & Schuster. 1988.

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

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 6

2006-03-23T21:34:12Z

Lkodra: /* Summary */

==Summary==
After a fight with Holly, the narrator decides to leave the birdcage by her apartment door. This symbolizes his desire to cut ties with her. 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.

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 he is Doc Golightly, Holly’s husband, and Holly's name is really Lulamae Barnes.

Doc Golightly tells the narrator "Son, I need a friend" (Capote 66). In the beginning the narrator assumes that the man is Holly's father. "You're Holly's father." (Capote 66). The narrator starts to laugh because of "nerves".

Doc tells the story of finding Lulamae (Holly) and her brother trying to steal food from him in Tulip, Texas. He learns that both of their parents had died from Tuberculosis and that all of the children, including Lulamae and Fred had been sent to live with mean people. He took in Lulamae and her brother and allowed them to live with him and his four children on his farm. He later married Lulamae when she was fourteen and told the narrator that she became 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 Fred, who was in the Army.

Doc pleads with the narrator to be his friend and "let her know I am here." (Capote 70). The narrator is eager to reunite Doc with Holly for his own personal gain. He wants Holly to be embrassed in front of her friends. The narrator starts to feel "ashamed" of his "anticipations" about the meeting. Doc is nervous and wonders if he looks ok to meet his wife. Although, Holly was expecting her brother Fred, her reaction to seeing Doc Golightly was very surprising. She acted very calm and not at all ashamed to see her husband. They hug and talk briefly before the narrator "squeezes past them to return to his own apartment" (Capote 72).

==Notes==
*'''Sheepishly''' (63)- Showing embarassment; meekness, timidity.
*'''Capitulation''' (63)- Act of surrendering.
*'''Exhibitionist''' (63)- A perversion marked by a tendency to indecent exposure.
*'''Perpetrator''' (64)- To bring about a crime or a deception.
*'''Vestibule''' (64)- A passage, hall, or room between the outer door and the interior of a building.
*'''Provocative''' (64)- Tending to provoke, stimulate, or excite.
*'''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.
*'''Churren''' (67)- Children
*'''TB''' (68)- Tuberculosis: a highly variable communicable disease of humans and some other vertebrates caused by the tubercle bacillus and rarely in the U.S. by a related mycobacterium (Mycobacterium bovis) and characterized by toxic symptoms or allergic manifestations which in humans primarily affect the lungs.
*'''Brownstone''' (70)- A reddish brown sandstone used for building. A dwelling faced with brownstone.

==Commentary==
The narrator is both surprised and a little excited to find who and why Doc Golightly was standing outside the brownstone. The narrator had not been speaking to Holly for quite some time and part of him wanted a reason to initiate a "truce", but he did not want to admit that he enjoyed Holly's friendship. The other part of him saw this as an opportunity to call her bluff and show everyone that she truly was a fake and a fraud. Perhaps he was also surpised to learn that Holly's real name was Lulamae Barnes, a name that truly did not fit the Holiday Golightly that he knew.

When Doc leaves without Holly, it is further evident that she is a true "wild thing" and that Doc has accepted. The fact that he does not fight harder to have her come back with him shows how much he is still "under her spell". Holly had an innate ability to make everyone fall in love with her. To some degree, she was aware of this and that is the reason why she told the ones that fell in love with her "not to fall in love with a wild thing". She was warning them that she would only disappoint and hurt them, but they never listened. Holly was afraid of commitment, even though deep down she desperately wanted stability.

In this way, I believe Capote was trying to address the compassionate side of most people. When they see someone who is clearly on a path leading to destruction, they try to help them whether through influence or suggestion. However, as Capote so clearly showed us, you can't save someone who does not want to be saved; Holly is one of those people who does not want to be saved and does not even feel the need to be saved. She is bold and scatty and believes that she can take care of herself no matter what comes her way, because for the most part she has done just that. Holly Golightly is a survivor. She knows what it takes for her self preservation and will do whatever is necessary to maintain that.

==Study Questions==

#Why does the narrator retrieve the birdcage when he sees it outside while leaving?
#Why are Holly and the narrator not speaking to each other?
#What does Madame Spanella circulate among the brownstone tenants in referance to Holly?
#What does the narrator say that Madame Spanella says about Holly?
#What season is it when the narrator first notices Doc Golightly examining Holly's mailbox?
#What is Doc Golightly wearing?
#Where is the narrator going when Doc Golightly follows him?
#How busy is the restaurant when the narrator arrives?
#What does Doc Golightly show the narrator at the counter?
#How many children does Doc Golightly say that Holly had?
#What is the name of Doc Golightly's oldest daughter?
#When does Doc Golightly's first wife die?
#What animal does Doc Golightly teach to say "Lulamae" for Holly?

==External Resources==

*Grzesiak, Rich. "My Significant Other, Truman Capote". [http://www.axiongrafix.com/capote.html]. 1987.

*Lackey, K. "Capote's Works". [http://itrs.scu.edu/english67/class/klackey/works.htm].

*Cash, Matthew. "Breakfast at Tiffany's -The Novel". [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bcash/novel.html].

*Garson, Helen S. Truman Capote. New York: Fredrick Unger Publishing. 1980.

==Works Cited==

*Capote, Truman. Breakfast at Tiffany's. New York: Random House Publishing. 1958.

*Clarke, Gerald. Capote: A Biography. New York: Simon & Schuster. 1988.

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

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 6

2006-03-23T21:29:59Z

Lkodra: /* Commentary */

==Summary==
After a fight with Holly, the narrator decides to leave the birdcage by her apartment door. This symbolizes his desire to cut ties with her. 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.

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 he is Doc Golightly, Holly’s husband, and Holly's name is really Lulamae Barnes.

Doc Golightly tells the narrator he needs a friend. In the beginning the narrator assumes that the man is Holly's father. "You're Holly's father." (Capote 66). The narrator starts to laugh because of "nerves". Doc tells the story of finding Lulamae (Holly) and her brother trying to steal food from him in Tulip, Texas. He learns 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 him 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 Fred who was in the Army.

Doc pleads with the narrator to be his friend and "let her know I am here." (70). The narrator is eager to reunite Doc with Holly for his own personal gain. He wants Holly to be embrassed in front of her friends. The narrator starts to feel "ashamed" of his "anticipations" about the meeting. Doc is nervous and wonders if he looks ok to meet his wife. Although, Holly was expecting her brother Fred, her reaction to seeing Doc Golightly was very surprising. She acted very calm and not at all ashamed to see her husband. They hug and talk briefly before the narrator "squeezes past them to return to his own apartment".

==Notes==
*'''Sheepishly''' (63)- Showing embarassment; meekness, timidity.
*'''Capitulation''' (63)- Act of surrendering.
*'''Exhibitionist''' (63)- A perversion marked by a tendency to indecent exposure.
*'''Perpetrator''' (64)- To bring about a crime or a deception.
*'''Vestibule''' (64)- A passage, hall, or room between the outer door and the interior of a building.
*'''Provocative''' (64)- Tending to provoke, stimulate, or excite.
*'''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.
*'''Churren''' (67)- Children
*'''TB''' (68)- Tuberculosis: a highly variable communicable disease of humans and some other vertebrates caused by the tubercle bacillus and rarely in the U.S. by a related mycobacterium (Mycobacterium bovis) and characterized by toxic symptoms or allergic manifestations which in humans primarily affect the lungs.
*'''Brownstone''' (70)- A reddish brown sandstone used for building. A dwelling faced with brownstone.

==Commentary==
The narrator is both surprised and a little excited to find who and why Doc Golightly was standing outside the brownstone. The narrator had not been speaking to Holly for quite some time and part of him wanted a reason to initiate a "truce", but he did not want to admit that he enjoyed Holly's friendship. The other part of him saw this as an opportunity to call her bluff and show everyone that she truly was a fake and a fraud. Perhaps he was also surpised to learn that Holly's real name was Lulamae Barnes, a name that truly did not fit the Holiday Golightly that he knew.

When Doc leaves without Holly, it is further evident that she is a true "wild thing" and that Doc has accepted. The fact that he does not fight harder to have her come back with him shows how much he is still "under her spell". Holly had an innate ability to make everyone fall in love with her. To some degree, she was aware of this and that is the reason why she told the ones that fell in love with her "not to fall in love with a wild thing". She was warning them that she would only disappoint and hurt them, but they never listened. Holly was afraid of commitment, even though deep down she desperately wanted stability.

In this way, I believe Capote was trying to address the compassionate side of most people. When they see someone who is clearly on a path leading to destruction, they try to help them whether through influence or suggestion. However, as Capote so clearly showed us, you can't save someone who does not want to be saved; Holly is one of those people who does not want to be saved and does not even feel the need to be saved. She is bold and scatty and believes that she can take care of herself no matter what comes her way, because for the most part she has done just that. Holly Golightly is a survivor. She knows what it takes for her self preservation and will do whatever is necessary to maintain that.

==Study Questions==

#Why does the narrator retrieve the birdcage when he sees it outside while leaving?
#Why are Holly and the narrator not speaking to each other?
#What does Madame Spanella circulate among the brownstone tenants in referance to Holly?
#What does the narrator say that Madame Spanella says about Holly?
#What season is it when the narrator first notices Doc Golightly examining Holly's mailbox?
#What is Doc Golightly wearing?
#Where is the narrator going when Doc Golightly follows him?
#How busy is the restaurant when the narrator arrives?
#What does Doc Golightly show the narrator at the counter?
#How many children does Doc Golightly say that Holly had?
#What is the name of Doc Golightly's oldest daughter?
#When does Doc Golightly's first wife die?
#What animal does Doc Golightly teach to say "Lulamae" for Holly?

==External Resources==

*Grzesiak, Rich. "My Significant Other, Truman Capote". [http://www.axiongrafix.com/capote.html]. 1987.

*Lackey, K. "Capote's Works". [http://itrs.scu.edu/english67/class/klackey/works.htm].

*Cash, Matthew. "Breakfast at Tiffany's -The Novel". [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bcash/novel.html].

*Garson, Helen S. Truman Capote. New York: Fredrick Unger Publishing. 1980.

==Works Cited==

*Capote, Truman. Breakfast at Tiffany's. New York: Random House Publishing. 1958.

*Clarke, Gerald. Capote: A Biography. New York: Simon & Schuster. 1988.

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

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 6

2006-03-23T19:48:28Z

Lkodra: /* Notes */

==Summary==
After a fight with Holly, the narrator decides to leave the birdcage by her apartment door. This symbolizes his desire to cut ties with her. 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.

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 he is Doc Golightly, Holly’s husband, and Holly's name is really Lulamae Barnes.

Doc Golightly tells the narrator he needs a friend. In the beginning the narrator assumes that the man is Holly's father. "You're Holly's father." (Capote 66). The narrator starts to laugh because of "nerves". Doc tells the story of finding Lulamae (Holly) and her brother trying to steal food from him in Tulip, Texas. He learns 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 him 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 Fred who was in the Army.

Doc pleads with the narrator to be his friend and "let her know I am here." (70). The narrator is eager to reunite Doc with Holly for his own personal gain. He wants Holly to be embrassed in front of her friends. The narrator starts to feel "ashamed" of his "anticipations" about the meeting. Doc is nervous and wonders if he looks ok to meet his wife. Although, Holly was expecting her brother Fred, her reaction to seeing Doc Golightly was very surprising. She acted very calm and not at all ashamed to see her husband. They hug and talk briefly before the narrator "squeezes past them to return to his own apartment".

==Notes==
*'''Sheepishly''' (63)- Showing embarassment; meekness, timidity.
*'''Capitulation''' (63)- Act of surrendering.
*'''Exhibitionist''' (63)- A perversion marked by a tendency to indecent exposure.
*'''Perpetrator''' (64)- To bring about a crime or a deception.
*'''Vestibule''' (64)- A passage, hall, or room between the outer door and the interior of a building.
*'''Provocative''' (64)- Tending to provoke, stimulate, or excite.
*'''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.
*'''Churren''' (67)- Children
*'''TB''' (68)- Tuberculosis: a highly variable communicable disease of humans and some other vertebrates caused by the tubercle bacillus and rarely in the U.S. by a related mycobacterium (Mycobacterium bovis) and characterized by toxic symptoms or allergic manifestations which in humans primarily affect the lungs.
*'''Brownstone''' (70)- A reddish brown sandstone used for building. A dwelling faced with brownstone.

==Commentary==
The narrator is both surprised and a little excited to find who and why Doc Golightly was standing outside the brownstone. The narrator had not been speaking to Holly for quite some time and part of him wanted and perhaps needed a reason to initiate a "truce" but he did not want to admit that he enjoyed Holly's friendship and the other part of him saw this as an opportunity to call her bluff so to speak and show everyone that she was a fake and a fraud. Perhaps he was also surpised to learn that Holly's real name was Lulamae, a name that truly did not fit Holly.

When Doc leaves without Holly, it is further evident that she is a true "wild thing" and that Doc knows that. The fact that he does not fight harder to have her come back with him shows how much he is still very much "under her spell". Holly had an innate ability to make everyone around her fall in love with her almost as if she had some sort of voodoo majic all her own. To some degree, she was aware of this and that is the reason why she told everyone around her not to "fall in love with a wild thing". She was warning them that she would only disappoint and hurt them, but they never listened.

In this way, I believe Capote was trying to address the compassionate side of most people in that they see someone who is clearly on a path leading to destruction and they try to help them whether through influence or suggestion. However, as Capote so clearly showed us, you can't save someone who does not want to be saved and Holly is one of those people who does not want to be saved and does not even feel the need to be saved. She is bold and scrappy and believes that she can take care of herself no matter what comes her way and for the most part, she has. Holly Golightly is a survivor. She knows what it takes for her self preservation and will do whatever is necessary to maintain that.

==Study Questions==

#Why does the narrator retrieve the birdcage when he sees it outside while leaving?
#Why are Holly and the narrator not speaking to each other?
#What does Madame Spanella circulate among the brownstone tenants in referance to Holly?
#What does the narrator say that Madame Spanella says about Holly?
#What season is it when the narrator first notices Doc Golightly examining Holly's mailbox?
#What is Doc Golightly wearing?
#Where is the narrator going when Doc Golightly follows him?
#How busy is the restaurant when the narrator arrives?
#What does Doc Golightly show the narrator at the counter?
#How many children does Doc Golightly say that Holly had?
#What is the name of Doc Golightly's oldest daughter?
#When does Doc Golightly's first wife die?
#What animal does Doc Golightly teach to say "Lulamae" for Holly?

==External Resources==

*Grzesiak, Rich. "My Significant Other, Truman Capote". [http://www.axiongrafix.com/capote.html]. 1987.

*Lackey, K. "Capote's Works". [http://itrs.scu.edu/english67/class/klackey/works.htm].

*Cash, Matthew. "Breakfast at Tiffany's -The Novel". [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bcash/novel.html].

*Garson, Helen S. Truman Capote. New York: Fredrick Unger Publishing. 1980.

==Works Cited==

*Capote, Truman. Breakfast at Tiffany's. New York: Random House Publishing. 1958.

*Clarke, Gerald. Capote: A Biography. New York: Simon & Schuster. 1988.

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

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 6

2006-03-23T19:37:39Z

Lkodra: /* Notes */

==Summary==
After a fight with Holly, the narrator decides to leave the birdcage by her apartment door. This symbolizes his desire to cut ties with her. 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.

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 he is Doc Golightly, Holly’s husband, and Holly's name is really Lulamae Barnes.

Doc Golightly tells the narrator he needs a friend. In the beginning the narrator assumes that the man is Holly's father. "You're Holly's father." (Capote 66). The narrator starts to laugh because of "nerves". Doc tells the story of finding Lulamae (Holly) and her brother trying to steal food from him in Tulip, Texas. He learns 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 him 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 Fred who was in the Army.

Doc pleads with the narrator to be his friend and "let her know I am here." (70). The narrator is eager to reunite Doc with Holly for his own personal gain. He wants Holly to be embrassed in front of her friends. The narrator starts to feel "ashamed" of his "anticipations" about the meeting. Doc is nervous and wonders if he looks ok to meet his wife. Although, Holly was expecting her brother Fred, her reaction to seeing Doc Golightly was very surprising. She acted very calm and not at all ashamed to see her husband. They hug and talk briefly before the narrator "squeezes past them to return to his own apartment".

==Notes==
*'''sheepishly''' (63)-
*'''capitulation''' (63)-
*'''exhibitionist''' (63)-
*'''perpetrator''' (64)-
*'''lurid''' (64)-
*'''vestibule''' (64)-
*'''provocative''' (64)-
*'''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.
*'''churren''' (67)-
*'''TB''' (68)-

==Commentary==
The narrator is both surprised and a little excited to find who and why Doc Golightly was standing outside the brownstone. The narrator had not been speaking to Holly for quite some time and part of him wanted and perhaps needed a reason to initiate a "truce" but he did not want to admit that he enjoyed Holly's friendship and the other part of him saw this as an opportunity to call her bluff so to speak and show everyone that she was a fake and a fraud. Perhaps he was also surpised to learn that Holly's real name was Lulamae, a name that truly did not fit Holly.

When Doc leaves without Holly, it is further evident that she is a true "wild thing" and that Doc knows that. The fact that he does not fight harder to have her come back with him shows how much he is still very much "under her spell". Holly had an innate ability to make everyone around her fall in love with her almost as if she had some sort of voodoo majic all her own. To some degree, she was aware of this and that is the reason why she told everyone around her not to "fall in love with a wild thing". She was warning them that she would only disappoint and hurt them, but they never listened.

In this way, I believe Capote was trying to address the compassionate side of most people in that they see someone who is clearly on a path leading to destruction and they try to help them whether through influence or suggestion. However, as Capote so clearly showed us, you can't save someone who does not want to be saved and Holly is one of those people who does not want to be saved and does not even feel the need to be saved. She is bold and scrappy and believes that she can take care of herself no matter what comes her way and for the most part, she has. Holly Golightly is a survivor. She knows what it takes for her self preservation and will do whatever is necessary to maintain that.

==Study Questions==

#Why does the narrator retrieve the birdcage when he sees it outside while leaving?
#Why are Holly and the narrator not speaking to each other?
#What does Madame Spanella circulate among the brownstone tenants in referance to Holly?
#What does the narrator say that Madame Spanella says about Holly?
#What season is it when the narrator first notices Doc Golightly examining Holly's mailbox?
#What is Doc Golightly wearing?
#Where is the narrator going when Doc Golightly follows him?
#How busy is the restaurant when the narrator arrives?
#What does Doc Golightly show the narrator at the counter?
#How many children does Doc Golightly say that Holly had?
#What is the name of Doc Golightly's oldest daughter?
#When does Doc Golightly's first wife die?
#What animal does Doc Golightly teach to say "Lulamae" for Holly?

==External Resources==

*Grzesiak, Rich. "My Significant Other, Truman Capote". [http://www.axiongrafix.com/capote.html]. 1987.

*Lackey, K. "Capote's Works". [http://itrs.scu.edu/english67/class/klackey/works.htm].

*Cash, Matthew. "Breakfast at Tiffany's -The Novel". [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bcash/novel.html].

*Garson, Helen S. Truman Capote. New York: Fredrick Unger Publishing. 1980.

==Works Cited==

*Capote, Truman. Breakfast at Tiffany's. New York: Random House Publishing. 1958.

*Clarke, Gerald. Capote: A Biography. New York: Simon & Schuster. 1988.

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

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 6

2006-03-23T19:37:15Z

Lkodra: /* Notes */

==Summary==
After a fight with Holly, the narrator decides to leave the birdcage by her apartment door. This symbolizes his desire to cut ties with her. 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.

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 he is Doc Golightly, Holly’s husband, and Holly's name is really Lulamae Barnes.

Doc Golightly tells the narrator he needs a friend. In the beginning the narrator assumes that the man is Holly's father. "You're Holly's father." (Capote 66). The narrator starts to laugh because of "nerves". Doc tells the story of finding Lulamae (Holly) and her brother trying to steal food from him in Tulip, Texas. He learns 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 him 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 Fred who was in the Army.

Doc pleads with the narrator to be his friend and "let her know I am here." (70). The narrator is eager to reunite Doc with Holly for his own personal gain. He wants Holly to be embrassed in front of her friends. The narrator starts to feel "ashamed" of his "anticipations" about the meeting. Doc is nervous and wonders if he looks ok to meet his wife. Although, Holly was expecting her brother Fred, her reaction to seeing Doc Golightly was very surprising. She acted very calm and not at all ashamed to see her husband. They hug and talk briefly before the narrator "squeezes past them to return to his own apartment".

==Notes==
*'''sheepishly''' (63)-
*'''capitulation''' (63)-
*'''exhibitionist''' (63)-
*'''perpetrator''' (64)-
*'''lurid''' (64)-
*'''vestibule''' (64)-
*'''provocative''' (64)-
*'''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.
*'''churren''' (67)-

==Commentary==
The narrator is both surprised and a little excited to find who and why Doc Golightly was standing outside the brownstone. The narrator had not been speaking to Holly for quite some time and part of him wanted and perhaps needed a reason to initiate a "truce" but he did not want to admit that he enjoyed Holly's friendship and the other part of him saw this as an opportunity to call her bluff so to speak and show everyone that she was a fake and a fraud. Perhaps he was also surpised to learn that Holly's real name was Lulamae, a name that truly did not fit Holly.

When Doc leaves without Holly, it is further evident that she is a true "wild thing" and that Doc knows that. The fact that he does not fight harder to have her come back with him shows how much he is still very much "under her spell". Holly had an innate ability to make everyone around her fall in love with her almost as if she had some sort of voodoo majic all her own. To some degree, she was aware of this and that is the reason why she told everyone around her not to "fall in love with a wild thing". She was warning them that she would only disappoint and hurt them, but they never listened.

In this way, I believe Capote was trying to address the compassionate side of most people in that they see someone who is clearly on a path leading to destruction and they try to help them whether through influence or suggestion. However, as Capote so clearly showed us, you can't save someone who does not want to be saved and Holly is one of those people who does not want to be saved and does not even feel the need to be saved. She is bold and scrappy and believes that she can take care of herself no matter what comes her way and for the most part, she has. Holly Golightly is a survivor. She knows what it takes for her self preservation and will do whatever is necessary to maintain that.

==Study Questions==

#Why does the narrator retrieve the birdcage when he sees it outside while leaving?
#Why are Holly and the narrator not speaking to each other?
#What does Madame Spanella circulate among the brownstone tenants in referance to Holly?
#What does the narrator say that Madame Spanella says about Holly?
#What season is it when the narrator first notices Doc Golightly examining Holly's mailbox?
#What is Doc Golightly wearing?
#Where is the narrator going when Doc Golightly follows him?
#How busy is the restaurant when the narrator arrives?
#What does Doc Golightly show the narrator at the counter?
#How many children does Doc Golightly say that Holly had?
#What is the name of Doc Golightly's oldest daughter?
#When does Doc Golightly's first wife die?
#What animal does Doc Golightly teach to say "Lulamae" for Holly?

==External Resources==

*Grzesiak, Rich. "My Significant Other, Truman Capote". [http://www.axiongrafix.com/capote.html]. 1987.

*Lackey, K. "Capote's Works". [http://itrs.scu.edu/english67/class/klackey/works.htm].

*Cash, Matthew. "Breakfast at Tiffany's -The Novel". [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bcash/novel.html].

*Garson, Helen S. Truman Capote. New York: Fredrick Unger Publishing. 1980.

==Works Cited==

*Capote, Truman. Breakfast at Tiffany's. New York: Random House Publishing. 1958.

*Clarke, Gerald. Capote: A Biography. New York: Simon & Schuster. 1988.

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

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's

2006-03-23T19:28:30Z

Lkodra: /* Paul/Narrator */

==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. 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. AKA the Capote Narrator.

===Holiday "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 lopsided romantic, as well as a crude exhibitionist, a time waster, and an utter fake.

===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. He 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 the 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. When the family was separated to live with different foster homes after their parents' death, she and Fred were together. He was the only one who would let her hug him when it was cold as a child. Described to be 6’2” and ‘slow’ or ‘stupid’. Had a great love for peanut butter. Was in the 8th grade for three years, then was drafted into the army where he eventually 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”. Revealed to be the notorious Mafia-führer Salvatore "Sally" Tomato. 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 even though she was often referred to as being a lesbian.

===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 later 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 maintaining his good name and work, and broke his engagement with Holly due to her arrest and 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 birdcage first appears in the story wile the narrator is walking down Third Avenue and sees it in the window of an antique store. The cage is described as "a mosque of minarets and bamboo rooms yearning to be filled with talkative parrots." (Capote 15) The narrator likes the cage but doesn’t purchase it because it costs three hundred and fifty dollars. Wile out on Third Avenue with Holly one afternoon the narrator remembers the birdcage and decides to show it to her where upon seeing it Holly "enjoyed the point, its fantasy", and said "But its still a cage." (Capote 55) The narrator is at Holly's apartment for Christmas when she presents him with the cage. "But holly! It's dreadful!" "I couldn't agree more; but I thought you wanted it." The narrator views the cage is dreadful because Holly spent the great amount of money on it as she did, but Holly views it in that manner due to what a cage symbolizes. Holly is a "free spirit" and tries to stay away from the caging of anything either in idea or physically caging something. An example of this would be when Holly is speaking to the narrator and says "A person ought to be able to marry men or women or-listen, if you came to me and said you wanted to hitch up with Man o' War, I'd respect your feeling" (Capote 83) Upon giving the narrator the cage Holly makes him promise to "never put a living thing in it". (Capote 59) In return the narrator gives Holly a Saint Christopher's Metal from Tiffany's.

==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).

One more connection that can be made to see how Capote's own life was a big influence in the writing of the novel is the homosexual references in the book. Capote was a homosexual, one of the first well known people to actually come out and let people know he was a homosexual. This is very substantial, because in 50's and 60's it was not something that people talked about, it was taboo.

==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
*In Cold Blood

==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.
*Cash, Mathew. [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bcash/criticalanalysis.html The Breakfast at Tiffany's Homepage - A Critical Analysis]. 1996. ''University of Michigan''. 14 March 2006.

==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 12

2006-03-23T16:30:26Z

Lkodra: /* External Resources */

==Summary==
Against both the narrator and Joe Bell's wishes, Holly decides to leave for Rio, Brazil. Holly waits at the bar while Joe Bell delivers her request to the narrator to gather her things, including her cat, and bring them to her at Joe Bell's bar. Though refusing to partake in a drink to Holly's departure, Bell arranges for a limousine to take Holly to the airport.

On the way to the airport, Holly drops the cat off on a street block in Spanish Harlem, and leaves him there. At a stop light a block away, she realizes that she and the cat ''do'' belong to one another, and runs back to look for him. Unable to find him, the narrator promises her that he will find and take care of the cat. Holly then gets back in the limousine and leaves for the airport to go to Brazil. That was the last time the narrator saw Holly.

==Notes==
*'''Squall''' (104) - A brief sudden violent windstorm, often accompanied by rain or snow.

*'''Inclement''' (105) - severe, unrelenting; cruel

*'''Poignant''' (105) - Neat, skillful

*'''Lark''' (105) - A carefree or spirited adventure.

*'''Bon voyage''' (106)- French, literally translated as "good journey".

*'''Oompahpah''' (106)- A repeating rhythmic bass accompaniment.

*'''Rhapsodic''' (106)- Emotional and 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.

*'''Hope Chest''' (106)- A chest used by a young woman for clothing and household goods, such as linens and silver, in anticipation of marriage.

*'''Slap dash''' (107) - In a reckless haphazard manner; hasty and careless

*'''The fat woman''' (109) - Death

==Commentary==
Friday night, the day before departure, is described as ‘red,’ perhaps a parallel to the mean reds Holly must be feeling in anticipation of her journey to Brazil. Saturday itself, however, was under such a heavy rain it was questionable that a plane could take off. It is a fine forecast and foreshadowing of her grief to follow in this chapter.

Holly, against the wishes of the narrator and Joe Bell, continued to make her plans to leave. After being discharged from the hospital, she promptly went to a bank and then to Joe Bell’s bar. Bell himself delivered Holly’s message to the narrator, requesting that he gather the majority of her things (her jewelry, guitar, toothbrushes and stuff, bottle of hundred-year-old brandy, and the cat) from her apartment since it was under surveillance by police, reporters, and/or other interested parties, suggesting that perhaps they could be linked to Tomato.

On the way to Bell’s from the brownstone, the narrator reminisces about a time he walked nearly 500 miles from New Orleans to Nancy’s Landing, Mississippi, referencing it as a “light-hearted lark compared to the journey to Joe Bell’s bar” (p.105). We understand that the walk from the brownstone to the bar would be stressful; partly because the paper sacks he carried were falling apart and items were falling to the ground, but also because he feared being caught aiding an ‘outlaw.’ Comparing Nancy’s Landing to such a trying time suggests there is more to be known regarding the nature of his trip. Per The Explicator, “According to A Dictionary of the Underworld, "Nancy" refers either to the posterior or to "an effeminate man, especially a passive homosexual." "Nancy's Landing," then serves as Capote's code phrase for a gay resort...” The narrator’s lack of explanation for his journey is strongly suggestive of his homosexuality which plays into one of the underlying themes of BaT.

Though vehemently refusing to drink the hundred-year-old brandy with the narrator and Holly, Bell did call for a limousine to take Holly to the airport. Holly had the chauffer stop on a curb in Spanish Harlem where she stepped out of the limousine with the cat. She commences to have a one way conversation with the cat, seemingly trying to convince herself more than anyone, that this was the right place for him. She dropped him to the ground, and even after yelling and stomping her foot, he merely looked at her and rubbed against her leg. She jumped into the limousine only to go a block, and at a traffic light opened the door and ran back to attempt to find him. She realizes that they did belong to one another. Although Holly holds contempt for cages, the relationship with her cat is "symbolic of Holly's divided beliefs... (p.86, Garson)" She realizes that they did belong to one another, and illustrates how she longs to settle down and have a home. There is also a touch of irony in this situation; according to Garson her reason for ridding herself and the treatment of the cat "parallel Jose's treatment of Holly" (p86).

Unable to find the lost cat, the narrator promises Holly that he will find the cat and take care of him. She is not comforted by this, she instead “confesses her most private, deep-seated fear of what her life will always be: “Not knowing what’s yours until you’ve thrown it away. (p 86, Garson)”

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)

==Study Questions==
#What are the five items that Holly requests from her apartment?
#What does the narrator use to transport the cat?
#How is Holly transported to the airport?
#Who arranges the transportation to the airport for Holly?
#Where is the cat abandoned?
#What is Joe Bell's reaction to the news that Holly is leaving?
#Where is Holly planning to go?
#What does Holly ask the narrator to do after she goes back and cannot find her cat?
#What does the narrator think when he finds the cat?

==External Resources==
*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

*Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. 22 Mar. 2006 [http://dictionary.reference.com/<Dictionary.com>].

==Works Cited==
*Garson, Helen S. '''Truman Capote'''. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., Inc., 1980.

*Capote, Truman. '''Breakfast at Tiffany's'''. New York: Vintage Books. 1993.

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

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 12

2006-03-23T16:29:22Z

Lkodra: /* Summary */

==Summary==
Against both the narrator and Joe Bell's wishes, Holly decides to leave for Rio, Brazil. Holly waits at the bar while Joe Bell delivers her request to the narrator to gather her things, including her cat, and bring them to her at Joe Bell's bar. Though refusing to partake in a drink to Holly's departure, Bell arranges for a limousine to take Holly to the airport.

On the way to the airport, Holly drops the cat off on a street block in Spanish Harlem, and leaves him there. At a stop light a block away, she realizes that she and the cat ''do'' belong to one another, and runs back to look for him. Unable to find him, the narrator promises her that he will find and take care of the cat. Holly then gets back in the limousine and leaves for the airport to go to Brazil. That was the last time the narrator saw Holly.

==Notes==
*'''Squall''' (104) - A brief sudden violent windstorm, often accompanied by rain or snow.

*'''Inclement''' (105) - severe, unrelenting; cruel

*'''Poignant''' (105) - Neat, skillful

*'''Lark''' (105) - A carefree or spirited adventure.

*'''Bon voyage''' (106)- French, literally translated as "good journey".

*'''Oompahpah''' (106)- A repeating rhythmic bass accompaniment.

*'''Rhapsodic''' (106)- Emotional and 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.

*'''Hope Chest''' (106)- A chest used by a young woman for clothing and household goods, such as linens and silver, in anticipation of marriage.

*'''Slap dash''' (107) - In a reckless haphazard manner; hasty and careless

*'''The fat woman''' (109) - Death

==Commentary==
Friday night, the day before departure, is described as ‘red,’ perhaps a parallel to the mean reds Holly must be feeling in anticipation of her journey to Brazil. Saturday itself, however, was under such a heavy rain it was questionable that a plane could take off. It is a fine forecast and foreshadowing of her grief to follow in this chapter.

Holly, against the wishes of the narrator and Joe Bell, continued to make her plans to leave. After being discharged from the hospital, she promptly went to a bank and then to Joe Bell’s bar. Bell himself delivered Holly’s message to the narrator, requesting that he gather the majority of her things (her jewelry, guitar, toothbrushes and stuff, bottle of hundred-year-old brandy, and the cat) from her apartment since it was under surveillance by police, reporters, and/or other interested parties, suggesting that perhaps they could be linked to Tomato.

On the way to Bell’s from the brownstone, the narrator reminisces about a time he walked nearly 500 miles from New Orleans to Nancy’s Landing, Mississippi, referencing it as a “light-hearted lark compared to the journey to Joe Bell’s bar” (p.105). We understand that the walk from the brownstone to the bar would be stressful; partly because the paper sacks he carried were falling apart and items were falling to the ground, but also because he feared being caught aiding an ‘outlaw.’ Comparing Nancy’s Landing to such a trying time suggests there is more to be known regarding the nature of his trip. Per The Explicator, “According to A Dictionary of the Underworld, "Nancy" refers either to the posterior or to "an effeminate man, especially a passive homosexual." "Nancy's Landing," then serves as Capote's code phrase for a gay resort...” The narrator’s lack of explanation for his journey is strongly suggestive of his homosexuality which plays into one of the underlying themes of BaT.

Though vehemently refusing to drink the hundred-year-old brandy with the narrator and Holly, Bell did call for a limousine to take Holly to the airport. Holly had the chauffer stop on a curb in Spanish Harlem where she stepped out of the limousine with the cat. She commences to have a one way conversation with the cat, seemingly trying to convince herself more than anyone, that this was the right place for him. She dropped him to the ground, and even after yelling and stomping her foot, he merely looked at her and rubbed against her leg. She jumped into the limousine only to go a block, and at a traffic light opened the door and ran back to attempt to find him. She realizes that they did belong to one another. Although Holly holds contempt for cages, the relationship with her cat is "symbolic of Holly's divided beliefs... (p.86, Garson)" She realizes that they did belong to one another, and illustrates how she longs to settle down and have a home. There is also a touch of irony in this situation; according to Garson her reason for ridding herself and the treatment of the cat "parallel Jose's treatment of Holly" (p86).

Unable to find the lost cat, the narrator promises Holly that he will find the cat and take care of him. She is not comforted by this, she instead “confesses her most private, deep-seated fear of what her life will always be: “Not knowing what’s yours until you’ve thrown it away. (p 86, Garson)”

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)

==Study Questions==
#What are the five items that Holly requests from her apartment?
#What does the narrator use to transport the cat?
#How is Holly transported to the airport?
#Who arranges the transportation to the airport for Holly?
#Where is the cat abandoned?
#What is Joe Bell's reaction to the news that Holly is leaving?
#Where is Holly planning to go?
#What does Holly ask the narrator to do after she goes back and cannot find her cat?
#What does the narrator think when he finds the cat?

==External Resources==
*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

*Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. 22 Mar. 2006 [http://dictionary.reference.com/>Dictionary.com<].

==Works Cited==
*Garson, Helen S. '''Truman Capote'''. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., Inc., 1980.

*Capote, Truman. '''Breakfast at Tiffany's'''. New York: Vintage Books. 1993.

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

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 12

2006-03-23T16:28:45Z

Lkodra: /* Summary */

==Summary==
Against both the narrator and Joe Bell's wishes, Holly decides to leave for Rio, Brazil. Holly waits at the bar while Joe Bell delivers her request to the narrator to gather her things, including her cat, and bring them to her at Joe Bell's bar. Though refusing to partake in a drink to Holly's departure, Bell arranges for a limousine to take Holly to the airport. On the way there, Holly drops the cat off on a street block in Spanish Harlem, and leaves him there. At a stop light a block away, she realizes that she and the cat ''do'' belong to one another, and runs back to look for him. Unable to find him, the narrator promises her that he will find and take care of the cat. Holly then gets back in the limousine and leaves for the airport to go to Brazil. That was the last time the narrator saw Holly.

==Notes==
*'''Squall''' (104) - A brief sudden violent windstorm, often accompanied by rain or snow.

*'''Inclement''' (105) - severe, unrelenting; cruel

*'''Poignant''' (105) - Neat, skillful

*'''Lark''' (105) - A carefree or spirited adventure.

*'''Bon voyage''' (106)- French, literally translated as "good journey".

*'''Oompahpah''' (106)- A repeating rhythmic bass accompaniment.

*'''Rhapsodic''' (106)- Emotional and 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.

*'''Hope Chest''' (106)- A chest used by a young woman for clothing and household goods, such as linens and silver, in anticipation of marriage.

*'''Slap dash''' (107) - In a reckless haphazard manner; hasty and careless

*'''The fat woman''' (109) - Death

==Commentary==
Friday night, the day before departure, is described as ‘red,’ perhaps a parallel to the mean reds Holly must be feeling in anticipation of her journey to Brazil. Saturday itself, however, was under such a heavy rain it was questionable that a plane could take off. It is a fine forecast and foreshadowing of her grief to follow in this chapter.

Holly, against the wishes of the narrator and Joe Bell, continued to make her plans to leave. After being discharged from the hospital, she promptly went to a bank and then to Joe Bell’s bar. Bell himself delivered Holly’s message to the narrator, requesting that he gather the majority of her things (her jewelry, guitar, toothbrushes and stuff, bottle of hundred-year-old brandy, and the cat) from her apartment since it was under surveillance by police, reporters, and/or other interested parties, suggesting that perhaps they could be linked to Tomato.

On the way to Bell’s from the brownstone, the narrator reminisces about a time he walked nearly 500 miles from New Orleans to Nancy’s Landing, Mississippi, referencing it as a “light-hearted lark compared to the journey to Joe Bell’s bar” (p.105). We understand that the walk from the brownstone to the bar would be stressful; partly because the paper sacks he carried were falling apart and items were falling to the ground, but also because he feared being caught aiding an ‘outlaw.’ Comparing Nancy’s Landing to such a trying time suggests there is more to be known regarding the nature of his trip. Per The Explicator, “According to A Dictionary of the Underworld, "Nancy" refers either to the posterior or to "an effeminate man, especially a passive homosexual." "Nancy's Landing," then serves as Capote's code phrase for a gay resort...” The narrator’s lack of explanation for his journey is strongly suggestive of his homosexuality which plays into one of the underlying themes of BaT.

Though vehemently refusing to drink the hundred-year-old brandy with the narrator and Holly, Bell did call for a limousine to take Holly to the airport. Holly had the chauffer stop on a curb in Spanish Harlem where she stepped out of the limousine with the cat. She commences to have a one way conversation with the cat, seemingly trying to convince herself more than anyone, that this was the right place for him. She dropped him to the ground, and even after yelling and stomping her foot, he merely looked at her and rubbed against her leg. She jumped into the limousine only to go a block, and at a traffic light opened the door and ran back to attempt to find him. She realizes that they did belong to one another. Although Holly holds contempt for cages, the relationship with her cat is "symbolic of Holly's divided beliefs... (p.86, Garson)" She realizes that they did belong to one another, and illustrates how she longs to settle down and have a home. There is also a touch of irony in this situation; according to Garson her reason for ridding herself and the treatment of the cat "parallel Jose's treatment of Holly" (p86).

Unable to find the lost cat, the narrator promises Holly that he will find the cat and take care of him. She is not comforted by this, she instead “confesses her most private, deep-seated fear of what her life will always be: “Not knowing what’s yours until you’ve thrown it away. (p 86, Garson)”

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)

==Study Questions==
#What are the five items that Holly requests from her apartment?
#What does the narrator use to transport the cat?
#How is Holly transported to the airport?
#Who arranges the transportation to the airport for Holly?
#Where is the cat abandoned?
#What is Joe Bell's reaction to the news that Holly is leaving?
#Where is Holly planning to go?
#What does Holly ask the narrator to do after she goes back and cannot find her cat?
#What does the narrator think when he finds the cat?

==External Resources==
*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

*Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. 22 Mar. 2006 [http://dictionary.reference.com/>Dictionary.com<].

==Works Cited==
*Garson, Helen S. '''Truman Capote'''. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., Inc., 1980.

*Capote, Truman. '''Breakfast at Tiffany's'''. New York: Vintage Books. 1993.

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

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 12

2006-03-23T16:23:38Z

Lkodra: /* Notes */

==Summary==
Against both the narrator and Joe Bell's wishes, Holly decides to leave for Brazil. Holly waits at the bar while Joe Bell delivers her request to the narrator to gather her things, including her cat, and bring them to her. Though refusing to partake in a drink to Holly's departure, Bell arranges for a limousine to take Holly to the airport. On the way there, Holly drops the cat off on a street block in Spanish Harlem, and leaves him there. At a stop light a block away, she realizes that she wants to keep the cat, and runs back to look for him. Unable to find him, the narrator promises that he will find and take care of the cat. She gets back in the limousine and leaves for the airport to go to Brazil. At that point, she realizes that she and the cat belong to one another.

==Notes==
*'''Squall''' (104) - A brief sudden violent windstorm, often accompanied by rain or snow.

*'''Inclement''' (105) - severe, unrelenting; cruel

*'''Poignant''' (105) - Neat, skillful

*'''Lark''' (105) - A carefree or spirited adventure.

*'''Bon voyage''' (106)- French, literally translated as "good journey".

*'''Oompahpah''' (106)- A repeating rhythmic bass accompaniment.

*'''Rhapsodic''' (106)- Emotional and 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.

*'''Hope Chest''' (106)- A chest used by a young woman for clothing and household goods, such as linens and silver, in anticipation of marriage.

*'''Slap dash''' (107) - In a reckless haphazard manner; hasty and careless

*'''The fat woman''' (109) - Death

==Commentary==
Friday night, the day before departure, is described as ‘red,’ perhaps a parallel to the mean reds Holly must be feeling in anticipation of her journey to Brazil. Saturday itself, however, was under such a heavy rain it was questionable that a plane could take off. It is a fine forecast and foreshadowing of her grief to follow in this chapter.

Holly, against the wishes of the narrator and Joe Bell, continued to make her plans to leave. After being discharged from the hospital, she promptly went to a bank and then to Joe Bell’s bar. Bell himself delivered Holly’s message to the narrator, requesting that he gather the majority of her things (her jewelry, guitar, toothbrushes and stuff, bottle of hundred-year-old brandy, and the cat) from her apartment since it was under surveillance by police, reporters, and/or other interested parties, suggesting that perhaps they could be linked to Tomato.

On the way to Bell’s from the brownstone, the narrator reminisces about a time he walked nearly 500 miles from New Orleans to Nancy’s Landing, Mississippi, referencing it as a “light-hearted lark compared to the journey to Joe Bell’s bar” (p.105). We understand that the walk from the brownstone to the bar would be stressful; partly because the paper sacks he carried were falling apart and items were falling to the ground, but also because he feared being caught aiding an ‘outlaw.’ Comparing Nancy’s Landing to such a trying time suggests there is more to be known regarding the nature of his trip. Per The Explicator, “According to A Dictionary of the Underworld, "Nancy" refers either to the posterior or to "an effeminate man, especially a passive homosexual." "Nancy's Landing," then serves as Capote's code phrase for a gay resort...” The narrator’s lack of explanation for his journey is strongly suggestive of his homosexuality which plays into one of the underlying themes of BaT.

Though vehemently refusing to drink the hundred-year-old brandy with the narrator and Holly, Bell did call for a limousine to take Holly to the airport. Holly had the chauffer stop on a curb in Spanish Harlem where she stepped out of the limousine with the cat. She commences to have a one way conversation with the cat, seemingly trying to convince herself more than anyone, that this was the right place for him. She dropped him to the ground, and even after yelling and stomping her foot, he merely looked at her and rubbed against her leg. She jumped into the limousine only to go a block, and at a traffic light opened the door and ran back to attempt to find him. She realizes that they did belong to one another. Although Holly holds contempt for cages, the relationship with her cat is "symbolic of Holly's divided beliefs... (p.86, Garson)" She realizes that they did belong to one another, and illustrates how she longs to settle down and have a home. There is also a touch of irony in this situation; according to Garson her reason for ridding herself and the treatment of the cat "parallel Jose's treatment of Holly" (p86).

Unable to find the lost cat, the narrator promises Holly that he will find the cat and take care of him. She is not comforted by this, she instead “confesses her most private, deep-seated fear of what her life will always be: “Not knowing what’s yours until you’ve thrown it away. (p 86, Garson)”

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)

==Study Questions==
#What are the five items that Holly requests from her apartment?
#What does the narrator use to transport the cat?
#How is Holly transported to the airport?
#Who arranges the transportation to the airport for Holly?
#Where is the cat abandoned?
#What is Joe Bell's reaction to the news that Holly is leaving?
#Where is Holly planning to go?
#What does Holly ask the narrator to do after she goes back and cannot find her cat?
#What does the narrator think when he finds the cat?

==External Resources==
*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

*Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. 22 Mar. 2006 [http://dictionary.reference.com/>Dictionary.com<].

==Works Cited==
*Garson, Helen S. '''Truman Capote'''. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., Inc., 1980.

*Capote, Truman. '''Breakfast at Tiffany's'''. New York: Vintage Books. 1993.

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

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 12

2006-03-23T16:23:04Z

Lkodra: /* Notes */

==Summary==
Against both the narrator and Joe Bell's wishes, Holly decides to leave for Brazil. Holly waits at the bar while Joe Bell delivers her request to the narrator to gather her things, including her cat, and bring them to her. Though refusing to partake in a drink to Holly's departure, Bell arranges for a limousine to take Holly to the airport. On the way there, Holly drops the cat off on a street block in Spanish Harlem, and leaves him there. At a stop light a block away, she realizes that she wants to keep the cat, and runs back to look for him. Unable to find him, the narrator promises that he will find and take care of the cat. She gets back in the limousine and leaves for the airport to go to Brazil. At that point, she realizes that she and the cat belong to one another.

==Notes==
*'''Squall''' (104) - A brief sudden violent windstorm, often accompanied by rain or snow.

*'''Inclement''' (105) - severe, unrelenting; cruel

*'''Poignant''' (105) - Neat, skillful

*'''Lark''' (105) - A carefree or spirited adventure.

*'''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.

*'''Hope Chest''' (106)- A chest used by a young woman for clothing and household goods, such as linens and silver, in anticipation of marriage.

*'''Slap dash''' (107) - In a reckless haphazard manner; hasty and careless

*'''The fat woman''' (109) - Death

==Commentary==
Friday night, the day before departure, is described as ‘red,’ perhaps a parallel to the mean reds Holly must be feeling in anticipation of her journey to Brazil. Saturday itself, however, was under such a heavy rain it was questionable that a plane could take off. It is a fine forecast and foreshadowing of her grief to follow in this chapter.

Holly, against the wishes of the narrator and Joe Bell, continued to make her plans to leave. After being discharged from the hospital, she promptly went to a bank and then to Joe Bell’s bar. Bell himself delivered Holly’s message to the narrator, requesting that he gather the majority of her things (her jewelry, guitar, toothbrushes and stuff, bottle of hundred-year-old brandy, and the cat) from her apartment since it was under surveillance by police, reporters, and/or other interested parties, suggesting that perhaps they could be linked to Tomato.

On the way to Bell’s from the brownstone, the narrator reminisces about a time he walked nearly 500 miles from New Orleans to Nancy’s Landing, Mississippi, referencing it as a “light-hearted lark compared to the journey to Joe Bell’s bar” (p.105). We understand that the walk from the brownstone to the bar would be stressful; partly because the paper sacks he carried were falling apart and items were falling to the ground, but also because he feared being caught aiding an ‘outlaw.’ Comparing Nancy’s Landing to such a trying time suggests there is more to be known regarding the nature of his trip. Per The Explicator, “According to A Dictionary of the Underworld, "Nancy" refers either to the posterior or to "an effeminate man, especially a passive homosexual." "Nancy's Landing," then serves as Capote's code phrase for a gay resort...” The narrator’s lack of explanation for his journey is strongly suggestive of his homosexuality which plays into one of the underlying themes of BaT.

Though vehemently refusing to drink the hundred-year-old brandy with the narrator and Holly, Bell did call for a limousine to take Holly to the airport. Holly had the chauffer stop on a curb in Spanish Harlem where she stepped out of the limousine with the cat. She commences to have a one way conversation with the cat, seemingly trying to convince herself more than anyone, that this was the right place for him. She dropped him to the ground, and even after yelling and stomping her foot, he merely looked at her and rubbed against her leg. She jumped into the limousine only to go a block, and at a traffic light opened the door and ran back to attempt to find him. She realizes that they did belong to one another. Although Holly holds contempt for cages, the relationship with her cat is "symbolic of Holly's divided beliefs... (p.86, Garson)" She realizes that they did belong to one another, and illustrates how she longs to settle down and have a home. There is also a touch of irony in this situation; according to Garson her reason for ridding herself and the treatment of the cat "parallel Jose's treatment of Holly" (p86).

Unable to find the lost cat, the narrator promises Holly that he will find the cat and take care of him. She is not comforted by this, she instead “confesses her most private, deep-seated fear of what her life will always be: “Not knowing what’s yours until you’ve thrown it away. (p 86, Garson)”

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)

==Study Questions==
#What are the five items that Holly requests from her apartment?
#What does the narrator use to transport the cat?
#How is Holly transported to the airport?
#Who arranges the transportation to the airport for Holly?
#Where is the cat abandoned?
#What is Joe Bell's reaction to the news that Holly is leaving?
#Where is Holly planning to go?
#What does Holly ask the narrator to do after she goes back and cannot find her cat?
#What does the narrator think when he finds the cat?

==External Resources==
*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

*Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. 22 Mar. 2006 [http://dictionary.reference.com/>Dictionary.com<].

==Works Cited==
*Garson, Helen S. '''Truman Capote'''. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., Inc., 1980.

*Capote, Truman. '''Breakfast at Tiffany's'''. New York: Vintage Books. 1993.

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

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's

2006-03-23T16:21:49Z

Lkodra: /* Other Novella's and Novels */

==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. AKA the Capote Narrator.

===Holiday "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 lopsided romantic, as well as a crude exhibitionist, a time waster, and an utter fake.

===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. He 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 the 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. When the family was separated to live with different foster homes after their parents' death, she and Fred were together. He was the only one who would let her hug him when it was cold as a child. Described to be 6’2” and ‘slow’ or ‘stupid’. Had a great love for peanut butter. Was in the 8th grade for three years, then was drafted into the army where he eventually 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”. Revealed to be the notorious Mafia-führer Salvatore "Sally" Tomato. 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 even though she was often referred to as being a lesbian.

===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 later 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 maintaining his good name and work, and broke his engagement with Holly due to her arrest and 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===

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

==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).

One more connection that can be made to see how Capote's own life was a big influence in the writing of the novel is the homosexual references in the book. Capote was a homosexual, one of the first well known people to actually come out and let people know he was a homosexual. This is very substantial, because in 50's and 60's it was not something that people talked about, it was taboo.

==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
*In Cold Blood

==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.
*Cash, Mathew. [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bcash/criticalanalysis.html The Breakfast at Tiffany's Homepage - A Critical Analysis]. 1996. ''University of Michigan''. 14 March 2006.

==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

2006-03-23T16:17:17Z

Lkodra: /* Holiday "Holly" Golightly */

==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. AKA the Capote Narrator.

===Holiday "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 lopsided romantic, as well as a crude exhibitionist, a time waster, and an utter fake.

===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. He 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 the 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. When the family was separated to live with different foster homes after their parents' death, she and Fred were together. He was the only one who would let her hug him when it was cold as a child. Described to be 6’2” and ‘slow’ or ‘stupid’. Had a great love for peanut butter. Was in the 8th grade for three years, then was drafted into the army where he eventually 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”. Revealed to be the notorious Mafia-führer Salvatore "Sally" Tomato. 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 even though she was often referred to as being a lesbian.

===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 later 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 maintaining his good name and work, and broke his engagement with Holly due to her arrest and 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===

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

==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).

One more connection that can be made to see how Capote's own life was a big influence in the writing of the novel is the homosexual references in the book. Capote was a homosexual, one of the first well known people to actually come out and let people know he was a homosexual. This is very substantial, because in 50's and 60's it was not something that people talked about, it was taboo.

==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.
*Cash, Mathew. [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bcash/criticalanalysis.html The Breakfast at Tiffany's Homepage - A Critical Analysis]. 1996. ''University of Michigan''. 14 March 2006.

==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

2006-03-23T16:14:12Z

Lkodra: /* Holiday "Holly" Golightly */

==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. AKA the Capote Narrator.

===Holiday "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.

===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. He 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 the 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. When the family was separated to live with different foster homes after their parents' death, she and Fred were together. He was the only one who would let her hug him when it was cold as a child. Described to be 6’2” and ‘slow’ or ‘stupid’. Had a great love for peanut butter. Was in the 8th grade for three years, then was drafted into the army where he eventually 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”. Revealed to be the notorious Mafia-führer Salvatore "Sally" Tomato. 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 even though she was often referred to as being a lesbian.

===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 later 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 maintaining his good name and work, and broke his engagement with Holly due to her arrest and 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===

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

==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).

One more connection that can be made to see how Capote's own life was a big influence in the writing of the novel is the homosexual references in the book. Capote was a homosexual, one of the first well known people to actually come out and let people know he was a homosexual. This is very substantial, because in 50's and 60's it was not something that people talked about, it was taboo.

==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.
*Cash, Mathew. [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bcash/criticalanalysis.html The Breakfast at Tiffany's Homepage - A Critical Analysis]. 1996. ''University of Michigan''. 14 March 2006.

==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

2006-03-23T16:13:40Z

Lkodra: /* Holiday "Holly" Golightly */

==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. AKA the Capote Narrator.

===Holiday "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. He 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 the 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. When the family was separated to live with different foster homes after their parents' death, she and Fred were together. He was the only one who would let her hug him when it was cold as a child. Described to be 6’2” and ‘slow’ or ‘stupid’. Had a great love for peanut butter. Was in the 8th grade for three years, then was drafted into the army where he eventually 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”. Revealed to be the notorious Mafia-führer Salvatore "Sally" Tomato. 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 even though she was often referred to as being a lesbian.

===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 later 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 maintaining his good name and work, and broke his engagement with Holly due to her arrest and 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===

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

==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).

One more connection that can be made to see how Capote's own life was a big influence in the writing of the novel is the homosexual references in the book. Capote was a homosexual, one of the first well known people to actually come out and let people know he was a homosexual. This is very substantial, because in 50's and 60's it was not something that people talked about, it was taboo.

==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.
*Cash, Mathew. [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bcash/criticalanalysis.html The Breakfast at Tiffany's Homepage - A Critical Analysis]. 1996. ''University of Michigan''. 14 March 2006.

==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

2006-03-23T16:11:25Z

Lkodra: /* Holiday Golightly */

==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. AKA the Capote Narrator.

===Holiday "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. He 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 the 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. When the family was separated to live with different foster homes after their parents' death, she and Fred were together. He was the only one who would let her hug him when it was cold as a child. Described to be 6’2” and ‘slow’ or ‘stupid’. Had a great love for peanut butter. Was in the 8th grade for three years, then was drafted into the army where he eventually 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”. Revealed to be the notorious Mafia-führer Salvatore "Sally" Tomato. 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 even though she was often referred to as being a lesbian.

===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 later 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 maintaining his good name and work, and broke his engagement with Holly due to her arrest and 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===

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

==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).

One more connection that can be made to see how Capote's own life was a big influence in the writing of the novel is the homosexual references in the book. Capote was a homosexual, one of the first well known people to actually come out and let people know he was a homosexual. This is very substantial, because in 50's and 60's it was not something that people talked about, it was taboo.

==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.
*Cash, Mathew. [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bcash/criticalanalysis.html The Breakfast at Tiffany's Homepage - A Critical Analysis]. 1996. ''University of Michigan''. 14 March 2006.

==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

2006-03-23T16:11:07Z

Lkodra: /* Holly Golightly */

==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. AKA the Capote Narrator.

===Holiday 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. He 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 the 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. When the family was separated to live with different foster homes after their parents' death, she and Fred were together. He was the only one who would let her hug him when it was cold as a child. Described to be 6’2” and ‘slow’ or ‘stupid’. Had a great love for peanut butter. Was in the 8th grade for three years, then was drafted into the army where he eventually 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”. Revealed to be the notorious Mafia-führer Salvatore "Sally" Tomato. 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 even though she was often referred to as being a lesbian.

===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 later 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 maintaining his good name and work, and broke his engagement with Holly due to her arrest and 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===

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

==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).

One more connection that can be made to see how Capote's own life was a big influence in the writing of the novel is the homosexual references in the book. Capote was a homosexual, one of the first well known people to actually come out and let people know he was a homosexual. This is very substantial, because in 50's and 60's it was not something that people talked about, it was taboo.

==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.
*Cash, Mathew. [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bcash/criticalanalysis.html The Breakfast at Tiffany's Homepage - A Critical Analysis]. 1996. ''University of Michigan''. 14 March 2006.

==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

2006-03-23T16:09:45Z

Lkodra: /* Commentary */

==Summary==
After a fight with Holly, the narrator decides to leave the birdcage by her apartment door. This symbolizes his desire to cut ties with her. 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.

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 he is Doc Golightly, Holly’s husband, and Holly's name is really Lulamae Barnes.

Doc Golightly tells the narrator he needs a friend. In the beginning the narrator assumes that the man is Holly's father. "You're Holly's father." (Capote 66). The narrator starts to laugh because of "nerves". Doc tells the story of finding Lulamae (Holly) and her brother trying to steal food from him in Tulip, Texas. He learns 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 him 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 Fred who was in the Army.

Doc pleads with the narrator to be his friend and "let her know I am here." (70). The narrator is eager to reunite Doc with Holly for his own personal gain. He wants Holly to be embrassed in front of her friends. The narrator starts to feel "ashamed" of his "anticipations" about the meeting. Doc is nervous and wonders if he looks ok to meet his wife. Although, Holly was expecting her brother Fred, her reaction to seeing Doc Golightly was very surprising. She acted very calm and not at all ashamed to see her husband. 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==
The narrator is both surprised and a little excited to find who and why Doc Golightly was standing outside the brownstone. The narrator had not been speaking to Holly for quite some time and part of him wanted and perhaps needed a reason to initiate a "truce" but he did not want to admit that he enjoyed Holly's friendship and the other part of him saw this as an opportunity to call her bluff so to speak and show everyone that she was a fake and a fraud. Perhaps he was also surpised to learn that Holly's real name was Lulamae, a name that truly did not fit Holly.

When Doc leaves without Holly, it is further evident that she is a true "wild thing" and that Doc knows that. The fact that he does not fight harder to have her come back with him shows how much he is still very much "under her spell". Holly had an innate ability to make everyone around her fall in love with her almost as if she had some sort of voodoo majic all her own. To some degree, she was aware of this and that is the reason why she told everyone around her not to "fall in love with a wild thing". She was warning them that she would only disappoint and hurt them, but they never listened.

In this way, I believe Capote was trying to address the compassionate side of most people in that they see someone who is clearly on a path leading to destruction and they try to help them whether through influence or suggestion. However, as Capote so clearly showed us, you can't save someone who does not want to be saved and Holly is one of those people who does not want to be saved and does not even feel the need to be saved. She is bold and scrappy and believes that she can take care of herself no matter what comes her way and for the most part, she has. Holly Golightly is a survivor. She knows what it takes for her self preservation and will do whatever is necessary to maintain that.

==Study Questions==

#Why does the narrator retrieve the birdcage when he sees it outside while leaving?
#Why are Holly and the narrator not speaking to each other?
#What does Madame Spanella circulate among the brownstone tenants in referance to Holly?
#What does the narrator say that Madame Spanella says about Holly?
#What season is it when the narrator first notices Doc Golightly examining Holly's mailbox?
#What is Doc Golightly wearing?
#Where is the narrator going when Doc Golightly follows him?
#How busy is the restaurant when the narrator arrives?
#What does Doc Golightly show the narrator at the counter?
#How many children does Doc Golightly say that Holly had?
#What is the name of Doc Golightly's oldest daughter?
#When does Doc Golightly's first wife die?
#What animal does Doc Golightly teach to say "Lulamae" for Holly?

==External Resources==

*Grzesiak, Rich. "My Significant Other, Truman Capote". [http://www.axiongrafix.com/capote.html]. 1987.

*Lackey, K. "Capote's Works". [http://itrs.scu.edu/english67/class/klackey/works.htm].

*Cash, Matthew. "Breakfast at Tiffany's -The Novel". [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bcash/novel.html].

*Garson, Helen S. Truman Capote. New York: Fredrick Unger Publishing. 1980.

==Works Cited==

*Capote, Truman. Breakfast at Tiffany's. New York: Random House Publishing. 1958.

*Clarke, Gerald. Capote: A Biography. New York: Simon & Schuster. 1988.

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

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 6

2006-03-23T15:59:01Z

Lkodra: /* Notes */

==Summary==
After a fight with Holly, the narrator decides to leave the birdcage by her apartment door. This symbolizes his desire to cut ties with her. 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.

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 he is Doc Golightly, Holly’s husband, and Holly's name is really Lulamae Barnes.

Doc Golightly tells the narrator he needs a friend. In the beginning the narrator assumes that the man is Holly's father. "You're Holly's father." (Capote 66). The narrator starts to laugh because of "nerves". Doc tells the story of finding Lulamae (Holly) and her brother trying to steal food from him in Tulip, Texas. He learns 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 him 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 Fred who was in the Army.

Doc pleads with the narrator to be his friend and "let her know I am here." (70). The narrator is eager to reunite Doc with Holly for his own personal gain. He wants Holly to be embrassed in front of her friends. The narrator starts to feel "ashamed" of his "anticipations" about the meeting. Doc is nervous and wonders if he looks ok to meet his wife. Although, Holly was expecting her brother Fred, her reaction to seeing Doc Golightly was very surprising. She acted very calm and not at all ashamed to see her husband. 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==
The narrator is both surprised and a little excited to find who and why Doc Golightly was standing outside the brownstone. The narrator had not been speaking to Holly for quite some time and part of him wanted and perhaps needed a reason to initiate a "truce" but he did not want to admit that he enjoyed Holly's friendship and the other part of him saw this as an opportunity to call her bluff so to speak and show everyone that she was a fake and a fraud.

When Doc leaves without Holly, it is further evident that she is a true "wild thing" and that Doc knows that. The fact that he does not fight harder to have her come back with him shows how much he is still very much "under her spell". Holly had an innate ability to make everyone around her fall in love with her almost as if she had some sort of voodoo majic all her own. To some degree, she was aware of this and that is the reason why she told everyone around her not to "fall in love with a wild thing". She was warning them that she would only disappoint and hurt them, but they never listened.

In this way, I believe Capote was trying to address the compassionate side of most people in that they see someone who is clearly on a path leading to destruction and they try to help them whether through influence or suggestion. However, as Capote so clearly showed us, you can't save someone who does not want to be saved and Holly is one of those people who does not want to be saved and does not even feel the need to be saved. She is bold and scrappy and believes that she can take care of herself no matter what comes her way and for the most part, she has. Holly Golightly is a survivor. She knows what it takes for her self preservation and will do whatever is necessary to maintain that.

==Study Questions==

#Why does the narrator retrieve the birdcage when he sees it outside while leaving?
#Why are Holly and the narrator not speaking to each other?
#What does Madame Spanella circulate among the brownstone tenants in referance to Holly?
#What does the narrator say that Madame Spanella says about Holly?
#What season is it when the narrator first notices Doc Golightly examining Holly's mailbox?
#What is Doc Golightly wearing?
#Where is the narrator going when Doc Golightly follows him?
#How busy is the restaurant when the narrator arrives?
#What does Doc Golightly show the narrator at the counter?
#How many children does Doc Golightly say that Holly had?
#What is the name of Doc Golightly's oldest daughter?
#When does Doc Golightly's first wife die?
#What animal does Doc Golightly teach to say "Lulamae" for Holly?

==External Resources==

*Grzesiak, Rich. "My Significant Other, Truman Capote". [http://www.axiongrafix.com/capote.html]. 1987.

*Lackey, K. "Capote's Works". [http://itrs.scu.edu/english67/class/klackey/works.htm].

*Cash, Matthew. "Breakfast at Tiffany's -The Novel". [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bcash/novel.html].

*Garson, Helen S. Truman Capote. New York: Fredrick Unger Publishing. 1980.

==Works Cited==

*Capote, Truman. Breakfast at Tiffany's. New York: Random House Publishing. 1958.

*Clarke, Gerald. Capote: A Biography. New York: Simon & Schuster. 1988.

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

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's

2006-03-23T15:55:29Z

Lkodra: /* Additional Resources */

==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. AKA the Capote Narrator.

===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. He 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 the 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. When the family was separated to live with different foster homes after their parents' death, she and Fred were together. He was the only one who would let her hug him when it was cold as a child. Described to be 6’2” and ‘slow’ or ‘stupid’. Had a great love for peanut butter. Was in the 8th grade for three years, then was drafted into the army where he eventually 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”. Revealed to be the notorious Mafia-führer Salvatore "Sally" Tomato. 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 even though she was often referred to as being a lesbian.

===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 later 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 maintaining his good name and work, and broke his engagement with Holly due to her arrest and 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===

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

==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).

One more connection that can be made to see how Capote's own life was a big influence in the writing of the novel is the homosexual references in the book. Capote was a homosexual, one of the first well known people to actually come out and let people know he was a homosexual. This is very substantial, because in 50's and 60's it was not something that people talked about, it was taboo.

==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.
*Cash, Mathew. [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bcash/criticalanalysis.html The Breakfast at Tiffany's Homepage - A Critical Analysis]. 1996. ''University of Michigan''. 14 March 2006.

==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

2006-03-23T15:52:57Z

Lkodra: /* Paul/Narrator */

==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. AKA the Capote Narrator.

===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. He 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 the 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. When the family was separated to live with different foster homes after their parents' death, she and Fred were together. He was the only one who would let her hug him when it was cold as a child. Described to be 6’2” and ‘slow’ or ‘stupid’. Had a great love for peanut butter. Was in the 8th grade for three years, then was drafted into the army where he eventually 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”. Revealed to be the notorious Mafia-führer Salvatore "Sally" Tomato. 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 even though she was often referred to as being a lesbian.

===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 later 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 maintaining his good name and work, and broke his engagement with Holly due to her arrest and 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===

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

==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).

One more connection that can be made to see how Capote's own life was a big influence in the writing of the novel is the homosexual references in the book. Capote was a homosexual, one of the first well known people to actually come out and let people know he was a homosexual. This is very substantial, because in 50's and 60's it was not something that people talked about, it was taboo.

==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.
*Cash, Mathew. [http://www.-personal.umich.edu/~bcash/criticalanalysis.html The Breakfast at Tiffany's Homepage - A Critical Analysis]. 1996. ''University of Michigan''. 14 March 2006.

==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

2006-03-23T15:51:14Z

Lkodra: /* Sally Tomato */

==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. He 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 the 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. When the family was separated to live with different foster homes after their parents' death, she and Fred were together. He was the only one who would let her hug him when it was cold as a child. Described to be 6’2” and ‘slow’ or ‘stupid’. Had a great love for peanut butter. Was in the 8th grade for three years, then was drafted into the army where he eventually 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”. Revealed to be the notorious Mafia-führer Salvatore "Sally" Tomato. 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 even though she was often referred to as being a lesbian.

===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 later 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 maintaining his good name and work, and broke his engagement with Holly due to her arrest and 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===

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

==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).

One more connection that can be made to see how Capote's own life was a big influence in the writing of the novel is the homosexual references in the book. Capote was a homosexual, one of the first well known people to actually come out and let people know he was a homosexual. This is very substantial, because in 50's and 60's it was not something that people talked about, it was taboo.

==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.
*Cash, Mathew. [http://www.-personal.umich.edu/~bcash/criticalanalysis.html The Breakfast at Tiffany's Homepage - A Critical Analysis]. 1996. ''University of Michigan''. 14 March 2006.

==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

2006-03-23T15:35:32Z

Lkodra: /* Fred */

==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. He 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 the 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. When the family was separated to live with different foster homes after their parents' death, she and Fred were together. He was the only one who would let her hug him when it was cold as a child. Described to be 6’2” and ‘slow’ or ‘stupid’. Had a great love for peanut butter. Was in the 8th grade for three years, then was drafted into the army where he eventually 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 even though she was often referred to as being a lesbian.

===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 later 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 maintaining his good name and work, and broke his engagement with Holly due to her arrest and 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===

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

==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).

One more connection that can be made to see how Capote's own life was a big influence in the writing of the novel is the homosexual references in the book. Capote was a homosexual, one of the first well known people to actually come out and let people know he was a homosexual. This is very substantial, because in 50's and 60's it was not something that people talked about, it was taboo.

==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.
*Cash, Mathew. [http://www.-personal.umich.edu/~bcash/criticalanalysis.html The Breakfast at Tiffany's Homepage - A Critical Analysis]. 1996. ''University of Michigan''. 14 March 2006.

==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 12

2006-03-23T03:09:02Z

Lkodra: /* Study Questions */

==Summary==
Against both the narrator and Joe Bell's wishes, Holly decides to leave for Brazil. Holly waits at the bar while Joe Bell delivers her request to the narrator to gather her things, including her cat, and bring them to her. Though refusing to partake in a drink to Holly's departure, Bell arranges for a limousine to take Holly to the airport. On the way there, Holly drops the cat off on a street block in Spanish Harlem, and leaves him there. At a stop light a block away, she realizes that she wants to keep the cat, and runs back to look for him. Unable to find him, the narrator promises that he will find and take care of the cat. She gets back in the limousine and leaves for the airport to go to Brazil. At that point, she realizes that she and the cat belong to one another.

==Notes==
*'''Squall''' (104) - A brief sudden violent windstorm, often accompanied by rain or snow.

*'''Inclement''' (105) - severe, unrelenting; cruel

*'''Poignant''' (105) - Neat, skillful

*'''Lark''' (105) - A carefree or spirited adventure.

*'''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.

*'''Hope Chest''' (106)- A chest used by a young woman for clothing and household goods, such as linens and silver, in anticipation of marriage.

*'''Slap dash''' (107) - In a reckless haphazard manner; hasty and careless

*'''The fat woman''' (109) - Death

==Commentary==
Friday night, the day before departure, is described as ‘red,’ perhaps a parallel to the mean reds Holly must be feeling in anticipation of her journey to Brazil. Saturday itself, however, was under such a heavy rain it was questionable that a plane could take off. It is a fine forecast and foreshadowing of her grief to follow in this chapter.

Holly, against the wishes of the narrator and Joe Bell, continued to make her plans to leave. After being discharged from the hospital, she promptly went to a bank and then to Joe Bell’s bar. Bell himself delivered Holly’s message to the narrator, requesting that he gather the majority of her things (her jewelry, guitar, toothbrushes and stuff, bottle of hundred-year-old brandy, and the cat) from her apartment since it was under surveillance by police, reporters, and/or other interested parties, suggesting that perhaps they could be linked to Tomato.

On the way to Bell’s from the brownstone, the narrator reminisces about a time he walked nearly 500 miles from New Orleans to Nancy’s Landing, Mississippi, referencing it as a “light-hearted lark compared to the journey to Joe Bell’s bar” (p.105). We understand that the walk from the brownstone to the bar would be stressful; partly because the paper sacks he carried were falling apart and items were falling to the ground, but also because he feared being caught aiding an ‘outlaw.’ Comparing Nancy’s Landing to such a trying time suggests there is more to be known regarding the nature of his trip. Per The Explicator, “According to A Dictionary of the Underworld, "Nancy" refers either to the posterior or to "an effeminate man, especially a passive homosexual." "Nancy's Landing," then serves as Capote's code phrase for a gay resort...” The narrator’s lack of explanation for his journey is strongly suggestive of his homosexuality which plays into one of the underlying themes of BaT.

Though vehemently refusing to drink the hundred-year-old brandy with the narrator and Holly, Bell did call for a limousine to take Holly to the airport. Holly had the chauffer stop on a curb in Spanish Harlem where she stepped out of the limousine with the cat. She commences to have a one way conversation with the cat, seemingly trying to convince herself more than anyone, that this was the right place for him. She dropped him to the ground, and even after yelling and stomping her foot, he merely looked at her and rubbed against her leg. She jumped into the limousine only to go a block, and at a traffic light opened the door and ran back to attempt to find him. She realizes that they did belong to one another. Although Holly holds contempt for cages, the relationship with her cat is "symbolic of Holly's divided beliefs... (p.86, Garson)" She realizes that they did belong to one another, and illustrates how she longs to settle down and have a home. There is also a touch of irony in this situation; according to Garson her reason for ridding herself and the treatment of the cat "parallel Jose's treatment of Holly" (p86).

Unable to find the lost cat, the narrator promises Holly that he will find the cat and take care of him. She is not comforted by this, she instead “confesses her most private, deep-seated fear of what her life will always be: “Not knowing what’s yours until you’ve thrown it away. (p 86, Garson)”

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)

==Study Questions==
#What are the five items that Holly requests from her apartment?
#What does the narrator use to transport the cat?
#How is Holly transported to the airport?
#Who arranges the transportation to the airport for Holly?
#Where is the cat abandoned?
#What is Joe Bell's reaction to the news that Holly is leaving?
#Where is Holly planning to go?
#What does Holly ask the narrator to do after she goes back and cannot find her cat?
#What does the narrator think when he finds the cat?

==External Resources==
*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

*Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. 22 Mar. 2006 [http://dictionary.reference.com/>Dictionary.com<].

==Works Cited==
*Garson, Helen S. '''Truman Capote'''. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., Inc., 1980.

*Capote, Truman. '''Breakfast at Tiffany's'''. New York: Vintage Books. 1993.

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

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 12

2006-03-23T03:08:11Z

Lkodra: /* Study Questions */

==Summary==
Against both the narrator and Joe Bell's wishes, Holly decides to leave for Brazil. Holly waits at the bar while Joe Bell delivers her request to the narrator to gather her things, including her cat, and bring them to her. Though refusing to partake in a drink to Holly's departure, Bell arranges for a limousine to take Holly to the airport. On the way there, Holly drops the cat off on a street block in Spanish Harlem, and leaves him there. At a stop light a block away, she realizes that she wants to keep the cat, and runs back to look for him. Unable to find him, the narrator promises that he will find and take care of the cat. She gets back in the limousine and leaves for the airport to go to Brazil. At that point, she realizes that she and the cat belong to one another.

==Notes==
*'''Squall''' (104) - A brief sudden violent windstorm, often accompanied by rain or snow.

*'''Inclement''' (105) - severe, unrelenting; cruel

*'''Poignant''' (105) - Neat, skillful

*'''Lark''' (105) - A carefree or spirited adventure.

*'''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.

*'''Hope Chest''' (106)- A chest used by a young woman for clothing and household goods, such as linens and silver, in anticipation of marriage.

*'''Slap dash''' (107) - In a reckless haphazard manner; hasty and careless

*'''The fat woman''' (109) - Death

==Commentary==
Friday night, the day before departure, is described as ‘red,’ perhaps a parallel to the mean reds Holly must be feeling in anticipation of her journey to Brazil. Saturday itself, however, was under such a heavy rain it was questionable that a plane could take off. It is a fine forecast and foreshadowing of her grief to follow in this chapter.

Holly, against the wishes of the narrator and Joe Bell, continued to make her plans to leave. After being discharged from the hospital, she promptly went to a bank and then to Joe Bell’s bar. Bell himself delivered Holly’s message to the narrator, requesting that he gather the majority of her things (her jewelry, guitar, toothbrushes and stuff, bottle of hundred-year-old brandy, and the cat) from her apartment since it was under surveillance by police, reporters, and/or other interested parties, suggesting that perhaps they could be linked to Tomato.

On the way to Bell’s from the brownstone, the narrator reminisces about a time he walked nearly 500 miles from New Orleans to Nancy’s Landing, Mississippi, referencing it as a “light-hearted lark compared to the journey to Joe Bell’s bar” (p.105). We understand that the walk from the brownstone to the bar would be stressful; partly because the paper sacks he carried were falling apart and items were falling to the ground, but also because he feared being caught aiding an ‘outlaw.’ Comparing Nancy’s Landing to such a trying time suggests there is more to be known regarding the nature of his trip. Per The Explicator, “According to A Dictionary of the Underworld, "Nancy" refers either to the posterior or to "an effeminate man, especially a passive homosexual." "Nancy's Landing," then serves as Capote's code phrase for a gay resort...” The narrator’s lack of explanation for his journey is strongly suggestive of his homosexuality which plays into one of the underlying themes of BaT.

Though vehemently refusing to drink the hundred-year-old brandy with the narrator and Holly, Bell did call for a limousine to take Holly to the airport. Holly had the chauffer stop on a curb in Spanish Harlem where she stepped out of the limousine with the cat. She commences to have a one way conversation with the cat, seemingly trying to convince herself more than anyone, that this was the right place for him. She dropped him to the ground, and even after yelling and stomping her foot, he merely looked at her and rubbed against her leg. She jumped into the limousine only to go a block, and at a traffic light opened the door and ran back to attempt to find him. She realizes that they did belong to one another. Although Holly holds contempt for cages, the relationship with her cat is "symbolic of Holly's divided beliefs... (p.86, Garson)" She realizes that they did belong to one another, and illustrates how she longs to settle down and have a home. There is also a touch of irony in this situation; according to Garson her reason for ridding herself and the treatment of the cat "parallel Jose's treatment of Holly" (p86).

Unable to find the lost cat, the narrator promises Holly that he will find the cat and take care of him. She is not comforted by this, she instead “confesses her most private, deep-seated fear of what her life will always be: “Not knowing what’s yours until you’ve thrown it away. (p 86, Garson)”

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)

==Study Questions==
#What are the five items that Holly requests from her apartment?
#What does the narrator use to transport the cat?
#How is Holly transported to the airport?
#Who arranges the transportation to the airport for Holly?
#Where is the cat abandoned?
#What is Joe Bell's reaction to the news that Holly is leaving?
#Where is Holly planning to go?
#What does Holly ask the narrator to do after she goes back and cannot find her cat?

==External Resources==
*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

*Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. 22 Mar. 2006 [http://dictionary.reference.com/>Dictionary.com<].

==Works Cited==
*Garson, Helen S. '''Truman Capote'''. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., Inc., 1980.

*Capote, Truman. '''Breakfast at Tiffany's'''. New York: Vintage Books. 1993.

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

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 6

2006-03-23T03:05:19Z

Lkodra: /* Study Questions */

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 12

2006-03-23T03:01:02Z

Lkodra: /* Commentary */

==Summary==
Against both the narrator and Joe Bell's wishes, Holly decides to leave for Brazil. Holly waits at the bar while Joe Bell delivers her request to the narrator to gather her things, including her cat, and bring them to her. Though refusing to partake in a drink to Holly's departure, Bell arranges for a limousine to take Holly to the airport. On the way there, Holly drops the cat off on a street block in Spanish Harlem, and leaves him there. At a stop light a block away, she realizes that she wants to keep the cat, and runs back to look for him. Unable to find him, the narrator promises that he will find and take care of the cat. She gets back in the limousine and leaves for the airport to go to Brazil. At that point, she realizes that she and the cat belong to one another.

==Notes==
*'''Squall''' (104) - A brief sudden violent windstorm, often accompanied by rain or snow.

*'''Inclement''' (105) - severe, unrelenting; cruel

*'''Poignant''' (105) - Neat, skillful

*'''Lark''' (105) - A carefree or spirited adventure.

*'''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.

*'''Hope Chest''' (106)- A chest used by a young woman for clothing and household goods, such as linens and silver, in anticipation of marriage.

*'''Slap dash''' (107) - In a reckless haphazard manner; hasty and careless

*'''The fat woman''' (109) - Death

==Commentary==
Friday night, the day before departure, is described as ‘red,’ perhaps a parallel to the mean reds Holly must be feeling in anticipation of her journey to Brazil. Saturday itself, however, was under such a heavy rain it was questionable that a plane could take off. It is a fine forecast and foreshadowing of her grief to follow in this chapter.

Holly, against the wishes of the narrator and Joe Bell, continued to make her plans to leave. After being discharged from the hospital, she promptly went to a bank and then to Joe Bell’s bar. Bell himself delivered Holly’s message to the narrator, requesting that he gather the majority of her things (her jewelry, guitar, toothbrushes and stuff, bottle of hundred-year-old brandy, and the cat) from her apartment since it was under surveillance by police, reporters, and/or other interested parties, suggesting that perhaps they could be linked to Tomato.

On the way to Bell’s from the brownstone, the narrator reminisces about a time he walked nearly 500 miles from New Orleans to Nancy’s Landing, Mississippi, referencing it as a “light-hearted lark compared to the journey to Joe Bell’s bar” (p.105). We understand that the walk from the brownstone to the bar would be stressful; partly because the paper sacks he carried were falling apart and items were falling to the ground, but also because he feared being caught aiding an ‘outlaw.’ Comparing Nancy’s Landing to such a trying time suggests there is more to be known regarding the nature of his trip. Per The Explicator, “According to A Dictionary of the Underworld, "Nancy" refers either to the posterior or to "an effeminate man, especially a passive homosexual." "Nancy's Landing," then serves as Capote's code phrase for a gay resort...” The narrator’s lack of explanation for his journey is strongly suggestive of his homosexuality which plays into one of the underlying themes of BaT.

Though vehemently refusing to drink the hundred-year-old brandy with the narrator and Holly, Bell did call for a limousine to take Holly to the airport. Holly had the chauffer stop on a curb in Spanish Harlem where she stepped out of the limousine with the cat. She commences to have a one way conversation with the cat, seemingly trying to convince herself more than anyone, that this was the right place for him. She dropped him to the ground, and even after yelling and stomping her foot, he merely looked at her and rubbed against her leg. She jumped into the limousine only to go a block, and at a traffic light opened the door and ran back to attempt to find him. She realizes that they did belong to one another. Although Holly holds contempt for cages, the relationship with her cat is "symbolic of Holly's divided beliefs... (p.86, Garson)" She realizes that they did belong to one another, and illustrates how she longs to settle down and have a home. There is also a touch of irony in this situation; according to Garson her reason for ridding herself and the treatment of the cat "parallel Jose's treatment of Holly" (p86).

Unable to find the lost cat, the narrator promises Holly that he will find the cat and take care of him. She is not comforted by this, she instead “confesses her most private, deep-seated fear of what her life will always be: “Not knowing what’s yours until you’ve thrown it away. (p 86, Garson)”

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)

==Study Questions==
#What are the five items that Holly requests from her apartment?
#What does the narrator use to transport the cat?
#How is Holly transported to the airport? Who arranges the transportation?
#Where is the cat abandoned?
#What is Joe Bell's reaction to the news that Holly is leaving?
#Where is Holly planning to go?
#What does Holly ask the narrator to do after she goes back and cannot find her cat?

==External Resources==
*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

*Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. 22 Mar. 2006 [http://dictionary.reference.com/>Dictionary.com<].

==Works Cited==
*Garson, Helen S. '''Truman Capote'''. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., Inc., 1980.

*Capote, Truman. '''Breakfast at Tiffany's'''. New York: Vintage Books. 1993.

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

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 12

2006-03-23T02:44:33Z

Lkodra: /* Works Cited */

==Summary==
Against both the narrator and Joe Bell's wishes, Holly decides to leave for Brazil. Holly waits at the bar while Joe Bell delivers her request to the narrator to gather her things, including her cat, and bring them to her. Though refusing to partake in a drink to Holly's departure, Bell arranges for a limousine to take Holly to the airport. On the way there, Holly drops the cat off on a street block in Spanish Harlem, and leaves him there. At a stop light a block away, she realizes that she wants to keep the cat, and runs back to look for him. Unable to find him, the narrator promises that he will find and take care of the cat. She gets back in the limousine and leaves for the airport to go to Brazil. At that point, she realizes that she and the cat belong to one another.

==Notes==
*'''Squall''' (104) - A brief sudden violent windstorm, often accompanied by rain or snow.

*'''Inclement''' (105) - severe, unrelenting; cruel

*'''Poignant''' (105) - Neat, skillful

*'''Lark''' (105) - A carefree or spirited adventure.

*'''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.

*'''Hope Chest''' (106)- A chest used by a young woman for clothing and household goods, such as linens and silver, in anticipation of marriage.

*'''Slap dash''' (107) - In a reckless haphazard manner; hasty and careless

*'''The fat woman''' (109) - Death

==Commentary==
Friday night, the day before departure, is described as ‘red,’ perhaps a parallel to the mean reds Holly must be feeling in anticipation of her journey to Brazil. Saturday itself, however, was under such a heavy rain it was questionable that a plane could take off. It is a fine forecast and foreshadowing of her grief to follow in this chapter.

Holly, against the wishes of the narrator and Joe Bell, continued to make her plans to leave. After being discharged from the hospital, she promptly went to a bank and then to Joe Bell’s bar. Bell himself delivered Holly’s message to the narrator, requesting that he gather the majority of her things (her jewelry, guitar, toothbrushes and stuff, bottle of hundred-year-old brandy, and the cat) from her apartment since it was under surveillance by police, reporters, and/or other interested parties, suggesting that perhaps they could be linked to Tomato.

On the way to Bell’s from the brownstone, the narrator reminisces about a time he walked nearly 500 miles from New Orleans to Nancy’s Landing, Mississippi, referencing it as a “light-hearted lark compared to the journey to Joe Bell’s bar” (p.105). We understand that the walk from the brownstone to the bar would be stressful; partly because the paper sacks he carried were falling apart and items were falling to the ground, but also because he feared being caught aiding an ‘outlaw.’ Comparing Nancy’s Landing to such a trying time suggests there is more to be known regarding the nature of his trip. Per The Explicator, “According to A Dictionary of the Underworld, "Nancy" refers either to the posterior or to "an effeminate man, especially a passive homosexual." "Nancy's Landing," then serves as Capote's code phrase for a gay resort...” The narrator’s lack of explanation for his journey is strongly suggestive of his homosexuality which plays into one of the underlying themes of BaT.

Though vehemently refusing to drink the hundred-year-old brandy with the narrator and Holly, Bell did call for a limousine to take Holly to the airport. Holly had the chauffer stop on a curb in Spanish Harlem where she stepped out of the limousine with the cat. She commences to have a one way conversation with the cat, seemingly trying to convince herself more than anyone, that this was the right place for him. She dropped him to the ground, and even after yelling and stomping her foot, he merely looked at her and rubbed against her leg. She jumped into the limousine only to go a block, and at a traffic light opened the door and ran back to attempt to find him. She realizes that they did belong to one another. Although Holly holds contempt for cages, the relationship with her cat is "symbolic of Holly's divided beliefs... (p.86, Garson)" She realizes that they did belong to one another, and illustrates how she longs to settle down and have a home. There is also a touch of irony in this situation; according to Garson her reason for ridding herself and the treatment of the cat "parallel Jose's treatment of Holly" (p86).

Unable to find the lost cat, the narrator promises Holly that he will find the cat and take care of him. She is not comforted by this, she instead “confesses her most private, deep-seated fear of what her life will always be: “Not knowing what’s yours until you’ve thrown it away. (p 86, Garson)”

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 are the five items that Holly requests from her apartment?
#What does the narrator use to transport the cat?
#How is Holly transported to the airport? Who arranges the transportation?
#Where is the cat abandoned?
#What is Joe Bell's reaction to the news that Holly is leaving?
#Where is Holly planning to go?
#What does Holly ask the narrator to do after she goes back and cannot find her cat?

==External Resources==
*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

*Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. 22 Mar. 2006 [http://dictionary.reference.com/>Dictionary.com<].

==Works Cited==
*Garson, Helen S. '''Truman Capote'''. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., Inc., 1980.

*Capote, Truman. '''Breakfast at Tiffany's'''. New York: Vintage Books. 1993.

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

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 12

2006-03-23T02:39:13Z

Lkodra: /* Notes */

==Summary==
Against both the narrator and Joe Bell's wishes, Holly decides to leave for Brazil. Holly waits at the bar while Joe Bell delivers her request to the narrator to gather her things, including her cat, and bring them to her. Though refusing to partake in a drink to Holly's departure, Bell arranges for a limousine to take Holly to the airport. On the way there, Holly drops the cat off on a street block in Spanish Harlem, and leaves him there. At a stop light a block away, she realizes that she wants to keep the cat, and runs back to look for him. Unable to find him, the narrator promises that he will find and take care of the cat. She gets back in the limousine and leaves for the airport to go to Brazil. At that point, she realizes that she and the cat belong to one another.

==Notes==
*'''Squall''' (104) - A brief sudden violent windstorm, often accompanied by rain or snow.

*'''Inclement''' (105) - severe, unrelenting; cruel

*'''Poignant''' (105) - Neat, skillful

*'''Lark''' (105) - A carefree or spirited adventure.

*'''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.

*'''Hope Chest''' (106)- A chest used by a young woman for clothing and household goods, such as linens and silver, in anticipation of marriage.

*'''Slap dash''' (107) - In a reckless haphazard manner; hasty and careless

*'''The fat woman''' (109) - Death

==Commentary==
Friday night, the day before departure, is described as ‘red,’ perhaps a parallel to the mean reds Holly must be feeling in anticipation of her journey to Brazil. Saturday itself, however, was under such a heavy rain it was questionable that a plane could take off. It is a fine forecast and foreshadowing of her grief to follow in this chapter.

Holly, against the wishes of the narrator and Joe Bell, continued to make her plans to leave. After being discharged from the hospital, she promptly went to a bank and then to Joe Bell’s bar. Bell himself delivered Holly’s message to the narrator, requesting that he gather the majority of her things (her jewelry, guitar, toothbrushes and stuff, bottle of hundred-year-old brandy, and the cat) from her apartment since it was under surveillance by police, reporters, and/or other interested parties, suggesting that perhaps they could be linked to Tomato.

On the way to Bell’s from the brownstone, the narrator reminisces about a time he walked nearly 500 miles from New Orleans to Nancy’s Landing, Mississippi, referencing it as a “light-hearted lark compared to the journey to Joe Bell’s bar” (p.105). We understand that the walk from the brownstone to the bar would be stressful; partly because the paper sacks he carried were falling apart and items were falling to the ground, but also because he feared being caught aiding an ‘outlaw.’ Comparing Nancy’s Landing to such a trying time suggests there is more to be known regarding the nature of his trip. Per The Explicator, “According to A Dictionary of the Underworld, "Nancy" refers either to the posterior or to "an effeminate man, especially a passive homosexual." "Nancy's Landing," then serves as Capote's code phrase for a gay resort...” The narrator’s lack of explanation for his journey is strongly suggestive of his homosexuality which plays into one of the underlying themes of BaT.

Though vehemently refusing to drink the hundred-year-old brandy with the narrator and Holly, Bell did call for a limousine to take Holly to the airport. Holly had the chauffer stop on a curb in Spanish Harlem where she stepped out of the limousine with the cat. She commences to have a one way conversation with the cat, seemingly trying to convince herself more than anyone, that this was the right place for him. She dropped him to the ground, and even after yelling and stomping her foot, he merely looked at her and rubbed against her leg. She jumped into the limousine only to go a block, and at a traffic light opened the door and ran back to attempt to find him. She realizes that they did belong to one another. Although Holly holds contempt for cages, the relationship with her cat is "symbolic of Holly's divided beliefs... (p.86, Garson)" She realizes that they did belong to one another, and illustrates how she longs to settle down and have a home. There is also a touch of irony in this situation; according to Garson her reason for ridding herself and the treatment of the cat "parallel Jose's treatment of Holly" (p86).

Unable to find the lost cat, the narrator promises Holly that he will find the cat and take care of him. She is not comforted by this, she instead “confesses her most private, deep-seated fear of what her life will always be: “Not knowing what’s yours until you’ve thrown it away. (p 86, Garson)”

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 are the five items that Holly requests from her apartment?
#What does the narrator use to transport the cat?
#How is Holly transported to the airport? Who arranges the transportation?
#Where is the cat abandoned?
#What is Joe Bell's reaction to the news that Holly is leaving?
#Where is Holly planning to go?
#What does Holly ask the narrator to do after she goes back and cannot find her cat?

==External Resources==
*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

*Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. 22 Mar. 2006 [http://dictionary.reference.com/>Dictionary.com<].

==Works Cited==
*Garson, Helen S. '''Truman Capote'''. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., Inc., 1980.

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

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 6

2006-03-23T02:37:07Z

Lkodra: /* Notes */

Breakfast at Tiffany's

2006-03-21T23:51:59Z

Lkodra: /* Capote/Narrator */

Breakfast at Tiffany's

2006-03-21T23:47:59Z

Lkodra: /* Joe Bell */

Breakfast at Tiffany's

2006-03-21T23:44:17Z

Lkodra: /* Holly Golightly */