LitWiki - User contributions [en]

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 13

2006-03-21T17:09:03Z

Mjhill: /* Notes */

== Summary ==
[[Image:Section 13.jpg|thumb| Holly and the cat]]
The narrator notices the decreasing mention of Holly in the news and finds himself longing to be with her once again. He reads in the headlines of a newspaper about Sally Tomato's death and how Holly is believed to be in Rio. Holly's "abandoned possessions" are sold, and a man name Quaintance Smith moves into her old apartment. Mr. Quaintance entertains as many friends as Holly did, and Madame Spanella has no problem with him or his noisy friends. Madame Spanella evens comes to Mr. Quaintance's aid when he is bruised by one of his guest. Little is heard of from Holly, until the narrator receives a postcard in the spring. It appears she has met someone new and is looking for somewhere to live. Holly informs him that Brazil was too tough, but she has moved to Buenos Aires and she likes it. She explains how it is not Tiffany's but close. The new gentleman that she is interested in is a guy she calls $enor. He is married and has seven children. Holly believes that she is in love with him. The narrator is excited at the thought of hearing from Holly again. He wishes he had an address in which to write Holly to tell her, he read in the newspaper that the Trawlers are getting a divorce and they are moving out of the brownstone, and that he sold two of his stories. Most important, he wanted Holly to know that he found her cat.

== Notes ==
*'''Arican Hut''' (111) - A single story [http://www.cvmbs.colostate.edu/mip/leprosy/huts.jpg building] made up of natural materials usually wood, which is used for shelter or a house.
*'''Brazil''' (110) - The largest [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil country] in Eastern South America that was founded by the Portuguese in the 1500. [[Image:Brownstone.jpg|thumb|Brownstone Apartment]]

*'''Brownstone''' (110) - Perfers to old brick apartment where Holly once lived.

*'''Buenos Aires''' (110) - The largest [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buenos-Aires country] in Argentina. Located in the eastern part of the country on the Rio de la Plata. Was founded by the Spanish in 1536. Buenos Aires became the capital of Argentina in 1862.

*'''Countersue''' (110) - Means one party to sue a second party who is already suing the first party.

*'''Flanked''' (110) -Means to be beside someone or something.

*'''Gangland Victim''' (109) - A person who is exploited by underground, orgainized crime.

*'''Gossip-Column''' (109) - A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gossip_column gossip column] is a media feature about celebrities' private serects or rumors that has been spread about them.

*'''Mille Tendresse''' (110) - A term translated into English means, mille: thousand and tendresse: affection. Which close in the American speaking tongue to say lots of love.

*'''Rio''' (109) - Rio de Janeiro, a state and a city in Southeastern Brazil.

*'''Sing Sing''' (109) - A prison in New York.

*'''Spanish Harlem''' (110) - Area urbanized by the addition of brownstones and apartment buildings in the 1880's. Predominantly Hispanic, it is also referred to as East Harlem, found in New York City.

*'''Two bits''' (109) - [http://www.snopes.com/humor/jokes/quarters.asp quarter] Equal to one quarter.

*'''Quaintance Smith''' (110) - The man that moved into Holly's apartment after she moved out. "...a new tenant acquired the apartment, his name was Quaintance Smith, and he entertained as many gentlemen callers of a noisy nature as Holly ever had..." (Capote 110).

== Commentary ==
The last section of the novella focuses on the narrator's last regrets concerning Holly. The gossip in the paper dies down and he goes through the months of winter hoping to hear from her. In the time that has passed since she left, a man named Quaintance Smith has moved into her old apartment. He receives far better treatment from Madame Spanella that Holly did. He hosts parties and has the occasional black eye, for which Spanella aids him with "filet mignon" (110).

The novella ends with the narrator's hope that Holly has finally found a home, a venture in which her cat has been successful. He regrets most that he cannot reach Holly to tell her about the cat. He expresses that whether it be an "African hut or whatever," he hopes Holly "arrived somewhere [she] belonged" (111).

Holly jumps back into the car and tell the driver to drive off. The narrator is shock the wat Holly treated the cat. At the next stop Holly opens the door and runs back looking for the cat. It is to late the cat is gone and can't be found."Oh, Jesus God,"she says, " We did belong to each other"(109).

== Study Questions ==
#What is the name of the new tenant in Holly's old apartment?
#What happened to her belongings?
#What is the one thing he wishes to tell Holly the most?
#Who found Holly's cat?
#How did Sally Tomato die?
#What day did Sally Tomato die?
#What does the narrator promise Holly?
#Where did Sally Tomato die?
#Where did Holly write from?
#What does the narrator hope Holly will find?
#What is the name of Holly's new friend?
#How long did it take the narrator to find the cat?

== External Resources ==

*Cash, Matthew. [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bcash/criticalanalysis.html A Travelin' Through the Pastures of the Sky: A Critical Analysis of Breakfast at Tiffany's]. 1996.

== Works Cited ==

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

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

----
[[Breakfast at Tiffany's]]
----

----

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 13

2006-03-21T17:07:46Z

Mjhill: /* Notes */

== Summary ==
[[Image:Section 13.jpg|thumb| Holly and the cat]]
The narrator notices the decreasing mention of Holly in the news and finds himself longing to be with her once again. He reads in the headlines of a newspaper about Sally Tomato's death and how Holly is believed to be in Rio. Holly's "abandoned possessions" are sold, and a man name Quaintance Smith moves into her old apartment. Mr. Quaintance entertains as many friends as Holly did, and Madame Spanella has no problem with him or his noisy friends. Madame Spanella evens comes to Mr. Quaintance's aid when he is bruised by one of his guest. Little is heard of from Holly, until the narrator receives a postcard in the spring. It appears she has met someone new and is looking for somewhere to live. Holly informs him that Brazil was too tough, but she has moved to Buenos Aires and she likes it. She explains how it is not Tiffany's but close. The new gentleman that she is interested in is a guy she calls $enor. He is married and has seven children. Holly believes that she is in love with him. The narrator is excited at the thought of hearing from Holly again. He wishes he had an address in which to write Holly to tell her, he read in the newspaper that the Trawlers are getting a divorce and they are moving out of the brownstone, and that he sold two of his stories. Most important, he wanted Holly to know that he found her cat.

== Notes ==
*'''Arican Hut''' (111) - A single story [http://www.cvmbs.colostate.edu/mip/leprosy/huts.jpg building] made up of natural materials usually wood, which is used for shelter or a house.
*'''Brazil''' (110) - The largest [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil country] in Eastern South America that was founded by the Portuguese in the 1500.

*'''Brownstone''' (110) - Perfers to old brick apartment where Holly once lived..[[Image:Brownstone.jpg|thumb|Brownstone Apartment]]

*'''Buenos Aires''' (110) - The largest [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buenos-Aires country] in Argentina. Located in the eastern part of the country on the Rio de la Plata. Was founded by the Spanish in 1536. Buenos Aires became the capital of Argentina in 1862.

*'''Countersue''' (110) - Means one party to sue a second party who is already suing the first party.

*'''Flanked''' (110) -Means to be beside someone or something.

*'''Gangland Victim''' (109) - A person who is exploited by underground, orgainized crime.

*'''Gossip-Column''' (109) - A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gossip_column gossip column] is a media feature about celebrities' private serects or rumors that has been spread about them.

*'''Mille Tendresse''' (110) - A term translated into English means, mille: thousand and tendresse: affection. Which close in the American speaking tongue to say lots of love.

*'''Rio''' (109) - Rio de Janeiro, a state and a city in Southeastern Brazil.

*'''Sing Sing''' (109) - A prison in New York.

*'''Spanish Harlem''' (110) - Area urbanized by the addition of brownstones and apartment buildings in the 1880's. Predominantly Hispanic, it is also referred to as East Harlem, found in New York City.

*'''Two bits''' (109) - [http://www.snopes.com/humor/jokes/quarters.asp quarter] Equal to one quarter.

*'''Quaintance Smith''' (110) - The man that moved into Holly's apartment after she moved out. "...a new tenant acquired the apartment, his name was Quaintance Smith, and he entertained as many gentlemen callers of a noisy nature as Holly ever had..." (Capote 110).

== Commentary ==
The last section of the novella focuses on the narrator's last regrets concerning Holly. The gossip in the paper dies down and he goes through the months of winter hoping to hear from her. In the time that has passed since she left, a man named Quaintance Smith has moved into her old apartment. He receives far better treatment from Madame Spanella that Holly did. He hosts parties and has the occasional black eye, for which Spanella aids him with "filet mignon" (110).

The novella ends with the narrator's hope that Holly has finally found a home, a venture in which her cat has been successful. He regrets most that he cannot reach Holly to tell her about the cat. He expresses that whether it be an "African hut or whatever," he hopes Holly "arrived somewhere [she] belonged" (111).

Holly jumps back into the car and tell the driver to drive off. The narrator is shock the wat Holly treated the cat. At the next stop Holly opens the door and runs back looking for the cat. It is to late the cat is gone and can't be found."Oh, Jesus God,"she says, " We did belong to each other"(109).

== Study Questions ==
#What is the name of the new tenant in Holly's old apartment?
#What happened to her belongings?
#What is the one thing he wishes to tell Holly the most?
#Who found Holly's cat?
#How did Sally Tomato die?
#What day did Sally Tomato die?
#What does the narrator promise Holly?
#Where did Sally Tomato die?
#Where did Holly write from?
#What does the narrator hope Holly will find?
#What is the name of Holly's new friend?
#How long did it take the narrator to find the cat?

== External Resources ==

*Cash, Matthew. [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bcash/criticalanalysis.html A Travelin' Through the Pastures of the Sky: A Critical Analysis of Breakfast at Tiffany's]. 1996.

== Works Cited ==

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

----
[[Breakfast at Tiffany's]]
----

----

File:Brownstone.jpg

2006-03-21T17:02:37Z

Mjhill: Brownstone Apartment

Brownstone Apartment

Breakfast at Tiffany's

2006-03-21T16:21:54Z

Mjhill: /* Joy/Difficulty of Traveling */

==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===

===Holly Golightly===

===Joe Bell===

==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's===

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 Cat===

===The Bird Cage===

==Influences==

==Additional Resources==
*Capote, Truman. The Complete Stories of Truman Capote. New York: The Random House Publishing Group, 2004.

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

*Garsen, Helen S. Truman Capote. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Company, 1980.

*Goyen, William. "That Old Valentine Maker". New York Times Book Review November 1958:5,38.

==Works Cited==
*Capote, Truman. ''Breakfast at Tiffany's''. New York: Vintage Books - A division of Random House, 1993.

*Cash, Matthew. ''The Breakfast at Tiffany's Homepage''. 1996. University of Michigan. 14 March 2006. <www.personal.umich.edu/~bcash/criticalanalysis.html>

*Levine, Paul. ''Book Review of Breakfeast at Tiffany's/Levine''. The Georgia Review.3/(1959): 350-352

*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

2006-03-21T16:20:57Z

Mjhill: /* Tiffany's */

==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===

===Holly Golightly===

===Joe Bell===

==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. "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's===

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 Cat===

===The Bird Cage===

==Influences==

==Additional Resources==
*Capote, Truman. The Complete Stories of Truman Capote. New York: The Random House Publishing Group, 2004.

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

*Garsen, Helen S. Truman Capote. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Company, 1980.

*Goyen, William. "That Old Valentine Maker". New York Times Book Review November 1958:5,38.

==Works Cited==
*Capote, Truman. ''Breakfast at Tiffany's''. New York: Vintage Books - A division of Random House, 1993.

*Cash, Matthew. ''The Breakfast at Tiffany's Homepage''. 1996. University of Michigan. 14 March 2006. <www.personal.umich.edu/~bcash/criticalanalysis.html>

*Levine, Paul. ''Book Review of Breakfeast at Tiffany's/Levine''. The Georgia Review.3/(1959): 350-352

*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

2006-03-21T16:20:22Z

Mjhill: /* The "Mean Reds" */

==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===

===Holly Golightly===

===Joe Bell===

==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. "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's===

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:"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 Cat===

===The Bird Cage===

==Influences==

==Additional Resources==
*Capote, Truman. The Complete Stories of Truman Capote. New York: The Random House Publishing Group, 2004.

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

*Garsen, Helen S. Truman Capote. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Company, 1980.

*Goyen, William. "That Old Valentine Maker". New York Times Book Review November 1958:5,38.

==Works Cited==
*Capote, Truman. ''Breakfast at Tiffany's''. New York: Vintage Books - A division of Random House, 1993.

*Cash, Matthew. ''The Breakfast at Tiffany's Homepage''. 1996. University of Michigan. 14 March 2006. <www.personal.umich.edu/~bcash/criticalanalysis.html>

*Levine, Paul. ''Book Review of Breakfeast at Tiffany's/Levine''. The Georgia Review.3/(1959): 350-352

*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

2006-03-21T02:05:49Z

Mjhill: /* The "Mean Reds" */

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

==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===

===Holly Golightly===

===Joe Bell===

==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. "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's===

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:"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. 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. Holly takes the suggestion of Rusty Trawler and smokes marijuana and took an aspirin.

===The Fat Lady===

===The Cat===

===The Bird Cage===

==Influences==

==Additional Resources==
*Capote, Truman. The Complete Stories of Truman Capote. New York: The Random House Publishing Group, 2004.

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

*Garsen, Helen S. Truman Capote. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Company, 1980.

*Goyen, William. "That Old Valentine Maker". New York Times Book Review November 1958:5,38.

==Works Cited==
*Plimpton, George. ''Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances,and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career''. New York: Doubleday Dell Publishing Group. 1997.

*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>

*Levine, Paul. ''Book Review of Breakfeast at Tiffany's/Levine''. The Georgia Review.3/(1959): 350-352

*Pugh, Tison. ''Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's''. ''The Explicator''. 6/(2002): 51-53

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's

2006-03-21T01:55:26Z

Mjhill: /* Tiffany's */

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

==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===

===Holly Golightly===

===Joe Bell===

==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. "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's===

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:"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 Fat Lady===

===The Cat===

===The Bird Cage===

==Influences==

==Additional Resources==
*Capote, Truman. The Complete Stories of Truman Capote. New York: The Random House Publishing Group, 2004.

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

*Garsen, Helen S. Truman Capote. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Company, 1980.

*Goyen, William. "That Old Valentine Maker". New York Times Book Review November 1958:5,38.

==Works Cited==
*Plimpton, George. ''Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances,and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career''. New York: Doubleday Dell Publishing Group. 1997.

*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>

*Levine, Paul. ''Book Review of Breakfeast at Tiffany's/Levine''. The Georgia Review.3/(1959): 350-352

*Pugh, Tison. ''Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's''. ''The Explicator''. 6/(2002): 51-53

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's

2006-03-21T01:47:11Z

Mjhill: /* Joy/Difficulty of Traveling */

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

==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===

===Holly Golightly===

===Joe Bell===

==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. "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's===

Tiffany's is a jewelry store Holly feels is the best place for her to calm down and feel at home.She explains to the "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 Fat Lady===

===The Cat===

===The Bird Cage===

==Influences==

==Additional Resources==
*Capote, Truman. The Complete Stories of Truman Capote. New York: The Random House Publishing Group, 2004.

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

*Garsen, Helen S. Truman Capote. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Company, 1980.

*Goyen, William. "That Old Valentine Maker". New York Times Book Review November 1958:5,38.

==Works Cited==
*Plimpton, George. ''Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances,and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career''. New York: Doubleday Dell Publishing Group. 1997.

*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>

*Levine, Paul. ''Book Review of Breakfeast at Tiffany's/Levine''. The Georgia Review.3/(1959): 350-352

*Pugh, Tison. ''Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's''. ''The Explicator''. 6/(2002): 51-53

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's

2006-03-21T01:36:09Z

Mjhill: /* Tiffany's */

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

==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===

===Holly Golightly===

===Joe Bell===

==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. "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 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's===

Tiffany's is a jewelry store Holly feels is the best place for her to calm down and feel at home.She explains to the "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 Fat Lady===

===The Cat===

===The Bird Cage===

==Influences==

==Additional Resources==
*Capote, Truman. The Complete Stories of Truman Capote. New York: The Random House Publishing Group, 2004.

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

*Garsen, Helen S. Truman Capote. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Company, 1980.

*Goyen, William. "That Old Valentine Maker". New York Times Book Review November 1958:5,38.

==Works Cited==
*Plimpton, George. ''Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances,and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career''. New York: Doubleday Dell Publishing Group. 1997.

*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>

*Levine, Paul. ''Book Review of Breakfeast at Tiffany's/Levine''. The Georgia Review.3/(1959): 350-352

*Pugh, Tison. ''Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's''. ''The Explicator''. 6/(2002): 51-53

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's

2006-03-20T22:21:38Z

Mjhill: /* Joy/Difficulty of Traveling */

Breakfast at Tiffany's

2006-03-20T22:20:07Z

Mjhill: /* Joy/Difficulty of Traveling */

Comedy

2006-02-24T01:04:21Z

Mjhill: /* Works Cited */

Comedy is a term used to describe a play or performing art which generally ends in a happy ending. Webster's Dictionary Comedy describes a drama or any work with a happy ending.It distinguishes from a problematic, tragic, or serious and is also defined as any comic or ludicrous incident or series of incidents.(262)The term is comedy also includes exaggerated forms of comic entertainment called farce and burlesque.(700)
Its best form of work is described as humourous entertainment.(143)

Comedy developed from ancient Greek festivals in honor of Dionysus, the god of revelry. Greek comedy reached its highest development in the plays of Aristophanes.(700)

A

Comedy is a term that is defined in so many ways and credits it is easy to see why it is one of the more difficult terms to define. Abrams and Harpham state,in the most common literature application, a comedy is a fictional work in which the materials are selected and managed primarily in order to invest & amuse us(Abrams,Harpham 39). Beckson and Ganz suggest comedy is any literary work, but especially a play, less exalted and less serious than tragedy, commonly having a happy ending (Ganz,Beckson 43). Vincent de Beauvis describes comedy as a poem changing a sad beginning into a happy ending(Cuddon 148).

In today's sociey we see it in the farce variety of comedy. Farce is a type of comedy designed to provoke the viewer or audience to a simple hearty laughter or-"belly laughs"(Abrams,Harpham 40). One of the earliest forms of this type of comedy came during the Middle Ages Period, where works such as "Noah" and "The Second Shepherd's Play" were created by Wakefield Cycle. However, comedy has a come a long way from what it has been seen today. Greek comedy was from the beginning associated with fertility rites and the worship of Dionysus(Cuddon 148). Aristophanes, a Greek dramatist, created works such as: "Acharnians", "Knights", "Clouds", "Wasps", and "Birds"(Cuddon 148).

Comedy has many types of itself: farce, romantic, satiric, and comedy of manners. Romantic Comedy was developed by Elizabaethan dramatists represent a love affair that involves a beautiful & engaging heroine(Abrams,Harpham 39). Althought the course of this love does not run smoothly it overcoms all the difficulties to end in a happy union(Abrams,Harpham 39).
Satiric Comedy ridicules political plicies or philisophical doctines or else attacks devations from the accepted social order (Abrams,Harpham 39). They do this by making ridiculous violators of its standards of morals or manners(Abrams,Harpham 39). The early master of this was Aristophanes(Abrams,Harpham 39). Comedy of Manners orginated in he new comed of the Greek Menander & developed by Roman dramatists Platus & Terrence in the third & Vicissitudes of young lovers(Abrams,Harpham 39). This also included what became the stock characters of much later comedy, such as the clever servant, old & stodsy parents, and the wealthy rival(Abrams,Harpham 39).

== Works Cited ==

*Cuddon, J.A. "The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory Fourth Edition"
London: Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1998

*Abrams, M. H., Harpham Geoffrey Galt. "A Glossary of Literary Terms 8th Edition"
The Thomson Corporation. 2005

*Beckson Karl E., Ganz Arthur. "Literary Terms A Dictionary 3rd Edition"
Farrar, Straus and Giroux: New York, 1975.

[[Literary Terms]]

[[Category:Literary Terms]]

Comedy

2006-02-24T00:17:31Z

Mjhill: /* Works Cited */

Comedy

2006-02-24T00:16:31Z

Mjhill: /* Works Cited */

Comedy

2006-02-14T14:20:01Z

Mjhill: Comedic Humor

Comedy

2006-02-14T14:14:52Z

Mjhill: /* Some Views on Comedy */