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Roy Cohn

2006-04-28T04:54:57Z

Tsclark:

http://www.logoonline.com/sitewide/promoimages/a/angels_in_america/characters/roy/150x200.jpg http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAcohn.jpg

<blockquote>The character of Roy Cohn serves as vehicle for Kushner's most telling act of counterhistory. As a "Saint of the Right", Cohn represents a point of continuity between the anticommunism of the 1950's and the Republic ascendancy of the Reagan 1980s (Garner 5).</blockquote>

<blockquote>Kushner employs a quite different brand of humor with the character of Cohn, whose gleefully bitter corruption is both comic and frightening. Cohn is a rapacious predator who is first discovered in his command module juggling phone calls and wishing he had eight arms like an octopus. Roy's self-loathing is his most unsettling quality, vividly shown in his scathing denial of his homosexuality: "Like all labels they tell you one thing and one thing only: where does an individual so identified fit in the food chain,in the pecking order?" Cohn represents a kind of trickle-down morality in ''Angels in America''; he is a symbol of Kushner's notion that if there is corruption, hypocrisy, and bad faith at the top, it will ultimately seep down to each individual in the society (Layman 10).</blockquote>

<blockquote>Like an incipient cancer, Cohn's corruption, however destructive, is nonetheless insidious. It infiltrates and draws on the body's internal systems to spread, eventually overtaking and destroying the host--Cohn or the law.Although he corrupts the method by which judges decide cases (by sleeping with them and the like), he does not try to have cases decided any other way (Quinn 3).</blockquote>

<blockquote>Cohn's deviation from the jurisprudential norm is indeed like that of a cancer, ravenous in its hunger, growing and operating at a rate independent of the rest of the body of which it is a part, destined to overtake and kill the very body that sustains it. But the corrupt, diseased, tumorous nature of Cohn's lawyering also has important textual and thematic links with the physical infection and ensuing "corruption" of Cohn's flesh and blood with AIDS (Quinn).</blockquote>

==Commentary==
One of the main characters in ''Angels in America'', Roy Cohn, exhibits [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ hubris]. From the Greek, [[hubris]] is usually defined as excessive pride and often refers to a reckless disregard for the rights of another person resulting in some kind of social degradation for the victim.

Hubris is a common theme in Greek [[tragedy|tragedies]] and [[myth|mythology]], whose stories often featured characters displaying ''hubris'' and subsequently being punished for it. In Greek law, it most often refers to violent outrage wreaked by the powerful upon the weak. Cohn uses his position and "clout" to get ahead.

When confronted by his doctor, Henry, he explains his role as he saw it: "Now to someone who does not understand this, homosexual is what I am because I have sex with men . . . Homosexuals are not men that sleep with other men . . . Homosexuals...have zero clout...I have clout" (Kushner 51). From this perspective, Cohn not only dominates those around him, but he dominates the society in which he lives. He has the power to make and break the reputations of those around him.

Roy shows no compassion to anyone throughout the screenplay, even when he is on his death-bed. His cold-heartedness and manipulative ways help make him an easy target for hatred. However Roy was doing what he felt had to do in order to succeed, in order to accomplish his goals, in order to get what he wanted. It is for this reason that Roy Cohn is the most symbolic character in this play, for what he epitomizes - America, the capitalist land of the social cheeseburger.

http://www.hbo.com/films/angelsinamerica/img/photos/photo_roys_closer.jpg

Cohn might be compared to [[Oedipus Rex|Oedipus]]. Oedipus for example, feigns compassion and understanding with his people suffering from the plague in order to maintain his political position. When he is addressing the crowd, he makes his own suffering seem far greater than any other: "Well I know you are sick to death, all of you, but sick as you are, not one is sick as I. Your pain strikes each of you alone, each in the confines of himself, no other. But my spirit grieves for the city, for myself and all of you" (ll. 75-76). Oedipus believes that his triumphs exceed any of those made by his counter parts. This behavior is key to hubris; his arrogance allows him to believe that he is greater than any God.

Cohn has similar moments of superiority and feigned compassion. When discussing his clout, Cohn brags that he can reach the first lady in five minutes if necessary, showing his affluence and span of his reputation. Sometime after finding out that he has AIDS, Cohn goes to a bar to pick up a man with the intent of sex. This reckless behavior shows his disregard for others, putting his sexual needs above anyone else shows his selfish spirit. He had no regard for others, as long as he is able to use them.

As represented in all great Greek tragedies, hubris is the downfall of the character. As we read more about the progression of Cohn, we see how far his affluence takes him, allowing him to have access to ATZ during a clinical trial before anyone else. In the end, Cohn dies, cloutless and the same as everyone else.

http://www.hbo.com/films/angelsinamerica/img/photos/photo_roy_hospita.jpg

Cohn was chosen to be a part of this play because aided McCarthy during the anit-communist hysteria in the 50's and symbolizes power and selfishness. While aiding McCarthy in the Ethel Rosenberg trial, Cohn helped to secure the death penalty for this "little jewish [mama]" (Kushner 114). In the play, Roy states that he "fucking [hates] traitors" (Kushner 114), yet he disregards the law to make sure that Ethel Rosenberg dies. He uses her communist ties to justify his actions. He perceives her as a traitor, but he is the "Judas" of the play. In addition to speaking with contempt for her and other jews in the play, he is also derisive of homosexuals in spite of being one. He continues to declare that he is not a homosexual, but a "heterosexual man...who fucks around with guys" (Kushner 52). He was a contradictory man because although he was a "closet homo" he helped in the persecution of gays (Jacobus 1635).

==Study Questiones==
1. Why would Roy find it necessary to have Ethel Rosenburg killed? Could Roy have felt threatened by the loss of power acheived with Socialism?

2. Do you think Roy could have changed, even if he wanted to?

3. Do we feel justification when Roy dies painfully and disembarred? If yes, isn't that kind of a "Roy-esk" quality, if you will?

4. Do you think putting his career at risk is the only reason that Roy Cohn would not call himself a homosexual?

5. Why do you think it is so important for Roy to live a life that is exactly like the life his father lived?

6. Explain Roy's statement "I fucking hate traitors." Is there irony in this statement?

7. What other characters in the play who act as traitors?

8. How does Kushner use these Characters to demonstrate themes of betrayal, justice and redemption?

==External Resource==
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Cohn Roy Cohn]

*[http://galenet.galegroup.com.ezproxy.maconstate.edu/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=maco12153&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=1&ste=6&tab=1&tbst=arp&ai=U13021098&n=10&docNum=H1000019341&ST=Roy+Cohn&bConts=2191 Roy M. Cohn]

=Works Cited=
*Jacobus, Lee A., Ed. ''The Bedford Introduction to Drama.'' 3rd Ed. Boston: Bedford, 1997.

Louis Ironson

2006-04-28T04:45:00Z

Tsclark:

<blockquote>Though Kushner is critical of Louis, he in no way diminishes the gravity of what this character is forced to deal with. Louis has, after all, good reason for wanting to flee. His lover, Prior Walter, is diagnosed with AIDS and is enduring many critical and excruciating symptoms of the disease. When he confronts his lover on the floor of their bedroom, burning with fever and excreting blood, the full horror of this disease is conveyed in all its mercilessness and squalor. Louis's moral dilemma is compelling precisely because what he has to deal with is so overwhelming. Still, the playwright makes clear that all the talk of justice and politics will not free us from those terrifying, yet fundamental responsibilities that accompany human sickness and death (McNutty 3).</blockquote>

[[Image:Louis.jpg]]

<blockquote>Louis is determined to "maybe himself out of his unfortunate present reality.One of the more incendiary moments occurs at a coffee shop with Prior's ex-lover and closest friend, Belize. Louis launches instead into a de Tocqueville-esque diatribe: "There are no gods here, no ghosts and spirits in America, there are no angels in Americal, no spiritual past, no racial past, there's only the political, and the decoys and the ploys to maneuver around the inescapable battle of politics". Belize makes clear that he can see right through Louis's highbrow subterfuge: "Are you deliberately transforming yourself into an arrogant, sexual-political Stalinist-slash-racist flag-wavingh thug for my benefit" (McNutty 2,3).</blockquote>

<blockquote>Louis self-destructively yearns to be penetrated: "I want you to fuck me, hurt me, make me bleed" (Kruger 7).</blockquote> <blockquote> Later Joe encounters Louis, who is in desperate flight of fear from his longtime lover, Prior, who is suffering from the initial stages of full-blown AIDS. Racked with guilt at his faithlessness, the liberal Louis reflects on the era, which he sees as a metaphor for his cowardly behavior. He describes himself, and Joe, as "Children of the new morning, criminal minds. Selfish and greedy and loveless and blind. Reagan's children." Louis has a brutal, punishing sexual encounter with a stranger in Central Park. The stanger provocatively asks, "You been a bad boy? Louis can only sardonically reply, "Very bad. Very bad" (Layman 9).</blockquote>

==Commentary==

Louis is a frightened boy who runs from his problems and searches for answers and spends a great deal of time babbling about what he thinks he has found. Louis is quite wishy-washy and always full of guilt for changing. He is quite self-destructive and a glutton for punishment which is exemplified by his meeting in the park with Joe.

Louis is almost the antithesis of Roy Cohn. Louis always seems confused about what he wants, Roy knows without a doubt. Louis searches for a way to forget about his pain, Roy accepts pain and says that "life is pain". Louis is afraid, Roy says the Devil should be afraid of him. However, we must question Louis' moral character, just as we do Roy's, because Louis abandon's his loved ones in the greatest times of need - the difference between Roy and Louis' lack of morals is that Louis always let them get the better of him.

As the play progresses, we see Louis continuing to run from his problems. That is another way that Roy and Louis differ. Sometimes all it takes to realize what you have done wrong is a good ole fashion butt whoopin. Joe is the one who gives it to both Louis and Roy. In both instences, both of the beatees get their eyes opened up to what they were actually doing was wrong. Louis realized that he shouldnt leave someone he loves in a time of trouble and Roy realizes that trying to control every aspect of other peoples lives can be more hazardous to his health than "liver cancer".

http://agenda.liternet.ro/imagini04/angelsinamerica7.jpg

==Study Questions==
1. Why do you think it was so difficult for Louis to decide who he wanted to be with, Joe or Prior?

2. Do you think Louis' actions are justified when he leaves Prior after discovering the severity of Prior's illness?

3.Why does Louis asks Prior to take him back?

4.Is Prior's response justified? Why or Why not?

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 5

2006-04-28T04:08:29Z

Tsclark: /* Commentary */

== Summary ==
<blockquote>The protagonist begins working a nine to five job and, as a result, sees less of Holly Golightly. Capote first gave his character the name of Connie Gustafson, obviously inappropriate, he changed it to be more symbolic of her personality (Golightly was played by Audrey Hepburn in Hollywood's version of Breakfast at Tiffany's)(Cash 1).</blockquote> One day, he sees Holly walking into a library and lets his curiosity get the best of him. He observes her without her knowledge, and when she leaves he examines the books on her table. He discovers that she is reading up on Brazil. Watching her read, the narrator compares her to a girl he knew in school, Mildred Grossman. Although they were totally opposite fromm each other, the protagonist compares them to Siamese twins. The very thing that makes them so alike is that they are so different from anyone the narrator has ever met, and that "they would never change because they'd been given their character too soon" (58). One is intraverted and practical; the other is extraverted and impractical.

The narration shifts to a party on Christmas Eve in Holly's apartment. The narrator is asked to come over and help trim the Christmas tree. Holly gives the narrator an expensive, antique bird cage for Christmas; he gives Holly a St. Christopher's medal from Tiffany's. The cost of the bird cage is three hundred and fifty dollars. Holly does not seem bothered by the cost, she makes just a few extra trips to the powder room so she could afford the bird cage.

In February, Holly, Rusty, Mag, and José take a trip to the tropics. In Key West, Mag becomes severely sunburned, and Rusty is injured in a fight with some sailors. Both are hospitalized, so José and Holly travel to Havana. Mag becomes suspicious that José and Holly are sleeping together, so Holly tells Mag that she is a lesbian. Holly recounts these events as the protagonist gives her a back massage. Mag goes out and buys an army cot to sleep on so she will not have to share the bed with a lesbian. Holly informs the narrator that she has given O.J. Berman a copy of the narrator's story without his consent. Bernam publishes the story in the University Review. They become engaged in an argument, the protagonist is tempted to hit Holly, and Holly throws the narrator out of her apartment: "It should take you about four seconds to walk from here to the door. I'll give you two" (63).

== Notes ==
*'''hither''' (55) - to this place (seldom used except in poetry and legal papers).
*'''yonning''' (55) - distant but in sight. From [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yon yon].
*'''overhaul''' (58) - a major repair or [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/revision revision].
*'''Rockefeller Plaza''' (59) - A place where people gathered to celebrate the biggest, brightest Christmas tree of all. Celebrated since [http://wnbc.com/christmastree/1775354/detail.html=1933 1933].
*'''[http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/tinsel tinsel]''' (59) - a thread, strip, or sheet of metal, paper, or plastic used to produce a glittering and sparkling appearance in fabrics, yarns, or decorations.
*'''baubles''' (59) - Christmas ornaments that are decorations (usually made of glass, metal, wood or ceramics) that are used to [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/festoon festoon] a Christmas tree.
*[[Image:PW242.jpg|thumb|St. Christopher's Medal]]'''St. Christopher's medal''' (59) - a small medallion depicting the patron saint against [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saintS/pst00432.htm lightning]; against [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saintS/pst00555.htm pestilence]; [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saintS/pst00032.htm archers]; [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saintS/pst00050.htm automobile drivers]; [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saintS/pst00050.htm automobilists]; [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saintS/pst00051.htm bachelors], etc.
*'''Woolworth''' (59) - one of the first [http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Five+and+dime&curtab=2222_1&linktext=five-and-ten-cent%20stores five and dime] stores. Woolworth's is now known as Footlocker.
*'''"Wuthering Heights"''' - a novel published in 1847 by Emily Bronte. [http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/wuthering/context.html Heights] was not accepted by most at first, even by Bronte's sister, but is now regarded as a masterpeice.

==Commentary==
<blockquote>Self-deception is not one of Holly's failings, although she is an extraordinary liar. It doesn't trouble her to beguile others when it suits her purpose. She constructs a world around her to make things as pleasant as she can, inventing stories when the truth is too painful to discuss. Berman, who calls Holly a "phony", modifies it to "a ''real'' phony," because, he claims, "she believes all this crap she believes." The narrator doesn't think of Holly that way (Garson 82).</blockquote>

<blockquote>Since her moral code differs from that of society, Holly has no qualms about lying. To protect herself or to keep people from getting too close, or from knowing too much about her, she fabricates. She fictionalizes when reality is grim and threatens to bring on the "blues" (sadness), or the "mean reds" (fear/angst). Unwilling to share her memories of her early life. Holly invents a beautiful fantasy childhood for herself when the narrator tells her of his own unhappy boyhood.
Holly also lies when a situation is not to her liking. At the first party, when an acquaintance, Mag Wildwood, barges in and draws the attention of all the men, Holly retaliates by insinuating that Mag has a terrible disease. Another time, to keep Mag from learning that she has slept with Mag's lover, Jose, Holly breezily pretends she is a lesbian, partly to deceive Mag and partly for the humor of the deception (Garson 82, 83).</blockquote>

Holly's moral code and the fact that she is a real phony are exemplified in this section when she goes to the library and reads through books about Brazil and South America. Holly is trying to morph herself into a person from South America and this is our first clue that Holly is planning on going back to Brazil with Jose (whether Jose knows this or not is not presented to us). I believe this is what O.J. means by a "real phony". She is definitely not from Brazil, or even South America, but by the time she makes it there, she will be able to act like she has lived there all her life, as shown to us by the way she could change from a farm-raised girl to a Hollywood actress to a New York [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeloader freeloader]. But we must sympathize with Holly, for like Hassan points out, "even Holly's incorrigible tomcat finds at last a home with potted palms and lace curtains, a home and a name; but for Holly the narrator can only pray that she may be granted, sometime, somewhere, the same" (5-21).

Capote himself was a storyteller. Nance claims Holly's "brief presence in Capote's life was his own breakfast at Tiffany's, his taste of the idyll which always vanishes, leaving pain" (122-23).

==Study Questions==
# Why does Holly pretend to be a lesbian?
# What makes Holly an extraordinary liar?
# Why is Holly unwilling to share memories from her childhood?
# Is Mag Wildwood really a lesbian?
# Do the sailors beat up Rusty Trawler because he is a homosexual?
# Does the narrator believe Holly is a prostitute?
# Why does Holly surround herself with gay men?
# Why is Holly only able to show emotion when her sunglasses are off?
# Because the narrator makes numerous comments on Jose attributes, is he attracted to him?
# What is the significance of the birdcage or the St. Christopher's medal?
# Is Holly to be judged by her sexual exploits?

==Works Cited==
*Cash, Matthew. "[http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bcash/critiicalanalysis.html A-Travelin through the Pastures of the Sky]". 1996

*Garson, Helen S. "[http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=maco12153&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=30&ste=16&stab=512&tab=2&tbst=arp&ai=15706&n=10&docNum=H1420065645&ST=Truman+Capote&bConts=16047 Truman Capote: A Study on Short Fiction]".New York: Ungar, 1980.

*Hassan, Ihab H. "[http://galenet.galegroup.com.ezproxy.maconstate.edu/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=maco12153&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=19&ste=16&stab=512&tab=2&tbst=arp&ai=15706&n=10&docNum=H1420038513&ST=truman+capote&bConts=16047 Daydream and Nightmare of Narcissus]." Rev. of Truman Capote. Wisconsin Studies in Contemporary Literature 1.2 (1960): 5-21. 23 Mar. 2006
*Nance, William L. "[http://galenet.galegroup.com.ezproxy.maconstate.edu/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=maco12153&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=4&ste=16&stab=512&tab=2&tbst=arp&ai=15706&n=10&docNum=H1100000164&ST=truman+capote&bConts=16047 The Worlds of Truman Capote]". 1970
*Pugh, Tison. "[http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=maco12153&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=36&ste=16&stab=512&tab=2&tbst=arp&ai=15706&n=10&docNum=H1420065651&ST=Truman+Capote&bConts=16047 Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's]." Rev. of Breakfast At Tiffany's, by Truman Capote. Explicator 61.1: 51. 19 Mar. 2006 <http://www.explicator.com>.

*[Wikipedia.org/http://en.wikipedia.org]

[[Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 4|Section four]] | [[Breakfast at Tiffany's]] | [[Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 6|Section six]]

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 5

2006-04-28T04:05:07Z

Tsclark: /* Summary */

== Summary ==
<blockquote>The protagonist begins working a nine to five job and, as a result, sees less of Holly Golightly. Capote first gave his character the name of Connie Gustafson, obviously inappropriate, he changed it to be more symbolic of her personality (Golightly was played by Audrey Hepburn in Hollywood's version of Breakfast at Tiffany's)(Cash 1).</blockquote> One day, he sees Holly walking into a library and lets his curiosity get the best of him. He observes her without her knowledge, and when she leaves he examines the books on her table. He discovers that she is reading up on Brazil. Watching her read, the narrator compares her to a girl he knew in school, Mildred Grossman. Although they were totally opposite fromm each other, the protagonist compares them to Siamese twins. The very thing that makes them so alike is that they are so different from anyone the narrator has ever met, and that "they would never change because they'd been given their character too soon" (58). One is intraverted and practical; the other is extraverted and impractical.

The narration shifts to a party on Christmas Eve in Holly's apartment. The narrator is asked to come over and help trim the Christmas tree. Holly gives the narrator an expensive, antique bird cage for Christmas; he gives Holly a St. Christopher's medal from Tiffany's. The cost of the bird cage is three hundred and fifty dollars. Holly does not seem bothered by the cost, she makes just a few extra trips to the powder room so she could afford the bird cage.

In February, Holly, Rusty, Mag, and José take a trip to the tropics. In Key West, Mag becomes severely sunburned, and Rusty is injured in a fight with some sailors. Both are hospitalized, so José and Holly travel to Havana. Mag becomes suspicious that José and Holly are sleeping together, so Holly tells Mag that she is a lesbian. Holly recounts these events as the protagonist gives her a back massage. Mag goes out and buys an army cot to sleep on so she will not have to share the bed with a lesbian. Holly informs the narrator that she has given O.J. Berman a copy of the narrator's story without his consent. Bernam publishes the story in the University Review. They become engaged in an argument, the protagonist is tempted to hit Holly, and Holly throws the narrator out of her apartment: "It should take you about four seconds to walk from here to the door. I'll give you two" (63).

== Notes ==
*'''hither''' (55) - to this place (seldom used except in poetry and legal papers).
*'''yonning''' (55) - distant but in sight. From [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yon yon].
*'''overhaul''' (58) - a major repair or [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/revision revision].
*'''Rockefeller Plaza''' (59) - A place where people gathered to celebrate the biggest, brightest Christmas tree of all. Celebrated since [http://wnbc.com/christmastree/1775354/detail.html=1933 1933].
*'''[http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/tinsel tinsel]''' (59) - a thread, strip, or sheet of metal, paper, or plastic used to produce a glittering and sparkling appearance in fabrics, yarns, or decorations.
*'''baubles''' (59) - Christmas ornaments that are decorations (usually made of glass, metal, wood or ceramics) that are used to [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/festoon festoon] a Christmas tree.
*[[Image:PW242.jpg|thumb|St. Christopher's Medal]]'''St. Christopher's medal''' (59) - a small medallion depicting the patron saint against [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saintS/pst00432.htm lightning]; against [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saintS/pst00555.htm pestilence]; [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saintS/pst00032.htm archers]; [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saintS/pst00050.htm automobile drivers]; [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saintS/pst00050.htm automobilists]; [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saintS/pst00051.htm bachelors], etc.
*'''Woolworth''' (59) - one of the first [http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Five+and+dime&curtab=2222_1&linktext=five-and-ten-cent%20stores five and dime] stores. Woolworth's is now known as Footlocker.
*'''"Wuthering Heights"''' - a novel published in 1847 by Emily Bronte. [http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/wuthering/context.html Heights] was not accepted by most at first, even by Bronte's sister, but is now regarded as a masterpeice.

==Commentary==
Self-deception is not one of Holly's failings, although she is an extraordinary liar. It doesn't trouble her to beguile others when it suits her purpose. She constructs a world around her to make things as pleasant as she can, inventing stories when the truth is too painful to discuss. Berman, who calls Holly a "phony", modifies it to "a ''real'' phony," because, he claims, "she believes all this crap she believes." The narrator doesn't think of Holly that way (Garson 82).

Since her moral code differs from that of society, Holly has no qualms about lying. To protect herself or to keep people from getting too close, or from knowing too much about her, she fabricates. She fictionalizes when reality is grim and threatens to bring on the "blues" (sadness), or the "mean reds" (fear/angst). Unwilling to share her memories of her early life. Holly invents a beautiful fantasy childhood for herself when the narrator tells her of his own unhappy boyhood.
Holly also lies when a situation is not to her liking. At the first party, when an acquaintance, Mag Wildwood, barges in and draws the attention of all the men, Holly retaliates by insinuating that Mag has a terrible disease. Another time, to keep Mag from learning that she has slept with Mag's lover, Jose, Holly breezily pretends she is a lesbian, partly to deceive Mag and partly for the humor of the deception (Garson 82, 83).

Holly's moral code and the fact that she is a real phony are exemplified in this section when she goes to the library and reads through books about Brazil and South America. Holly is trying to morph herself into a person from South America and this is our first clue that Holly is planning on going back to Brazil with Jose (whether Jose knows this or not is not presented to us). I believe this is what O.J. means by a "real phony". She is definitely not from Brazil, or even South America, but by the time she makes it there, she will be able to act like she has lived there all her life, as shown to us by the way she could change from a farm-raised girl to a Hollywood actress to a New York [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeloader freeloader]. But we must sympathize with Holly, for like Hassan points out, "even Holly's incorrigible tomcat finds at last a home with potted palms and lace curtains, a home and a name; but for Holly the narrator can only pray that she may be granted, sometime, somewhere, the same" (5-21).

Capote himself was a storyteller. Nance claims Holly's "brief presence in Capote's life was his own breakfast at Tiffany's, his taste of the idyll which always vanishes, leaving pain" (122-23).

==Study Questions==
# Why does Holly pretend to be a lesbian?
# What makes Holly an extraordinary liar?
# Why is Holly unwilling to share memories from her childhood?
# Is Mag Wildwood really a lesbian?
# Do the sailors beat up Rusty Trawler because he is a homosexual?
# Does the narrator believe Holly is a prostitute?
# Why does Holly surround herself with gay men?
# Why is Holly only able to show emotion when her sunglasses are off?
# Because the narrator makes numerous comments on Jose attributes, is he attracted to him?
# What is the significance of the birdcage or the St. Christopher's medal?
# Is Holly to be judged by her sexual exploits?

==Works Cited==
*Cash, Matthew. "[http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bcash/critiicalanalysis.html A-Travelin through the Pastures of the Sky]". 1996

*Garson, Helen S. "[http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=maco12153&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=30&ste=16&stab=512&tab=2&tbst=arp&ai=15706&n=10&docNum=H1420065645&ST=Truman+Capote&bConts=16047 Truman Capote: A Study on Short Fiction]".New York: Ungar, 1980.

*Hassan, Ihab H. "[http://galenet.galegroup.com.ezproxy.maconstate.edu/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=maco12153&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=19&ste=16&stab=512&tab=2&tbst=arp&ai=15706&n=10&docNum=H1420038513&ST=truman+capote&bConts=16047 Daydream and Nightmare of Narcissus]." Rev. of Truman Capote. Wisconsin Studies in Contemporary Literature 1.2 (1960): 5-21. 23 Mar. 2006
*Nance, William L. "[http://galenet.galegroup.com.ezproxy.maconstate.edu/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=maco12153&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=4&ste=16&stab=512&tab=2&tbst=arp&ai=15706&n=10&docNum=H1100000164&ST=truman+capote&bConts=16047 The Worlds of Truman Capote]". 1970
*Pugh, Tison. "[http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=maco12153&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=36&ste=16&stab=512&tab=2&tbst=arp&ai=15706&n=10&docNum=H1420065651&ST=Truman+Capote&bConts=16047 Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's]." Rev. of Breakfast At Tiffany's, by Truman Capote. Explicator 61.1: 51. 19 Mar. 2006 <http://www.explicator.com>.

*[Wikipedia.org/http://en.wikipedia.org]

[[Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 4|Section four]] | [[Breakfast at Tiffany's]] | [[Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 6|Section six]]

[[Category:Literature]]

Angels in America

2006-04-19T03:29:47Z

Tsclark: /* Major Themes */

[[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==
[[Roy Cohn]]

[[Joseph Porter Pitt]]

[[Harper Amaty Pitt]]

[[Louis Ironson]]

[[Prior Walter]]

[[Hannah Porter Pitt]]

[[Belize]]

[[The Angel]]

[[Rabbi Isidor Chemelwitz]]

[[Mr. Lies]]

[[The Man in the Park]]

[[The Voice]]

[[Henry]]

[[Emily]]

[[Martin Heller]]

[[Sister Ella Chapter]]

[[Prior I]]

[[Prior II]]

[[The Eskimo]]

[[The Woman in the South Bronx]]

[[Ethel Rosenberg]]

==Major Themes==
''Angels in America'' is in many ways a play about conversion.The experience of HIV illness is often conceived as involving a conversion of the self, and Prior's discovery that he has AIDS is depicted in part as making him a new person: I'm a lessionnaire". The Angel's visitation to Prior takes the form of a mission of conversion:given a new identity, Prior is like Joseph Smith, to become Prophet of a new dispensation. Indeed, in the course of the play all its characters undergo startling shifts in identity. Hannah is not only physically transplanted to New York but becomes ''"noticeably different--she looks like a New Yorker''. Roy , who clings tenaciously to his professional status a a lawyer,is disbarred just before his death. Harper moves through a period of dysfunction to strike out on her own, choosing "the real San Francisco, on earth," with its "unspeakable beauty" (Kruger 4).

Kushner uses split scenes to make more explicit the contrapuntal relationship between these seemingly disconnected narrative worlds. Roy's meeting with Joe, to discuss the junior attorney's future as a "Roy-Boy" in Washington, occurs alongside the scene in which Louis is sodomized in the Central Park Rambles by a leather clad mama's boy.Louis's mini-symposium at the coffee shop is simultaneous with Prior's medical checkup at an outpatient clinic. Dreams,ghosts, and a flock of dithering, hermaphroditic angels are also used to break through the play's realistic structure, to conjoin seemingly disparate characters, and to reveal the poetic resonances and interconnectedness of everyday life (McNulty 4).

==Major Symbols==

==Influences==

==Study Questions==
#Many of the gay characters struggle with the question of how their sexuality should be, and several come out in different ways during the course of the play. Discuss the meaning of the ''closet'' — are closeted characters different from uncloseted ones? What implications does coming out have for self and community?
#"It's law not justice," Joe tells Louis during their final breakup. Discuss the themes of law and justice as they appear in the play. Is Joe correct that the two are separate entities? Or does the play encourage a more visionary potential of the law?
#Belize stands out as exceptionally compassionate and good, yet at times seems two-dimensional. Which view is correct? Is Belize a virtuous stereotype or a complex moral authority?
#What does the subtitle "A Gay Fantasia on National Themes" suggest? What national themes are evident in the plays? What is the relationship between "gay" and "national"?
#[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perestroika Perestroika] was the term for Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of political and economic reform in the Soviet Union. In what ways does the play represent the possibility of ''perestroika'' in America? Is this an appropriate title for part two?
#Choosing at least two examples ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethel_Rosenberg The Rosenberg Trial], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1906_earthquake The San Francisco Earthquake], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl Chernobyl], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reagan_administration The Reagan Administration]), analyze the role of history in the plays. Does Kushner more or less depict events as they happened? If not, what dramatic and thematic purposes does he serve by shading the facts?
#As a "fantasia," ''Angels in America'' is a major departure from prevailing theatrical realism, with detours into the religious and the supernatural — angels, ghosts, apparitions, and visions appear over and over. What effect do these fantastical elements have on the play as a whole? Go beyond a simple analysis of plot to consider the implications for characters, messages, and themes.

==Additional Resources==
[http://www.januarymagazine.com/artcult/angelsinam.html Larger Than Life] - A review of'' Angels in America'' by Tony Buchsbaum.

==Works Cited==

* Garner, Stanton B. ''"Angels in America: The Millennium and Postmodern Memory," in Approaching the Millenium, Essays on Angels in America,'' edited by Deborah R. Geis and Steven F. Kruger, University of Michigan Press, 1987: pp.173-84.

* Glenn, Lane A.. "Angels in America." ''Drama for Students''. Gale, 1999.

* Kruger, Steven F. ''"Identity and Conversion in Angels in America."in Approaching the Millennium: Essays on "Angels in America."'' edited by Deborah R. Geis and Steven F.Kruger, University of Michigan Press, 1997: pp. 151-69.

* Layman, Bruccoli Clark. ''"Tony Kushner,"in Dictionary of Literary Biography,'' Volume 228: Twentienth Century American Dramatists, Second Series. Edited by Christopher J. Wheatley.

* McNutty, Charles. ''"Angels in America: Tony Kushner's Theses on the Philosophy of History."'' Modern Drama 39,no.1 (Spring 1996): 84-96.

* Meisner, Natalie. ''Messing with the Idyllic: The Performance of Femininity in Kushner's Angels in America''. ''The Yale Journal of Criticism'' 16,no.1 (2003): 177-189.

* Quinn, John R. ''"Corpus Juris Tertium: Redemptive Jurisprudence in Angels in America."'' Theatre Journal 48,no.1 (March 1996): 79-90.

* Trilling, Lionel, et. al. ''Bloom’s Period Studies: Modern American Drama''. Chelsea House Publishers, 2005.

* Kushner, Tony. ''Angels in America''. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1995.

[[Category:Literature]]

Louis Ironson

2006-04-12T07:04:44Z

Tsclark:

Though Kushner is critical of Louis, he in no way diminishes the gravity of what this character is forced to deal with. Louis has, after all, good reason for wanting to flee. When he confronts his lover on the floor of their bedroom, burning with fever and excreting blood, the full horror of this disease is conveyed in all its mercilessness and squalor. Louis's moral dilemma is compelling precisely because what he has to deal with is so overwhelming. Still, the playwright makes clear that all the talk of justice and politics will not free us from those terrifying, yet fundamental responsibilities that accompany human sickness and death (McNutty 3).

Louis is determined to "maybe himself out of his unfortunate present reality.One of the more incendiary moments occurs at a coffee shop with Prior's ex-lover and closest friend, Belize. Louis launches instead into a de Tocqueville-esque diatribe: "There are no gods here, no ghosts and spirits in America, there are no angels in Americal, no spiritual past, no racial past, there's only the political, and the decoys and the ploys to maneuver around the inescapable battle of politics". Belize makes clear that he can see right through Louis's highbrow subterfuge: "Are you deliberately transforming yourself into an arrogant, sexual-political Stalinist-slash-racist flag-wavingh thug for my benefit" (McNutty 2,3).

Louis self-destructively yearns to be penetrated: "I want you to fuck me, hurt me, make me bleed" (Kruger 7). Later Joe encounters Louis, who is in desperate flight of fear from his longtime lover, Prior, who is suffering from the initial stages of full-blown AIDS. Racked with guilt at his faithlessness, the liberal Louis reflects on the era, which he sees as a metaphor for his cowardly behavior. He describes himself, and Joe, as "Children of the new morning, criminal minds. Selfish and greedy and loveless and blind. Reagan's children." Louis has a brutal, punishing sexual encounter with a stranger in Central Park. The stanger provocatively asks, "You been a bad boy? Louis can only sardonically reply, "Very bad. Very bad" (Layman 9).

Roy Cohn

2006-04-12T06:59:43Z

Tsclark:

The character of Roy Cohn serves as vehicle for Kushner's most telling act of counterhistory. As a "Saint of the Right", Cohn represents a point of continuity between the anticommunism of the 1950's and the Republic ascendancy of the Reagan 1980s (Garner 5).

Kushner employs a quite different brand of humor with the character of Cohn, whose gleefully bitter corruption is both comic and frightening. Cohn is a rapacious predator who is first discovered in his command module juggling phone calls and wishing he had eight arms like an octopus. Roy's self-loathing is his most unsettling quality, vividly shown in his scathing denial of his homosexuality: "Like all labels they tell you one thing and one thing only: where does an individual so identified fit in the food chain,in the pecking order? Cohn represents a kind of trickle-down morality in ''Angels in America''; he is a symbol of Kushner's notion that if there is corruption, hypocrisy, and bad faith at the top, it will ultimately seep down to each individual in the society (Layman 10).

Like an incipient cancer, Cohn's corruption, however destructive, is nonetheless insidious. It infiltrates and draws on the body's internal systems to spread, eventually overtaking and destroying the host--Cohn or the law.Although he corrupts the method by which judges decide cases (by sleeping with them and the like), he does not try to have cases decided any other way (Quinn 3).

Cohn's deviation from the jurisprudential norm is indeed like that of a cancer, ravenous in its hunger, growing and operating at a rate independent of the rest of the body of which it is a part, destined to overtake and kill the very body that sustains it. But the corrupt, diseased, tumorous nature of Cohn's lawyering also has important textual and thematic links with the physical infection and ensuing "corruption" of Cohn's flesh and blood with AIDS (Quinn).

Angels in America

2006-04-12T06:55:24Z

Tsclark: /* Works Cited */

Roy Cohn

2006-04-12T06:29:32Z

Tsclark:

The character of Roy Cohn serves as vehicle for Kushner's most telling act of counterhistory. As a "Saint of the Right", Cohn represents a point of continuity between the anticommunism of the 1950's and the Republic ascendancy of the Reagan 1980s (Garner 5).

Kushner employs a quite different brand of humor with the character of Cohn, whose gleefully bitter corruption is both comic and frightening. Cohn is a rapacious predator who is first discovered in his command module juggling phone calls and wishing he had eight arms like an octopus. Roy's self-loathing is his most unsettling quality, vividly shown in his scathing denial of his homosexuality: "Like all labels they tell you one thing and one thing only: where does an individual so identified fit in the food chain,in the pecking order? Cohn represents a kind of trickle-down morality in ''Angels in America''; he is a symbol of Kushner's notion that if there is corruption, hypocrisy, and bad faith at the top, it will ultimately seep down to each individual in the society (Wheatley 10).

Like an incipient cancer, Cohn's corruption, however destructive, is nonetheless insidious. It infiltrates and draws on the body's internal systems to spread, eventually overtaking and destroying the host--Cohn or the law.Although he corrupts the method by which judges decide cases (by sleeping with them and the like), he does not try to have cases decided any other way (Quinn 3).

Cohn's deviation from the jurisprudential norm is indeed like that of a cancer, ravenous in its hunger, growing and operating at a rate independent of the rest of the body of which it is a part, destined to overtake and kill the very body that sustains it. But the corrupt, diseased, tumorous nature of Cohn's lawyering also has important textual and thematic links with the physical infection and ensuing "corruption" of Cohn's flesh and blood with AIDS (Quinn).

Louis Ironson

2006-04-12T06:25:04Z

Tsclark:

Roy Cohn

2006-04-12T05:49:14Z

Tsclark:

The character of Roy Cohn serves as vehicle for Kushner's most telling act of counterhistory. As a "Saint of the Right", Cohn represents a point of continuity between the anticommunism of the 1950's and the Republic ascendancy of the Reagan 1980s (Garner 5).

Kushner employs a quite different brand of humor with the character of Cohn, whose gleefully bitter corruption is both comic and frightening. Cohn is a rapacious predator who is first discovered in his command module juggling phone calls and wishing he had eight arms like an octopus. Roy's self-loathing is his most unsettling quality, vividly shown in his scathing denial of his homosexuality: "Like all labels they tell you one thing and one thing only: where does an individual so identified fit in the food chain,in the pecking order? Cohn represents a kind of trickle-down morality in Angels in America; he is a symbol of Kushner's notion that if there is corruption, hypocrisy, and bad faith at the top, it will ultimately seep down to each individual in the society (Wheatley 10).

Like an incipient cancer, Cohn's corruption, however destructive, is nonetheless insidious. It infiltrates and draws on the body's internal systems to spread, eventually overtaking and destroying the host--Cohn or the law.Although he corrupts the method by which judges decide cases (by sleeping with them and the like), he does not try to have cases decided any other way (Quinn 3).

Cohn's deviation from the jurisprudential norm is indeed like that of a cancer, ravenous in its hunger, growing and operating at a rate independent of the rest of the body of which it is a part, destined to overtake and kill the very body that sustains it. But the corrupt, diseased, tumorous nature of Cohn's lawyering also has important textual and thematic links with the physical infection and ensuing "corruption" of Cohn's flesh and blood with AIDS (Quinn).

Tony Kushner

2006-04-01T18:14:40Z

Tsclark: /* Works Cited */

[[Image:TonyKushner.jpg|thumb|Tony Kushner]]
==Major Works==
==Plays==

* ''Yes, Yes, NO, No'', published in ''Plays in Process'', 1987.

* ''Stella'', produced in New York, NY, 1987.

* ''A Bright Room Called Day'', (produced in San Francisco, CA, 1987).

* ''Hydriotaphia'', produced in New York, NY, 1987.

* ''The Illusion'' (adapted from Pierre Corneille's play L'Illusion comique, produced in New York, NY, 1988.

* ''Widows'' (with Ariel Dorfman), produced in Los Angeles, CA, 1991.

* ''Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes'', Part One: ''Millennium Approaches''(produced in San Francisco,
1991),Hern, 1992, Part Two: Perestroika,produced in New York,NY, 1992).

* ''A Bright Room Called Day'', Theatre Communications Group (New York, NY), 1994.

* Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes (includes both parts; produced as two-part television film on Home
Box Office, 2003), Theatre Communications Group (New York, NY), 1995.

* ''Henry Box Brown, or the Mirror of Slavery'', performed at Royal National Theatre,London, 1998.

==Biography==
Tony Kushner was born in Manhattan on July 16, 1956, the son of William and Sylvia Kushner, both classically trained musians who encouraged his budding interests in the arts and literature.Kushner spent most of his childhood in Lake Charles, Louisiana. His mother, an amateur actress, performed in local plays, and Kushner became entranced by the emotional power of the theater and the arts in general. Kushner moved to New York in 1974 to begin his undergraduate college education at Columbia University, where he completed a B.A. in English literature in 1978. While in college, he also immersed himself in the New York theater scene. Though aware of his sexual preference from an early age, Kushner attempted to overcome his homosexuality through psychotherapy. He eventually came to terms with his sexual orientation and opened his writing to homosexual themes.Following the completion of his degree at Columbia, Kushner worked as a switchboard operator at the United Nations Plaza Hotel from 1979 to 1985, during which time he also enrolled at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University.
Trained as a director under the guidance of Bertolt Brecht specialist Carl Weber, Kushner wrote plays and directed them with his fellow students prior to completing his M.F.A. in directing in 1984. Some of these plays were also staged by the Imaginary Theatre Company at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis where Kushner worked as an assistant director (Wheatley 1).

Kushner came of age in an era of major changes in the American cultural landscape. Having come to terms in his late teens with his homosexuality, following some abortive efforts to find a "cure" for his sexual orientation, Kushner became inspired,in part, bu the writers and artists emerging from the Stonewall generation and after. He was especially drawn to such organizations as ACT UP and Queer Nation, whose chant, "We're here, we're queer, we're fabulous," pervades his two ''Angels in Americal'' plays.As a gay man, Kushner also acknowledges some debt to gay dramatists Larry Kramer and Harvey Fierstein, but more directly significant to his developement as a dramatist is his deep admiration for Tennessee Williams, the American dramatist who brought sexuality out of the theatrical closet. It is of central significance that Kushner identifies himself as a gay dramatist (Wheatley 2).

==Awards==
''Angels in America, Millennium Approaches'', won the Pulitzer Prize for drama, the Antoinette Perry (Tony) Award for Best Play,and the New York Drama Critics Award for best play. Kushner won another Tony Award for best play in 1994 for the second part of Angels in Americal, Perestroika.

==Timeline==
1985 to 1986: Assistant Director of the St. Louis Repertory Theatre.

1987 to 1988: Artistic Director of the New York Theatre Workshop.

1989: Director of Literary Services for the Theatre Communications Group.

==Additional Reading about the Author==

==Works Cited==

Wheatley, Christopher J. ''"Tony Kushner," in Dictionary of Literary Biography,Volume 228: Twentieth-Century American Dramatists, Second Series.'' A Bruccoli Clark Layman Book.

[[Category:Literature]]

Tony Kushner

2006-04-01T18:11:10Z

Tsclark: /* Timeline */

Tony Kushner

2006-04-01T18:07:46Z

Tsclark: /* Biography */

[[Image:TonyKushner.jpg|thumb|Tony Kushner]]
==Major Works==
==Plays==

* ''Yes, Yes, NO, No'', published in ''Plays in Process'', 1987.

* ''Stella'', produced in New York, NY, 1987.

* ''A Bright Room Called Day'', (produced in San Francisco, CA, 1987).

* ''Hydriotaphia'', produced in New York, NY, 1987.

* ''The Illusion'' (adapted from Pierre Corneille's play L'Illusion comique, produced in New York, NY, 1988.

* ''Widows'' (with Ariel Dorfman), produced in Los Angeles, CA, 1991.

* ''Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes'', Part One: ''Millennium Approaches''(produced in San Francisco,
1991),Hern, 1992, Part Two: Perestroika,produced in New York,NY, 1992).

* ''A Bright Room Called Day'', Theatre Communications Group (New York, NY), 1994.

* Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes (includes both parts; produced as two-part television film on Home
Box Office, 2003), Theatre Communications Group (New York, NY), 1995.

* ''Henry Box Brown, or the Mirror of Slavery'', performed at Royal National Theatre,London, 1998.

==Biography==
Tony Kushner was born in Manhattan on July 16, 1956, the son of William and Sylvia Kushner, both classically trained musians who encouraged his budding interests in the arts and literature.Kushner spent most of his childhood in Lake Charles, Louisiana. His mother, an amateur actress, performed in local plays, and Kushner became entranced by the emotional power of the theater and the arts in general. Kushner moved to New York in 1974 to begin his undergraduate college education at Columbia University, where he completed a B.A. in English literature in 1978. While in college, he also immersed himself in the New York theater scene. Though aware of his sexual preference from an early age, Kushner attempted to overcome his homosexuality through psychotherapy. He eventually came to terms with his sexual orientation and opened his writing to homosexual themes.Following the completion of his degree at Columbia, Kushner worked as a switchboard operator at the United Nations Plaza Hotel from 1979 to 1985, during which time he also enrolled at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University.
Trained as a director under the guidance of Bertolt Brecht specialist Carl Weber, Kushner wrote plays and directed them with his fellow students prior to completing his M.F.A. in directing in 1984. Some of these plays were also staged by the Imaginary Theatre Company at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis where Kushner worked as an assistant director (Wheatley 1).

Kushner came of age in an era of major changes in the American cultural landscape. Having come to terms in his late teens with his homosexuality, following some abortive efforts to find a "cure" for his sexual orientation, Kushner became inspired,in part, bu the writers and artists emerging from the Stonewall generation and after. He was especially drawn to such organizations as ACT UP and Queer Nation, whose chant, "We're here, we're queer, we're fabulous," pervades his two ''Angels in Americal'' plays.As a gay man, Kushner also acknowledges some debt to gay dramatists Larry Kramer and Harvey Fierstein, but more directly significant to his developement as a dramatist is his deep admiration for Tennessee Williams, the American dramatist who brought sexuality out of the theatrical closet. It is of central significance that Kushner identifies himself as a gay dramatist (Wheatley 2).

==Awards==
''Angels in America, Millennium Approaches'', won the Pulitzer Prize for drama, the Antoinette Perry (Tony) Award for Best Play,and the New York Drama Critics Award for best play. Kushner won another Tony Award for best play in 1994 for the second part of Angels in Americal, Perestroika.

==Timeline==

==Additional Reading about the Author==

==Works Cited==

[[Category:Literature]]

Tony Kushner

2006-04-01T17:54:21Z

Tsclark: /* Biography */

Tony Kushner

2006-04-01T17:48:19Z

Tsclark: /* Awards */

Tony Kushner

2006-04-01T17:43:31Z

Tsclark: /* Biography */

Tony Kushner

2006-04-01T17:31:48Z

Tsclark: /* Major Works */

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 11

2006-03-22T01:53:36Z

Tsclark: /* External Sources */

==Summary==
José abandons Holly when her name appears in the paper as a playgirl linked with the drug ring headed by Sally Tomato. The unnamed narrator takes Josés letter to Holly, who is in the hospital, having lost her baby in a scuffle with the police. When Holly sees the letter, a visible change comes over her. She seems to age and harden. She asks the narrator for her cosmetics, because "A girl doesn't read this sort of thing without her lipstick." Holly applies lipstick and rouge, eyeliner and eyeshadow, puts on pearls and dark glasses, sprays herself with perfume and lights a cigarette, readying her protective coating for what she expects to see in the letter (Garson 84).

==Notes==
*'''4711''' (99) - A unisex cologne introduced in 1772 by [http://www.fragrancenet.com/f/net/mf_items.html?cat=00009&cur_letter=4&gs_gen=U=Muelhens Muelhens] . It contains citrus oils (lemon and orange), light floral rose and sandalwood oil.

*'''crise''' (100) - French for "crisis"

*'''la merde''' (100) - French for "shit"

*'''schluffen''' (101) - A German word meaning "sleep"

*'''Et pourquoi pas''' (101) - French for "and why not"

*'''bouche fermez''' (102) - French for "close your mouth"

*'''twat''' (103) - Is a vulgar expression originally used to refer to the female genitalia.

*'''Purple Heart''' (103) - Is a U.S. military decoration awarded in the name of the President of the United States to those who have been wounded or killed while serving in, or with the U.S. military after April 5, 1917.

*'''Maude''' (103) - In homosexual slang, "maude" signifies a male prostitute or a male homosexual.

==Commentary==
While she is recovering in the hospital, the narrator goes to Holly's apartment and discovers Josés cousin packing his things. The man leaves with Josés possessions giving the narrator only a letter, from Jose to Holly. Holly is displayed on the front page of every newspaper. "PLAYGIRL ARRESTED IN NARCOTICS SCANDAL" was just one of the headlines. This was too much for Jose, whose entire life was more dedicated to his public career than to having a wife and family. He fled for Brazil saying in his letter to Holly, "But conceive of my despair upon discovering in such a brutal and public style how very different you are from the manner of woman a man of my faith and career could hope to make his wife. Verily I grief for the disgrace of your present circumstance, and do not find it in my heart to add condemn to the condemn that surrounds you" (Cash 1) .

Second, when Holly tells the narrator that she will not testify against Sally Tomato, she calls the narrator a name laden with queer meaning:" Well, I may be rotten to the core, Maude, but: testify against a friend I will not." In homosexual slang, "maude signifies a male prostitute or a male homosexual.The narrator himself makes a veiled reference to his homosexuality when he compares his rain-soaked trip from Holly's apartment to Joe Bell's bar to another difficult journey he had made years ago: "Never mind why, but once I walked from New Orleans to Nancy's Landing, Mississippi, just under five hundred miles. Nancy's Landing is Capote's creation; it does not exist geographically. 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 homosexual. Thus, the narrator's coy rejoinder that the reader should "never mind why" he made the trip appears as a subtle move to direct attention away from his self-confession (Pugh 1).

Holly labels José "a rat" like all the others, although she finally agrees bitterly with the narrator that José's reasons for giving her up, his religion and his career, are valid for the type of man he is. Holly then decides to flee the country, using the ticket for Brazil that José had brought her. For a time it seemed that Holly had found her dream, her "place where me and things belong together." Her relationship with José might have been like her vision of Tiffany's, with "quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there" (Garson 84, 85).

In his book, ''Truman Capote'', Kenneth Reed states that ''Breakfast at Tiffany's'', shares with most of Capote's other fiction a concern for people who are liberated from the more commonplace moorings of social and cultural life, and who are scarcely concerned with such things as family relationships and middle class notions of respectability.For example, when the narrator warns Holly that if she jumps bail, she will never again be able to come home, it impresses her not at all (Reed 92).

''Breakfast at Tiffany's'' is a showcase for Holly Golightly. O.J. Berman introduced her as a "real phony" who honestly "believes all this crap she believes," and the remainder of the story is a gradual exposition of the content of this belief. All her life she has known deprivation and death and fought a desparate battle against fear.It is, finally, the awareness of death that keeps her from feeling at home anywhere and impels her on a constant search for something better (Nance 1).

==Study Questions==
# If José was so concerned with his career, why would he get involved with someone like Holly?
# Why does Holly call the narrator a maude?
# Did José know that Holly was pregnant with his child?
# Was Holly a prostitute?
# Did the narrator love Holly?

=External Sources=
[http://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_Heart]
[http;//en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/twat]

==Works Cited==
*Cash, Mathew. ''[http://www.personal.umich.edu/~bcash/criticalanalysis A Travelin' Through the Pastures of the Sky: A Critical Analysis of Breakfast at Tiffany's].'' 1996.
*Garson, Helen S. ''Truman Capote''. New York: Ungar, 1980: 84-85.
*Nance, Willian L. ''The World's of Truman Capote''. New York: Stein and Day, 1970.
*Pugh, Tison. ''"Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's."'' The Explicator 6.1 (Fall 2002): 51-53.
*Reed, Kenneth T. ''Truman Capote''. Miami University (Ohio): Twayne, 1981.

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 11

2006-03-22T01:49:16Z

Tsclark: /* Works Cited */

==Summary==
José abandons Holly when her name appears in the paper as a playgirl linked with the drug ring headed by Sally Tomato. The unnamed narrator takes Josés letter to Holly, who is in the hospital, having lost her baby in a scuffle with the police. When Holly sees the letter, a visible change comes over her. She seems to age and harden. She asks the narrator for her cosmetics, because "A girl doesn't read this sort of thing without her lipstick." Holly applies lipstick and rouge, eyeliner and eyeshadow, puts on pearls and dark glasses, sprays herself with perfume and lights a cigarette, readying her protective coating for what she expects to see in the letter (Garson 84).

==Notes==
*'''4711''' (99) - A unisex cologne introduced in 1772 by [http://www.fragrancenet.com/f/net/mf_items.html?cat=00009&cur_letter=4&gs_gen=U=Muelhens Muelhens] . It contains citrus oils (lemon and orange), light floral rose and sandalwood oil.

*'''crise''' (100) - French for "crisis"

*'''la merde''' (100) - French for "shit"

*'''schluffen''' (101) - A German word meaning "sleep"

*'''Et pourquoi pas''' (101) - French for "and why not"

*'''bouche fermez''' (102) - French for "close your mouth"

*'''twat''' (103) - Is a vulgar expression originally used to refer to the female genitalia.

*'''Purple Heart''' (103) - Is a U.S. military decoration awarded in the name of the President of the United States to those who have been wounded or killed while serving in, or with the U.S. military after April 5, 1917.

*'''Maude''' (103) - In homosexual slang, "maude" signifies a male prostitute or a male homosexual.

==Commentary==
While she is recovering in the hospital, the narrator goes to Holly's apartment and discovers Josés cousin packing his things. The man leaves with Josés possessions giving the narrator only a letter, from Jose to Holly. Holly is displayed on the front page of every newspaper. "PLAYGIRL ARRESTED IN NARCOTICS SCANDAL" was just one of the headlines. This was too much for Jose, whose entire life was more dedicated to his public career than to having a wife and family. He fled for Brazil saying in his letter to Holly, "But conceive of my despair upon discovering in such a brutal and public style how very different you are from the manner of woman a man of my faith and career could hope to make his wife. Verily I grief for the disgrace of your present circumstance, and do not find it in my heart to add condemn to the condemn that surrounds you" (Cash 1) .

Second, when Holly tells the narrator that she will not testify against Sally Tomato, she calls the narrator a name laden with queer meaning:" Well, I may be rotten to the core, Maude, but: testify against a friend I will not." In homosexual slang, "maude signifies a male prostitute or a male homosexual.The narrator himself makes a veiled reference to his homosexuality when he compares his rain-soaked trip from Holly's apartment to Joe Bell's bar to another difficult journey he had made years ago: "Never mind why, but once I walked from New Orleans to Nancy's Landing, Mississippi, just under five hundred miles. Nancy's Landing is Capote's creation; it does not exist geographically. 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 homosexual. Thus, the narrator's coy rejoinder that the reader should "never mind why" he made the trip appears as a subtle move to direct attention away from his self-confession (Pugh 1).

Holly labels José "a rat" like all the others, although she finally agrees bitterly with the narrator that José's reasons for giving her up, his religion and his career, are valid for the type of man he is. Holly then decides to flee the country, using the ticket for Brazil that José had brought her. For a time it seemed that Holly had found her dream, her "place where me and things belong together." Her relationship with José might have been like her vision of Tiffany's, with "quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there" (Garson 84, 85).

In his book, ''Truman Capote'', Kenneth Reed states that ''Breakfast at Tiffany's'', shares with most of Capote's other fiction a concern for people who are liberated from the more commonplace moorings of social and cultural life, and who are scarcely concerned with such things as family relationships and middle class notions of respectability.For example, when the narrator warns Holly that if she jumps bail, she will never again be able to come home, it impresses her not at all (Reed 92).

''Breakfast at Tiffany's'' is a showcase for Holly Golightly. O.J. Berman introduced her as a "real phony" who honestly "believes all this crap she believes," and the remainder of the story is a gradual exposition of the content of this belief. All her life she has known deprivation and death and fought a desparate battle against fear.It is, finally, the awareness of death that keeps her from feeling at home anywhere and impels her on a constant search for something better (Nance 1).

==Study Questions==
# If José was so concerned with his career, why would he get involved with someone like Holly?
# Why does Holly call the narrator a maude?
# Did José know that Holly was pregnant with his child?
# Was Holly a prostitute?
# Did the narrator love Holly?

==External Sources==

==Works Cited==
*Cash, Mathew. ''[http://www.personal.umich.edu/~bcash/criticalanalysis A Travelin' Through the Pastures of the Sky: A Critical Analysis of Breakfast at Tiffany's].'' 1996.
*Garson, Helen S. ''Truman Capote''. New York: Ungar, 1980: 84-85.
*Nance, Willian L. ''The World's of Truman Capote''. New York: Stein and Day, 1970.
*Pugh, Tison. ''"Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's."'' The Explicator 6.1 (Fall 2002): 51-53.
*Reed, Kenneth T. ''Truman Capote''. Miami University (Ohio): Twayne, 1981.

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 11

2006-03-22T01:47:07Z

Tsclark: /* Commentary */

==Summary==
José abandons Holly when her name appears in the paper as a playgirl linked with the drug ring headed by Sally Tomato. The unnamed narrator takes Josés letter to Holly, who is in the hospital, having lost her baby in a scuffle with the police. When Holly sees the letter, a visible change comes over her. She seems to age and harden. She asks the narrator for her cosmetics, because "A girl doesn't read this sort of thing without her lipstick." Holly applies lipstick and rouge, eyeliner and eyeshadow, puts on pearls and dark glasses, sprays herself with perfume and lights a cigarette, readying her protective coating for what she expects to see in the letter (Garson 84).

==Notes==
*'''4711''' (99) - A unisex cologne introduced in 1772 by [http://www.fragrancenet.com/f/net/mf_items.html?cat=00009&cur_letter=4&gs_gen=U=Muelhens Muelhens] . It contains citrus oils (lemon and orange), light floral rose and sandalwood oil.

*'''crise''' (100) - French for "crisis"

*'''la merde''' (100) - French for "shit"

*'''schluffen''' (101) - A German word meaning "sleep"

*'''Et pourquoi pas''' (101) - French for "and why not"

*'''bouche fermez''' (102) - French for "close your mouth"

*'''twat''' (103) - Is a vulgar expression originally used to refer to the female genitalia.

*'''Purple Heart''' (103) - Is a U.S. military decoration awarded in the name of the President of the United States to those who have been wounded or killed while serving in, or with the U.S. military after April 5, 1917.

*'''Maude''' (103) - In homosexual slang, "maude" signifies a male prostitute or a male homosexual.

==Commentary==
While she is recovering in the hospital, the narrator goes to Holly's apartment and discovers Josés cousin packing his things. The man leaves with Josés possessions giving the narrator only a letter, from Jose to Holly. Holly is displayed on the front page of every newspaper. "PLAYGIRL ARRESTED IN NARCOTICS SCANDAL" was just one of the headlines. This was too much for Jose, whose entire life was more dedicated to his public career than to having a wife and family. He fled for Brazil saying in his letter to Holly, "But conceive of my despair upon discovering in such a brutal and public style how very different you are from the manner of woman a man of my faith and career could hope to make his wife. Verily I grief for the disgrace of your present circumstance, and do not find it in my heart to add condemn to the condemn that surrounds you" (Cash 1) .

Second, when Holly tells the narrator that she will not testify against Sally Tomato, she calls the narrator a name laden with queer meaning:" Well, I may be rotten to the core, Maude, but: testify against a friend I will not." In homosexual slang, "maude signifies a male prostitute or a male homosexual.The narrator himself makes a veiled reference to his homosexuality when he compares his rain-soaked trip from Holly's apartment to Joe Bell's bar to another difficult journey he had made years ago: "Never mind why, but once I walked from New Orleans to Nancy's Landing, Mississippi, just under five hundred miles. Nancy's Landing is Capote's creation; it does not exist geographically. 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 homosexual. Thus, the narrator's coy rejoinder that the reader should "never mind why" he made the trip appears as a subtle move to direct attention away from his self-confession (Pugh 1).

Holly labels José "a rat" like all the others, although she finally agrees bitterly with the narrator that José's reasons for giving her up, his religion and his career, are valid for the type of man he is. Holly then decides to flee the country, using the ticket for Brazil that José had brought her. For a time it seemed that Holly had found her dream, her "place where me and things belong together." Her relationship with José might have been like her vision of Tiffany's, with "quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there" (Garson 84, 85).

In his book, ''Truman Capote'', Kenneth Reed states that ''Breakfast at Tiffany's'', shares with most of Capote's other fiction a concern for people who are liberated from the more commonplace moorings of social and cultural life, and who are scarcely concerned with such things as family relationships and middle class notions of respectability.For example, when the narrator warns Holly that if she jumps bail, she will never again be able to come home, it impresses her not at all (Reed 92).

''Breakfast at Tiffany's'' is a showcase for Holly Golightly. O.J. Berman introduced her as a "real phony" who honestly "believes all this crap she believes," and the remainder of the story is a gradual exposition of the content of this belief. All her life she has known deprivation and death and fought a desparate battle against fear.It is, finally, the awareness of death that keeps her from feeling at home anywhere and impels her on a constant search for something better (Nance 1).

==Study Questions==
# If José was so concerned with his career, why would he get involved with someone like Holly?
# Why does Holly call the narrator a maude?
# Did José know that Holly was pregnant with his child?
# Was Holly a prostitute?
# Did the narrator love Holly?

==External Sources==

==Works Cited==
*Cash, Mathew. ''[http://www.personal.umich.edu/~bcash/criticalanalysis A Travelin' Through the Pastures of the Sky: A Critical Analysis of Breakfast at Tiffany's].'' 1996.
*Garson, Helen S. ''Truman Capote''. New York: Ungar, 1980: 84-85.
*Pugh, Tison. ''"Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's."'' The Explicator 6.1 (Fall 2002): 51-53.
*Reed, Kenneth T. ''Truman Capote''. Miami University (Ohio): Twayne, 1981.

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 11

2006-03-22T01:40:19Z

Tsclark: /* Works Cited */

==Summary==
José abandons Holly when her name appears in the paper as a playgirl linked with the drug ring headed by Sally Tomato. The unnamed narrator takes Josés letter to Holly, who is in the hospital, having lost her baby in a scuffle with the police. When Holly sees the letter, a visible change comes over her. She seems to age and harden. She asks the narrator for her cosmetics, because "A girl doesn't read this sort of thing without her lipstick." Holly applies lipstick and rouge, eyeliner and eyeshadow, puts on pearls and dark glasses, sprays herself with perfume and lights a cigarette, readying her protective coating for what she expects to see in the letter (Garson 84).

==Notes==
*'''4711''' (99) - A unisex cologne introduced in 1772 by [http://www.fragrancenet.com/f/net/mf_items.html?cat=00009&cur_letter=4&gs_gen=U=Muelhens Muelhens] . It contains citrus oils (lemon and orange), light floral rose and sandalwood oil.

*'''crise''' (100) - French for "crisis"

*'''la merde''' (100) - French for "shit"

*'''schluffen''' (101) - A German word meaning "sleep"

*'''Et pourquoi pas''' (101) - French for "and why not"

*'''bouche fermez''' (102) - French for "close your mouth"

*'''twat''' (103) - Is a vulgar expression originally used to refer to the female genitalia.

*'''Purple Heart''' (103) - Is a U.S. military decoration awarded in the name of the President of the United States to those who have been wounded or killed while serving in, or with the U.S. military after April 5, 1917.

*'''Maude''' (103) - In homosexual slang, "maude" signifies a male prostitute or a male homosexual.

==Commentary==
While she is recovering in the hospital, the narrator goes to Holly's apartment and discovers Josés cousin packing his things. The man leaves with Josés possessions giving the narrator only a letter, from Jose to Holly. Holly is displayed on the front page of every newspaper. "PLAYGIRL ARRESTED IN NARCOTICS SCANDAL" was just one of the headlines. This was too much for Jose, whose entire life was more dedicated to his public career than to having a wife and family. He fled for Brazil saying in his letter to Holly, "But conceive of my despair upon discovering in such a brutal and public style how very different you are from the manner of woman a man of my faith and career could hope to make his wife. Verily I grief for the disgrace of your present circumstance, and do not find it in my heart to add condemn to the condemn that surrounds you" (Cash 1) .

Second, when Holly tells the narrator that she will not testify against Sally Tomato, she calls the narrator a name laden with queer meaning:" Well, I may be rotten to the core, Maude, but: testify against a friend I will not." In homosexual slang, "maude signifies a male prostitute or a male homosexual.The narrator himself makes a veiled reference to his homosexuality when he compares his rain-soaked trip from Holly's apartment to Joe Bell's bar to another difficult journey he had made years ago: "Never mind why, but once I walked from New Orleans to Nancy's Landing, Mississippi, just under five hundred miles. Nancy's Landing is Capote's creation; it does not exist geographically. 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 homosexual. Thus, the narrator's coy rejoinder that the reader should "never mind why" he made the trip appears as a subtle move to direct attention away from his self-confession (Pugh 1).

Holly labels José "a rat" like all the others, although she finally agrees bitterly with the narrator that José's reasons for giving her up, his religion and his career, are valid for the type of man he is. Holly then decides to flee the country, using the ticket for Brazil that José had brought her. For a time it seemed that Holly had found her dream, her "place where me and things belong together." Her relationship with José might have been like her vision of Tiffany's, with "quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there" (Garson 84, 85).

In his book, ''Truman Capote'', Kenneth Reed states that ''Breakfast at Tiffany's'', shares with most of Capote's other fiction a concern for people who are liberated from the more commonplace moorings of social and cultural life, and who are scarcely concerned with such things as family relationships and middle class notions of respectability.For example, when the narrator warns Holly that if she jumps bail, she will never again be able to come home, it impresses her not at all (Reed 92).

==Study Questions==
# If José was so concerned with his career, why would he get involved with someone like Holly?
# Why does Holly call the narrator a maude?
# Did José know that Holly was pregnant with his child?
# Was Holly a prostitute?
# Did the narrator love Holly?

==External Sources==

==Works Cited==
*Cash, Mathew. ''[http://www.personal.umich.edu/~bcash/criticalanalysis A Travelin' Through the Pastures of the Sky: A Critical Analysis of Breakfast at Tiffany's].'' 1996.
*Garson, Helen S. ''Truman Capote''. New York: Ungar, 1980: 84-85.
*Pugh, Tison. ''"Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's."'' The Explicator 6.1 (Fall 2002): 51-53.
*Reed, Kenneth T. ''Truman Capote''. Miami University (Ohio): Twayne, 1981.

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 11

2006-03-22T01:36:11Z

Tsclark: /* Works Cited */

==Summary==
José abandons Holly when her name appears in the paper as a playgirl linked with the drug ring headed by Sally Tomato. The unnamed narrator takes Josés letter to Holly, who is in the hospital, having lost her baby in a scuffle with the police. When Holly sees the letter, a visible change comes over her. She seems to age and harden. She asks the narrator for her cosmetics, because "A girl doesn't read this sort of thing without her lipstick." Holly applies lipstick and rouge, eyeliner and eyeshadow, puts on pearls and dark glasses, sprays herself with perfume and lights a cigarette, readying her protective coating for what she expects to see in the letter (Garson 84).

==Notes==
*'''4711''' (99) - A unisex cologne introduced in 1772 by [http://www.fragrancenet.com/f/net/mf_items.html?cat=00009&cur_letter=4&gs_gen=U=Muelhens Muelhens] . It contains citrus oils (lemon and orange), light floral rose and sandalwood oil.

*'''crise''' (100) - French for "crisis"

*'''la merde''' (100) - French for "shit"

*'''schluffen''' (101) - A German word meaning "sleep"

*'''Et pourquoi pas''' (101) - French for "and why not"

*'''bouche fermez''' (102) - French for "close your mouth"

*'''twat''' (103) - Is a vulgar expression originally used to refer to the female genitalia.

*'''Purple Heart''' (103) - Is a U.S. military decoration awarded in the name of the President of the United States to those who have been wounded or killed while serving in, or with the U.S. military after April 5, 1917.

*'''Maude''' (103) - In homosexual slang, "maude" signifies a male prostitute or a male homosexual.

==Commentary==
While she is recovering in the hospital, the narrator goes to Holly's apartment and discovers Josés cousin packing his things. The man leaves with Josés possessions giving the narrator only a letter, from Jose to Holly. Holly is displayed on the front page of every newspaper. "PLAYGIRL ARRESTED IN NARCOTICS SCANDAL" was just one of the headlines. This was too much for Jose, whose entire life was more dedicated to his public career than to having a wife and family. He fled for Brazil saying in his letter to Holly, "But conceive of my despair upon discovering in such a brutal and public style how very different you are from the manner of woman a man of my faith and career could hope to make his wife. Verily I grief for the disgrace of your present circumstance, and do not find it in my heart to add condemn to the condemn that surrounds you" (Cash 1) .

Second, when Holly tells the narrator that she will not testify against Sally Tomato, she calls the narrator a name laden with queer meaning:" Well, I may be rotten to the core, Maude, but: testify against a friend I will not." In homosexual slang, "maude signifies a male prostitute or a male homosexual.The narrator himself makes a veiled reference to his homosexuality when he compares his rain-soaked trip from Holly's apartment to Joe Bell's bar to another difficult journey he had made years ago: "Never mind why, but once I walked from New Orleans to Nancy's Landing, Mississippi, just under five hundred miles. Nancy's Landing is Capote's creation; it does not exist geographically. 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 homosexual. Thus, the narrator's coy rejoinder that the reader should "never mind why" he made the trip appears as a subtle move to direct attention away from his self-confession (Pugh 1).

Holly labels José "a rat" like all the others, although she finally agrees bitterly with the narrator that José's reasons for giving her up, his religion and his career, are valid for the type of man he is. Holly then decides to flee the country, using the ticket for Brazil that José had brought her. For a time it seemed that Holly had found her dream, her "place where me and things belong together." Her relationship with José might have been like her vision of Tiffany's, with "quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there" (Garson 84, 85).

In his book, ''Truman Capote'', Kenneth Reed states that ''Breakfast at Tiffany's'', shares with most of Capote's other fiction a concern for people who are liberated from the more commonplace moorings of social and cultural life, and who are scarcely concerned with such things as family relationships and middle class notions of respectability.For example, when the narrator warns Holly that if she jumps bail, she will never again be able to come home, it impresses her not at all (Reed 92).

==Study Questions==
# If José was so concerned with his career, why would he get involved with someone like Holly?
# Why does Holly call the narrator a maude?
# Did José know that Holly was pregnant with his child?
# Was Holly a prostitute?
# Did the narrator love Holly?

==External Sources==

==Works Cited==
*Cash, Mathew. ''[http://www.personal.umich.edu/~bcash/criticalanalysis A Travelin' Through the Pastures of the Sky: A Critical Analysis of Breakfast at Tiffany's].'' 1996.
*Garson, Helen S. ''Truman Capote''. New York: Ungar, 1980.
*Pugh, Tison. "Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's." The Explicator 6.1 (Fall 2002): 51-53.
*Reed, Kenneth T. ''Truman Capote''. Miami University (Ohio): Twayne, 1981.

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 11

2006-03-22T01:31:45Z

Tsclark: /* Commentary */

==Summary==
José abandons Holly when her name appears in the paper as a playgirl linked with the drug ring headed by Sally Tomato. The unnamed narrator takes Josés letter to Holly, who is in the hospital, having lost her baby in a scuffle with the police. When Holly sees the letter, a visible change comes over her. She seems to age and harden. She asks the narrator for her cosmetics, because "A girl doesn't read this sort of thing without her lipstick." Holly applies lipstick and rouge, eyeliner and eyeshadow, puts on pearls and dark glasses, sprays herself with perfume and lights a cigarette, readying her protective coating for what she expects to see in the letter (Garson 84).

==Notes==
*'''4711''' (99) - A unisex cologne introduced in 1772 by [http://www.fragrancenet.com/f/net/mf_items.html?cat=00009&cur_letter=4&gs_gen=U=Muelhens Muelhens] . It contains citrus oils (lemon and orange), light floral rose and sandalwood oil.

*'''crise''' (100) - French for "crisis"

*'''la merde''' (100) - French for "shit"

*'''schluffen''' (101) - A German word meaning "sleep"

*'''Et pourquoi pas''' (101) - French for "and why not"

*'''bouche fermez''' (102) - French for "close your mouth"

*'''twat''' (103) - Is a vulgar expression originally used to refer to the female genitalia.

*'''Purple Heart''' (103) - Is a U.S. military decoration awarded in the name of the President of the United States to those who have been wounded or killed while serving in, or with the U.S. military after April 5, 1917.

*'''Maude''' (103) - In homosexual slang, "maude" signifies a male prostitute or a male homosexual.

==Commentary==
While she is recovering in the hospital, the narrator goes to Holly's apartment and discovers Josés cousin packing his things. The man leaves with Josés possessions giving the narrator only a letter, from Jose to Holly. Holly is displayed on the front page of every newspaper. "PLAYGIRL ARRESTED IN NARCOTICS SCANDAL" was just one of the headlines. This was too much for Jose, whose entire life was more dedicated to his public career than to having a wife and family. He fled for Brazil saying in his letter to Holly, "But conceive of my despair upon discovering in such a brutal and public style how very different you are from the manner of woman a man of my faith and career could hope to make his wife. Verily I grief for the disgrace of your present circumstance, and do not find it in my heart to add condemn to the condemn that surrounds you" (Cash 1) .

Second, when Holly tells the narrator that she will not testify against Sally Tomato, she calls the narrator a name laden with queer meaning:" Well, I may be rotten to the core, Maude, but: testify against a friend I will not." In homosexual slang, "maude signifies a male prostitute or a male homosexual.The narrator himself makes a veiled reference to his homosexuality when he compares his rain-soaked trip from Holly's apartment to Joe Bell's bar to another difficult journey he had made years ago: "Never mind why, but once I walked from New Orleans to Nancy's Landing, Mississippi, just under five hundred miles. Nancy's Landing is Capote's creation; it does not exist geographically. 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 homosexual. Thus, the narrator's coy rejoinder that the reader should "never mind why" he made the trip appears as a subtle move to direct attention away from his self-confession (Pugh 1).

Holly labels José "a rat" like all the others, although she finally agrees bitterly with the narrator that José's reasons for giving her up, his religion and his career, are valid for the type of man he is. Holly then decides to flee the country, using the ticket for Brazil that José had brought her. For a time it seemed that Holly had found her dream, her "place where me and things belong together." Her relationship with José might have been like her vision of Tiffany's, with "quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there" (Garson 84, 85).

In his book, ''Truman Capote'', Kenneth Reed states that ''Breakfast at Tiffany's'', shares with most of Capote's other fiction a concern for people who are liberated from the more commonplace moorings of social and cultural life, and who are scarcely concerned with such things as family relationships and middle class notions of respectability.For example, when the narrator warns Holly that if she jumps bail, she will never again be able to come home, it impresses her not at all (Reed 92).

==Study Questions==
# If José was so concerned with his career, why would he get involved with someone like Holly?
# Why does Holly call the narrator a maude?
# Did José know that Holly was pregnant with his child?
# Was Holly a prostitute?
# Did the narrator love Holly?

==External Sources==

==Works Cited==
*Cash, Mathew. ''[http://www.personal.umich.edu/~bcash/criticalanalysis A Travelin' Through the Pastures of the Sky: A Critical Analysis of Breakfast at Tiffany's].'' 1996.
*Garson, Helen S. ''Truman Capote''. New York: Ungar, 1980.
*Reed, Kenneth T. ''Truman Capote''. Miami University (Ohio): Twayne, 1981.

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 11

2006-03-22T00:50:50Z

Tsclark: /* Commentary */

==Summary==
José abandons Holly when her name appears in the paper as a playgirl linked with the drug ring headed by Sally Tomato. The unnamed narrator takes Josés letter to Holly, who is in the hospital, having lost her baby in a scuffle with the police. When Holly sees the letter, a visible change comes over her. She seems to age and harden. She asks the narrator for her cosmetics, because "A girl doesn't read this sort of thing without her lipstick." Holly applies lipstick and rouge, eyeliner and eyeshadow, puts on pearls and dark glasses, sprays herself with perfume and lights a cigarette, readying her protective coating for what she expects to see in the letter (Garson 84).

==Notes==
*'''4711''' (99) - A unisex cologne introduced in 1772 by [http://www.fragrancenet.com/f/net/mf_items.html?cat=00009&cur_letter=4&gs_gen=U=Muelhens Muelhens] . It contains citrus oils (lemon and orange), light floral rose and sandalwood oil.

*'''crise''' (100) - French for "crisis"

*'''la merde''' (100) - French for "shit"

*'''schluffen''' (101) - A German word meaning "sleep"

*'''Et pourquoi pas''' (101) - French for "and why not"

*'''bouche fermez''' (102) - French for "close your mouth"

*'''twat''' (103) - Is a vulgar expression originally used to refer to the female genitalia.

*'''Purple Heart''' (103) - Is a U.S. military decoration awarded in the name of the President of the United States to those who have been wounded or killed while serving in, or with the U.S. military after April 5, 1917.

*'''Maude''' (103) - In homosexual slang, "maude" signifies a male prostitute or a male homosexual.

==Commentary==
While she is recovering in the hospital, the narrator goes to Holly's apartment and discovers Josés cousin packing his things. The man leaves with Josés possessions giving the narrator only a letter, from Jose to Holly. Holly is displayed on the front page of every newspaper. "PLAYGIRL ARRESTED IN NARCOTICS SCANDAL" was just one of the headlines. This was too much for Jose, whose entire life was more dedicated to his public career than to having a wife and family. He fled for Brazil saying in his letter to Holly, "But conceive of my despair upon discovering in such a brutal and public style how very different you are from the manner of woman a man of my faith and career could hope to make his wife. Verily I grief for the disgrace of your present circumstance, and do not find it in my heart to add condemn to the condemn that surrounds you" (Cash 1) .

Second, when Holly tells the narrator that she will not testify against Sally Tomato, she calls the narrator a name laden with queer meaning:" Well, I may be rotten to the core, Maude, but: testify against a friend I will not." In homosexual slang, "maude signifies a male prostitute or a male homosexual.The narrator himself makes a veiled reference to his homosexuality when he compares his rain-soaked trip from Holly's apartment to Joe Bell's bar to another difficult journey he had made years ago: "Never mind why, but once I walked from New Orleans to Nancy's Landing, Mississippi, just under five hundred miles. Nancy's Landing is Capote's creation; it does not exist geographically. 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 homosexual. Thus, the narrator's coy rejoinder that the reader should "never mind why" he made the trip appears as a subtle move to direct attention away from his self-confession (Galenet 2).

Holly labels José "a rat" like all the others, although she finally agrees bitterly with the narrator that José's reasons for giving her up, his religion and his career, are valid for the type of man he is. Holly then decides to flee the country, using the ticket for Brazil that José had brought her. For a time it seemed that Holly had found her dream, her "place where me and things belong together." Her relationship with José might have been like her vision of Tiffany's, with "quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there" (Garson 84, 85).

In his book, ''Truman Capote'', Kenneth Reed states that ''Breakfast at Tiffany's'', shares with most of Capote's other fiction a concern for people who are liberated from the more commonplace moorings of social and cultural life, and who are scarcely concerned with such things as family relationships and middle class notions of respectability.For example, when the narrator warns Holly that if she jumps bail, she will never again be able to come home, it impresses her not at all (Reed 92).

==Study Questions==
# If José was so concerned with his career, why would he get involved with someone like Holly?
# Why does Holly call the narrator a maude?
# Did José know that Holly was pregnant with his child?
# Was Holly a prostitute?
# Did the narrator love Holly?

==External Sources==

==Works Cited==
*Cash, Mathew. ''[http://www.personal.umich.edu/~bcash/criticalanalysis A Travelin' Through the Pastures of the Sky: A Critical Analysis of Breakfast at Tiffany's].'' 1996.
*Garson, Helen S. ''Truman Capote''. New York: Ungar, 1980.
*Reed, Kenneth T. ''Truman Capote''. Miami University (Ohio): Twayne, 1981.

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 5

2006-03-18T10:21:07Z

Tsclark:

== Summary ==
The protagonist begins working a nine to five job and, as a result, sees less of Holly Golightly. One day, he sees Holly walking into a library. He observes her without her knowledge, and then he examines the books on her table after she leaves. He discovers that she is reading up on Brazil. Watching her read, the narrator compares her to a girl he knew in school, Mildred. They were totally opposite each other but yet like Siamese twins.

The narration shifts to a party on Christmas Eve in Holly's apartment. The narrator is asked to come over and help trim the Christmas tree. Holly gives the narrator an expensive, antique bird cage for Christmas; he gives Holly a St. Christopher's medal from Tiffany's. The cost of the bird cage was three hundred and fifty dollars. Holly wasn't excited about the cost, she made just a few more trips to the powder room so she could afford the bird cage. Holly and the narrator had a big argument and apparently Holly decided to give the narrator's story to O.J. Berman without his consent. O.J. Berman published the story in the university review.

In February, Holly, Rusty, Mag, and José took a trip to the tropics. In Key West, Mag becomes severely sunburned, and Rusty is injured in a fight with some sailors. Both are hospitalized, so José and Holly travel to Havana. Mag becomes suspicious that José and Holly are sleeping together, so Holly tells Mag that she is a lesbian. Holly recounts these events as the protagonist gives her a back massage. Mag goes out and buy an army cot to sleep on so she want have to share the bed with a lesbian. They become engaged in an argument, the protagonist is tempted to hit Holly, and Holly throws the narrator out of her apartment: "It should take you about four seconds to walk from here to the door. I'll give you two."(63)

== Notes ==
*'''hither''' (55) - to this place (seldom used except in poetry and legal papers).
*'''yonning''' (55) - distant but in sight. From [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yon yon].
*'''overhaul''' (58) - a major repair or [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/revision revision].
*'''Rockefeller Plaza''' (59)- A place where people gathered to celebrate the biggest, brightest Christmas tree of all. Celebrated since 1933.[http://wnbc.com/christmastree/1775354/detail.html].
*'''tinsel''' (59) - a thread, strip, or sheet of metal, paper, or plastic used to produce a glittering and sparkling appearance in fabrics, yarns, or decorations.[http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/tinsel].
*'''baubles''' (59) - Christmas ornaments that are decorations (usually made of glass, metal, wood or ceramics) that are used to [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/festoon festoon] a Christmas tree.
*'''St. Christopher's medal''' (59) - a small medallion depicting the patron saint against [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saintS/pst00432.htm lightning]; against [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saintS/pst00555.htm pestilence]; [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saintS/pst00032.htm archers]; [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saintS/pst00050.htm automobile drivers]; [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saintS/pst00050.htm automobilists]; [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saintS/pst00051.htm bachelors], etc. [[Image: PW242.jpg]]

==Commentary==
Self-deception is not one of Holly's failings, although she is an extraordinary liar. It doesn't trouble her to beguile others when it suits her purpose. She constructs a world around her to make things as pleasant as she can, inventing stories when the truth is too painful to discuss. Berman, who calls Holly a "phony", modifies it to "a ''real'' phony," because, he claims, "she believes all this crap she believes." The narrator doesn't think of Holly that way (Garson 82).

Since her moral code differs from that of society, Holly has no qualms about lying. To protect herself or to keep people form getting too close, or from knowing too much about her, she fabricates. She fictionalizes when reality is grim and threatens to bring on the "mean blues" (sadness), or the "mean reds" (fear). Unwilling to share her memories of her early life. Holly invents a beautiful fantasy childhood for herself when the narrator tells her of his own unhappy boyhood.
Holly also lies when a situation is not to her liking. At a party, when an acquaintance, Mag Wildwood, barges in and draws the attention of all the men, Holly retaliates by insinuating that Mag has a terrible social disease. Another time, to keep Mag from learning that she has slept with Mag's lover, Jose', Holly breezily pretends she is a lesbian, partly to deceive Mag and partly for the humor of the deception (Garson 82,83).

==Study Questions==
* Why does Holly pretend to be a lesbian?

* What makes Holly an extraordinary liar?

* Why is Holly unwilling to share memories from her childhood?

* Is Mag Wildwood really a lesbian?

* Did the sailors beat up Rusty Trawler because he was a
homosexual?

* Did the narrator know Holly was a prostitute??

==Works Cited==
Garson, Helen S. ''Truman Capote''. New York: Ungar, 1980. 82,83.

[[Breakfast at Tiffany's 4|Section four]] | [[Breakfast at Tiffany's]] | [[Breakfast at Tiffany's 6|Section six]]

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 5

2006-03-18T10:18:58Z

Tsclark:

== Summary ==
The protagonist begins working a nine to five job and, as a result, sees less of Holly Golightly. One day, he sees Holly walking into a library. He observes her without her knowledge, and then he examines the books on her table after she leaves. He discovers that she is reading up on Brazil. Watching her read, the narrator compares her to a girl he knew in school, Mildred. They were totally opposite each other but yet like Siamese twins.

The narration shifts to a party on Christmas Eve in Holly's apartment. The narrator is asked to come over and help trim the Christmas tree. Holly gives the narrator an expensive, antique bird cage for Christmas; he gives Holly a St. Christopher's medal from Tiffany's. The cost of the bird cage was three hundred and fifty dollars. Holly wasn't excited about the cost, she made just a few more trips to the powder room so she could afford the bird cage. Holly and the narrator had a big argument and apparently Holly decided to give the narrator's story to O.J. Berman without his consent. O.J. Berman published the story in the university review.

In February, Holly, Rusty, Mag, and José took a trip to the tropics. In Key West, Mag becomes severely sunburned, and Rusty is injured in a fight with some sailors. Both are hospitalized, so José and Holly travel to Havana. Mag becomes suspicious that José and Holly are sleeping together, so Holly tells Mag that she is a lesbian. Holly recounts these events as the protagonist gives her a back massage. Mag goes out and buy an army cot to sleep on so she want have to share the bed with a lesbian. They become engaged in an argument, the protagonist is tempted to hit Holly, and Holly throws the narrator out of her apartment: "It should take you about four seconds to walk from here to the door. I'll give you two."(63)

== Notes ==
*'''hither''' (55) - to this place (seldom used except in poetry and legal papers).
*'''yonning''' (55) - distant but in sight. From [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yon yon].
*'''overhaul''' (58) - a major repair or [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/revision revision].
*'''Rockefeller Plaza''' (59)- A place where people gathered to celebrate the biggest, brightest Christmas tree of all. Celebrated since 1933.[http://wnbc.com/christmastree/1775354/detail.html].
*'''tinsel''' (59) - a thread, strip, or sheet of metal, paper, or plastic used to produce a glittering and sparkling appearance in fabrics, yarns, or decorations.[http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/tinsel].
*'''baubles''' (59) - Christmas ornaments that are decorations (usually made of glass, metal, wood or ceramics) that are used to [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/festoon festoon] a Christmas tree.
*'''St. Christopher's medal''' (59) - a small medallion depicting the patron saint against [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saintS/pst00432.htm lightning]; against [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saintS/pst00555.htm pestilence]; [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saintS/pst00032.htm archers]; [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saintS/pst00050.htm automobile drivers]; [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saintS/pst00050.htm automobilists]; [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saintS/pst00051.htm bachelors], etc. [[Image: PW242.jpg]]

==Commentary==
Self-deception is not one of Holly's failings, although she is an extraordinary liar. It doesn't trouble her to beguile others when it suits her purpose. She constructs a world around her to make things as pleasant as she can, inventing stories when the truth is too painful to discuss. Berman, who calls Holly a "phony", modifies it to "a ''real'' phony," because, he claims, "she believes all this crap she believes." The narrator doesn't think of Holly that way (Garson 82).

Since her moral code differs from that of society, Holly has no qualms about lying. To protect herself or to keep people form getting too close, or from knowing too much about her, she fabricates. She fictionalizes when reality is grim and threatens to bring on the "mean blues" (sadness), or the "mean reds" (fear). Unwilling to share her memories of her early life. Holly invents a beautiful fantasy childhood for herself when the narrator tells her of his own unhappy boyhood.
Holly also lies when a situation is not to her liking. At a party, when an acquaintance, Mag Wildwood, barges in and draws the attention of all the men, Holly retaliates by insinuating that Mag has a terrible social disease. Another time, to keep Mag from learning that she has slept with Mag's lover, Jose', Holly breezily pretends she is a lesbian, partly to deceive Mag and partly for the humor of the deception (Garson 82,83).

==Study Questions==
* Why does Holly pretend to be a lesbian?

* What makes Holly an extraordinary liar?

* Why is Holly unwilling to share memories from her childhood?

* Is Mag Wildwood really a lesbian?

* Did the sailors beat up Rusty Trawler because he was a
homosexual?

* Did the narrator know Holly was a prostitute??

==Works Cited==
Garson, Helen S. Truman Capote. New York: Ungar,1980. 82,83.

[[Breakfast at Tiffany's 4|Section four]] | [[Breakfast at Tiffany's]] | [[Breakfast at Tiffany's 6|Section six]]

[[Category:Literature]]

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 11

2006-03-15T21:11:23Z

Tsclark:

Jose' abandons Holly when her name appears in the paper as a playgirl linked with the drug ring headed by Sally Tomato. The unnamed narrator takes Jose's letter to Holly, who is in the hospital, having lost her baby in a scuffle with the police. When Holly sees the letter, a visible change comes over her. She seems to age and harden. She asks the narrator for her cosmetics, because "A girl doesn't read this sort of thing without her lipstick." Holly applies lipstick and rouge, eyeliner and eyeshadow, puts on pearls and dark glasses, sprays herself with perfume and lights a cigarette, readying her protective coating for what she expects to see in the letter (Garson 84).

==Notes==
*'''4711''' (99) - A unisex cologne introduced in 1772 by Muelhens. It contains citrus oils (lemon and orange), light floral rose and sandalwood oil.

*'''crise''' (100) - French for "crisis'

*'''la merde''' (100) - French for "shit"

*'''schluffen''' (101) - A German word meaning trustworthy person.

*'''Et pourquoi pas''' (101) - French for "and why not"

*'''bouche fermez''' (102) - French for "mouth close"

*'''twat''' (103) - Is a vulgar expression originally used to refer to the human vagina.

*'''Purple Heart''' (103) - Is a U.S. military decoration awarded in the name of the President of the United States to those who have been wounded or killed while serving in, or with the U.S. military after April 5, 1917.

*'''Maude''' (103) - In homosexual slang, "maude" signifies a male prostitute or a male homosexual.

==Commentary==
While she is recovering in the hospital, the narrator goes to Holly's apartment and discovers Jose's cousin packing his things. The man leaves with Jose's possessions giving the narrator only a letter,from Jose to Holly. Holly is public displayed on the front page of every newspaper: "PLAYGIRL ARRESTED IN NARCOTICS SCANDAL" was just one of the headlines. This was too much for Jose, whose entire life was strictly more dedicated to his public career than to a wife and a family. He fled for Brazil saying in his letter to Holly:" But conceive of my despair upon discovering in such a brutal and public style how very different you are from the manner of woman a man of my faith and career could hope to make his wife.
Verily I grief for the disgrace of your present circumstance, and do not find it in my heart to add condemn to the condemn that surrounds you." (Cash 1)

Second, when Holly tells the narrator that she will not testify against Sally Tomato, she calls the narrator a name laden with queer meaning:" Well, I may be rotten to the core, Maude, but: testify against a friend I will not." In homosexual slang, "maude signifies a male prostitute or a male homosexual.The narrator himself makes a veiled reference to his homosexuality when he compares his rain-soaked trip from Holly's apartment to Joe Bell's bar to another difficult journey he had made years ago: "Never mind why, but once I walked from New Orleans to Nancy's Landing, Mississippi, just under five hundred miles. Nancy's Landing is Capote's creation; it does not exist geographically. 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 homosexual.Thus, the narrator's coy rejoinder that the reader should "never mind why" he made the trip appears as a subtle move to direct attention away from his self-confession (Galenet 2).

Holly labels Jose' "a rat" like all the others, although she finally agrees bitterly with the narrator that Jose's reasons for giving her up-his religion and his career-are valid for the kind of man he is. Holly then decides to flee the country, using the ticket for Brazil that Jose' had brought her. For a time it seemed that Holly had found her dream, her "place where me and things belong together." Her relationship with Jose' might have been like her vision of Tiffany's, with "quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there" (Garson 84,85).

In his book, ''Truman Capote'', Kenneth Reed states that ''Breakfast at Tiffany's'', shares with most of Capote's other fiction a concern for people who are liberated from the more commonplace moorings of social and cultural life, and who are scarcely concerned with such things as family relationships and middle class notions of respectability.For example, when the narrator warns Holly that if she jumps bail, she will never again be able to come home, it impresses her not at all (Reed 92).

==Study Questions==
* If Jose' was so concerned with his career,why would he get involved with someone like Holly?

* Why does Holly call the narrator a maude?

* Did Jose' know that Holly was pregnant with his child?

* Was Holly a prostitute?

* Did the narrator love Holly?

==External Sources==
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_Heart]

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/twat]

[http://galenet.group.com/servlet/LitRC?TI=Breakfast]

[http://www.personal.umich.edu/~bcash/criticalanalysis]

==Works Cited==
Cash, Mathew. ''A Travelin' Through the Pastures of the Sky:A Critical Analysis of Breakfast at Tiffany's.'' 1996. <http://www.personal.umich.edu/~bcash/criticalanalysis.html>.

Garson, Helen S. ''Truman Capote''. New York: Ungar, 1980. 84,85.

Reed, Kenneth T. ''Truman Capote''. Miami University (Ohio): Twayne, 1981. 92.

Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 11

2006-03-12T13:42:43Z

Tsclark: Section Eleven

Irony

2006-02-16T23:25:48Z

Tsclark:

A mode of expression, through words or events, conveying a reality different from and usually opposite to appearance or expectation. Writers may say the opposite of what they mean, create a reversal between expectation and its fulfillment, or give the audience knowledge that a character lacks, making the character's words have meaning to the audience not perceived by the character. Irony is the most common and most efficient technique of the satirist, because it is an instrument of truth, provides wit and humor, and is usually a least obliquely crtical, in that it deflates, scorns, or attacks (Harris).

== Examples of Irony ==

===Verbal Irony===
Is often tongue-in-cheek, involves a discrepancy between the literal words and what is actually meant ( "Here's some news that will make you sad. You received the highest grade in the course"). If the ironic comment is designed to be hurtful or insulting, it qualifies as sarcasm (Congratulations! You failed the final exam") (Nadell 615).

===Dramatic Irony===
The discrepancy is between what the speaker says and what the author means or what the author knows. The wider the gap between the speaker's words and what can be inferred about the author's attitudes and values, the more ironic the point of view. An example where the audience has knowledge that gives additional meaning to a character's words would be when King Oedipus, who has unknowingly killed his father, says that he will banish his father's killer when he finds him (Nadell 615).
===Situation Irony===
An example of situational irony would occur if a professional pickpocket had his own pocket picked just as he was in the act of picking someone else's pocket. The irony is generated by the surprise recognition by the audience of a reality in contrast with expectation or appearance, while another audience, victim, or character puts confidence in the appearance as reality (in this case, the pickpocket doesn't expect his own pocket to be picked). The surprise recognition by the audience often produces a comic effect, making irony often funny (Harris).

== Works Cited ==

*Nadell, Judith., Linda McMeniman, and John Langan. ''The Longman Writer: Rhetoric, Reader, Handbook.'' 5th ed. New York: Longman, 2003.

*Harris, Robert. "Evaluating Internet Research Sources." [http://www.virtualsalt.com/litterms.htm Virtualsalt]. 17 Nov. 1997, 14 Feb. 2006.

*Reuben, Paul P. "PAL: Appendix G: Elements of Fiction." ''PAL: Prespectives in American Literature-A reseach and Reference Guide''. June 22, 2005.

== External Links ==

[http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/append/axg.html PAL: Appendix G]

----
[[Literary Terms]]

[[Category:Literary Terms]]

Irony

2006-02-12T11:51:26Z

Tsclark:

Irony: A mode of expression,through words or events, conveying a reality different from and usually opposite to appearance or expectation. A writer may say the opposite of what he means, create a reversal between expectation and its fulfillment, or give the audience knowledge that a character lacks, making the character's words have meaning to the audience not perceived by the character. Irony is the most common and most efficient technique of the satirist, because it is an instrument of truth, provides wit and humor, and is usually a least obliquely crtical, in that it deflates, scorns, or attacks (Virtualsalt).

== Examples of Irony ==

''Verbal Irony'': Is often tongue-in-cheek, involves a discrepancy between the literal words and what is actually meant ( "Here's some news that will make you sad. You received the highest grade in the course"). If the ironic comment is designed to be hurtful or insulting, it qualifies as sarcasm (Congratulations! You failed the final exam") (Nadell 615).

''Dramatic Irony'' :The discrepancy is between what the speaker says and what the author means or what the author knows. The wider the gap between the speaker's words and what can be inferred about the author's attitudes and values, the more ironic the point of view. An example where the audience has knowledge that gives additional meaning to a character's words would be when King Oedipus, who has unknowingly killed his father, says that he will banish his father's killer when he finds him (Nadell).

''Situation Irony'' : An example of situational irony would occur if a professional pickpocket had his own pocket picked just as he was in the act of picking someone else's pocket. The irony is generated by the surprise recognition by the audience of a reality in contrast with expectation or appearance, while another audience, victim, or character puts confidence in the appearance as reality (in this case, the pickpocket doesn't expect his own pocket to be picked). The surprise recognition by the audience often produces a comic effect, making irony often funny (Virtualsalt).

== Works Cited ==

Nadell, Judith., Linda McMeniman, and John Langan. The Longman Writer: Rhetoric, Reader, Handbook. 5th ed. New York: Longman, 2003.

Miller, Robert Keith., Suzanne Strobeck Webb, and Winifred Bryan Horner. The Writer's Harbrace Handbook. Philadelphia: Harcourt, 2001.

== External Links ==
[http://www.virtualsalt.com/litterms.htm]
[http://www.hbcollege.com]

*[[Literary Terms]]