Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 2
Summary
Instead of ringing Mr. Yunioshi's doorbell to let her into the house, Holly starts to ring the protagonist's. Even though she would ring in the early hours of the morning, he doesn't mind. The protagonist sees Holly in various places in town. One night he sees her at "21" at a table with four men. Another night he sees her outside of P.J. Clarke's Saloon with a group of Australian soldiers dancing her around while singing "Waltzing Matilda". The protagonist still has yet to actually make an acquaintance with Holly until a cool autumn night in September. She is outside of his window hiding from a man that she brought home with her, because he is a "biter." The protagonist and Holly carry on a conversation ranging from why she left home, her feelings about dating older men, why lesbian roommates make better housekeepers, and her visits to see Sally Tomato in Sing Sing.
Notes
- "21" (15) - A highly popular restaurant located in Midtown Manhattan.
- "Waltzing Matilda" (15) - Written in 1895 by poet and nationalist Banjo Paterson, "Waltzing Matilda" is Australia's most widely known song and has been popularly suggested as a potential national anthem many times.
- Picayunes (16) - A brand of cigarettes produced until the 1960's and known as "The Pride of New Orleans."
- Melba toast (16) - A type of toast that is very dry, crisp, and thinly-sliced. It is often served with soups and salads or topped with melted cheese.
- Cole Porter (16) - An American composer and songwriter noted for his sophisticated lyrics, clever rhymes, and complex form.
- Kurt Weill (16) - From Germany, Weill was a leading composer for the stage and a composer of concert works from the 1920s until his death in 1950.
- Oklahoma! (16) - The first musical play written by Rodgers & Hammerstein, Oklahoma! tells the story of cowboy Curly McLane and his romance with farmer girl Laurey Williams.
- "The newest Simenon" (17) - Holly is referring to the latest novel by Georges Simenon, a Belgian author who wrote in French.
- "Trés fou" (18) - Translated from French to English, "very insane."
- Saroyan (19) - William Saroyan, an Armenian-American author who wrote many plays and short stories about his impoverished life as the son of Armenian immigrants.
- Hemingway (19) - Ernest Hemingway, an American novelist, short story writer, and journalist.
- W. Someset Maugham (19) - Maugham was a British playwright, novelist, and short story writer and the highest payed author of the 1930s.
- Sing Sing (23) - A maximum-security prison in Ossing, New York. This is where Sally Tomato was held.
- Yiddish (25) - Yiddish ia a Germanic language spoken by about three million people around the world, mostly by Ashkenazi Jews.
- "Mille tendresse" (28) - Translated from French to English, "thousand tenderness."
- Teletype (30) - Also known as teleprinter, teletypewriter, or TTY, a teletype is an electro-mechanical typewriter used to communicate messages from point to point through a simple electrical communications channel.
- "You'll read where she ends up at the bottom of a bottle of Seconals" (31) - Seconal is a brand of secobarbital, a drug derived from barbiturates, used to treat epilepsy and insomnia and as an anesthetic. By saying this, Berman is implying that Holly will eventually commit suicide.
- Luise Rainer (31) - Rainer was a Jewish film actress from Europe who escaped to the U.S. during the Holocaust.
- The Story of Dr. Wassell (31) - A 1944 film about World War II that starred Gary Cooper and Cecil B. DeMille.
- David O. Selznick (34) - A Hollywood producer best known for producing the blockbuster Gone With the Wind.
- Father Divine (36) - An African-American spiritual leader who claimed to be God. He founded the International Peace Mission movement.
- Dry Tortugas (37) - A small group of islands located at the end of the Florida Keys.
- Unity Mitford (37) - A fascist and huge supporter of Nazism during the 1930s, Mitford was obsessed with Adolf Hitler.
- One Touch of Venus (37) - A Broadway musical written by Kurt Weill, Ogden Nash, and S.J. Perelman. It was performed 570 times between its opening in 1943 and its closing in 1945.
- Tiffany's (39) - Considered the world's finest jewelry company, Tiffany's was founded in New York City in 1837 by Charles Lewis Tiffany and John B. Young. It now has locations in major cities all over the world.
- Maria Ouspenskaya (39) - A Russian actress who achieved fame as a young woman in Russia and as an elderly woman in Hollywood.
Commentary
Study Questions
1. Why did Miss Golightly start ringing the bell of the narrator?
2. When and why does Miss Golighly show up on the fire escape of the narrator?
3. At what age does Miss Golightly leave home?
4. Who is Fred: why does Miss Golightly ask if she may call the narrator by this name?
5. Why does Miss Golightly believe Thursdays are "gruesome"?
6. Who is Sally Tomato?
7. Who is Mr. O'Shaughnessy?