Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 6
Summary
Previously, Holly and the narrator had a fight and the narrator decides to leave the birdcage that Holly had given him as a gift by her apartment door. This symbolizes that he wants to cut ties with her, at least at that moment in the story. Later he finds the birdcage outside with the rest of the garbage. He “rescues” the birdcage from being thrown away, but he is still angry. The narrator and Holly go a while without talking. Then one day, the narrator notices a “provocative man” lurking around the brownstone, and looking at Holly’s card. After the man follows the narrator for several blocks to a bar, the narrator talks to this man and learns that this is Holly’s husband, and her name is really Lulamae Barnes.
The man's name is Doc Golightly. He had found Lulamae (Holly) and her brother trying to steal food from him in Tulip, Texas. He learned that both of their parents had died from Tuberculosis and that all of the children, including Lulamae (Holly) and Fred had been sent to live with mean people. He took in Lulamae and her brother and allowed them to live with he and his four children on his farm. He later married Lulamae when she was fourteen and told the narrator that she was very "plump and happy" and did not understand why she would have just "run off" the way that she did. Doc Golightly had obtained her current address from her brother who was in the Army and had heard from her in recent months. At the end of this section, the narrator meets Holly at her front door as she is leaving to go out. When he calls her by the name "Lulamae", she believes that Fred is there and looks for him only to find Doc coming up the stairs. They hug and talk briefly before the narrator "squeezes past them to return to his own apartment.
Notes
coloratura (64)- A soprano specializing in elaborate and ornate vocal music.
plaintive (65)- Expressive of suffering or woe.
implausible (68)- Unbelievable or hard to believe or imagine.
dovetailed (68)- To fit skillfully together.
Commentary
Study Questions
1. Why did the narrator retrieve the birdcage when he saw it outside as he was leaving?
2. Why were Holly and the narrator not speaking to each other?
3. What was Madame Spanella circulating among the brownstone tenants in referance to Holly?
4. What did the narrator say that Madame Spanella said about Holly?
5. What season was it when the narrator first noticed Doc Golightly examining Holly's mailbox?
6. What was Doc Golightly wearing?
7. Where was the narrator going when Doc Golightly followed him?
8. How busy was the restaurant when the narrator arrived?
9. What did Doc Golightly show the narrator at the counter?
10. How many children did Doc Golightly say that Holly had?
11. What was the name of Doc Golightly's oldest daughter?
12. When did Doc Golightly's first wife die?
13. What animal did Doc Golightly teach to say "Lulamae" for Holly?