Breakfast at Tiffany's

Factual Information

A novel/novella by American writer Truman Capote published in 1958 by Random House, Inc., New York.

http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/capote.htm Truman Capote (1924-1984) - original name Truman Streckfus Persons

Study Guide

Below are the thirteen major sections of the novella. Since Capote did not use chapters, these are indicated by the double line break on the page. There might be more sections, or a more logical means of distinguishing them, but these arbitrary divisions will work for our purposes.

Characters

Capote/Narrator

A starting out author who had just gotten his first New York apartment. He becomes friends with Holly and Joe Bell and he later falls in love with Holly. He seems to be a passive man.

Holly Golightly

Holly is a spunky 19 year old woman who goes her own way and does her own thing. She is a bit of a vagabond. She only stays in one place for so long. If something starts to go awry, she will pack up her stuff and move on to another place. She lives in apartment #2 of a brownstone apartment complex in New York City. Her apartment reflects her personality, for it always has the look of being just moved in to, and the look of just about to be moved out of.

Joe Bell

Joe Bell runs a bar around the corner on Lexington Avenue. He is friends with Holly and the narrator. He took phone messages for them both, and near the end he hired a limo to drive Holly to the airport.

Major Themes

Delight in the Unorthodox

Plimpton writes that the theme in Breakfast at Tiffany’s is that there are special, strange gifted people in the world and they have to be treated with understanding (175). When something is unorthodox it breaks with convention or tradition. All of the characters in the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's took delight in unique unorthodox ways. Homosexuality was considered to be unorthodox in the fifties and some people even consider it to be unorthodox today.

Holly Golightly was unorthodox by leaving her husband and by embracing homosexuality like she did. Tison Pugh writes, "...we can see that Holly's friendships with gay men are one sign of her progressive sexual politics" (2). Holly believed in things that were unconventional and unorthodox. Paul Levine writes that,"...Holly too is a hard-headed romantic, a pragmatic idealist" (351). Holly definitely took delight in her unorthodox ways. Not only did Holly Golightly take delight in her unorthodox ways, but the narrator also took delight in his unorthodox ways.

The narrator was more content with just being himself than he was with fitting the mold. Holly Golightly says that all straight men either like baseball or horses, and in her apartment there are books about horses and baseball. The narrator goes over to the book shelf and pretends to be interested when he says, "Pretending an interest in horseflesh and How to Tell It gave me sufficiently private opportunity for sizing Holly's friends" (Capote 35). If the narrator had liked baseball he would have picked up a book on baseball instead of pretending he liked horses. In other words the narrator is gay, and he is not really concerned with other's thoughts.

Joe Bell is also a different type of character. He owns a bar, pops tums like candy, and takes care of flowers. Joe Bell's hobbies are hockey players, weimaraner dogs, and Gilbert and Sullivan (Capote 4). The narrator even goes on to say that Joe Bell is related to either Gilbert or Sullivan. "Since Sullivan is rumored to be have been a homosexual...the passage slyly hints that the bartender is part of Sullivan's family, a fellow gay man to his beloved composer" (Tison 2). Joe Bell also "arranges flowers with matronly care" (Capote 5). In today's society a masculine straight man does not arrange flowers with matronly care. All three of the main characters took delight in their unorthodox ways.

Quest for Home/Belonging

Holly Golightly is a pure example of someone that is untameable. It's no wonder how she got that way. Doc Golightly, her husband, says, "Story was: their mother died of TB (Tuberculosis), and their papa done the same - and all the churren, a whole raft of 'em, they been sent off to live with different mean people" (Capote 68). From that line it is obvious that Holly Golightly never really had a home. She appears to spend the rest of her time trying to find one.

One home that Holly has is at Tiffany's. Holly says, "It calms me down right away, the quietness and proud look of it; nothing bad could happen to you there, not with those kind of men in their nice suits, and that lovely smell of silver and alligator wallets. If I could find a real life place that made me feel like Tiffany's, then I'd buy some furniture and give the cat a name" (Capote 40). Matthew Cash states that this scene shows Holly's innocence and search for a home (3).

Holly spends much of her time trying to belong to something or someone while at the same time trying not to. Perhaps she had abandonment issues. "On the first night that Holly came to visit the narrator in his appartment she ends up sleeping beside him, showing that Holly needs someone who is comforting instead of lusting toward her" (Cash 4). Perhaps Holly just needed to feel a love that didn't require anything back of her. Holly was human and she desired love, but at the same time she retreated when the narrator asked her why she was crying. Holly jumps up and heads for the window while hollering, "I hate snoops" (Capote 27). Holly had a desire for a home and a place to belong, but she appeared to be very leary of it all.

Never Love a Wild Thing

Holly Golightly considered herself to be wild. She gives Joe Bell this speach and she says, "Never love a wild thing, Mr. Bell...That was Doc's mistake. He was always lugging home wild things. A hawk with a hurt wing. One time it was a full-grown bobcat with a broken leg. But you can't give your heart to a wild thing: the more you do, the stronger they get. Until they're strong enough to run into the woods. Or fly into a tree. then a taller tree. Then the sky. That's how you'll end up, Mr. Bell. If you let yourself love a wild thing. You'll end up looking at the sky" (Capote 74).

Holly goes on to say, "Good luck: and believe me, dearest Doc - it's better to look at the sky than live there. Such an empty place; so vague. Just a country where the thunder goes and things disappear" (Capote 74). In one sentence she is telling Joe Bell not to love a wild thing and in the next she is admitting how unhappy she is. In the beginning of the story Joe Bell admits his love for Holly when he says, "Sure I loved her. But it wasn't that I wanted to touch her" (Capote 9). Maybe Holly knew about Joe Bell's love and was trying to warn him not to love her. While Holly admitted that she was wild she also admitted that she was unhappy.

Joy/Difficulty of Traveling

Holly Golightly is a traveler who is searching for somewhere to call home. She even goes so far as to say:"...home is where you feel at home. I'm still looking," she says (Capote 102). Everything she does throughout the book is based on that very way she looks at life (Cash). "I'll never get used to anything. Anybody that does, they might as well be dead" (Capote 19).

Holly only seems to find happiness for a short time and it is quickly followed by something that drives her away. She has bad memories of almost every step of the way. From her marriage to Doc in Texas to her many male callers in New York, there is always something that drives at her.

Holly's age, inexperience, and lack of direction may contribute to her inability to be happy. Her age is revealed by the narrarator:"I thought her anywhere between sixteen and thirty; as it turned out, she was shy two months of her nineteenth birthday."(Capote 12-13). Her inexperience and young age has her unsure what she really wants out of her life. Holly would finally come to realization after losing her no-name cat. And even at the end of the novel, she is still in search of home.

Major Symbols

Tiffany's

Tiffany's is a jewelry store Holly feels is the best place for her to calm down and feel at home. She explains it as the cure for her "mean reds" to the narrarator (Cash):"What I've found does the most good is just to get into a taxi and go to Tiffany's," Holly says (Capote 40).

Tiffany's also symbolizes what Holly is searching for: a place she feels she belongs. A place she feels no harm can be done to her and she feels safe around men in particular."It calms me down right away, the quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there, not with those kind men in their nice suits, and that lovely smell of silver and alligator wallets" (Capote 40).

The "Mean Reds"

The "mean reds" was a reoccuring problem Holly has. The narrarator first associated the "mean reds" with the blues (Cash). Holly is quick to denounce that theory. "No, the blues are because you're getting fat or maybe it's been raining too long. You're sad, that's all. But the mean reds are horrible. You're afraid and you sweat like hell, but you don't know what you're afraid of. Except something bad is going to happen, only you don't know what it is"(Capote 40). The narrarator makes another attempt to give an explanation by calling it angst, claiming everyone feels that same way (Cash). Holly takes the suggestion of Rusty Trawler and smokes marijuana and took an aspirin.

The Fat Lady

The fat lady was the female detective that wore the civilian clothes. The fat lady hair was " thick yellow braids roped around her head." The fat lady detective talk in a baby voice. She told Holly "come along, sister." You're going places." At this time, Holly did not want the fat lady hands touching her. Holly said: "Get them cotton-pickin hands off of me, you dreary,driveling old bull-dyke." This made the fat lady angry, so she slapped Holly so damned hard across her face,her head spinned to her over shoulder. As the detectives started to escort Holly down the stairs, she yells "please feed the cat."

The Cat

Although Holly tries to act like the cat doesn't really matter to her as a possession, she really does feel that it belongs to her. Holly never really admits this fact until she leaves the cat, then can't find it. "Oh Jesus God. we did belong to each other. He was mine." (Capote 109) The cat is one of the few things that holly truly feels is hers. Every time the cat appears in the story he seems to be the exact opposite of Holly, or acting in a complete opposite manner as Holly. "Her at losing her nameless, battered "slob" of a cat, far from being a sentimental excess on her part (and the narrator's), is an intensely serious expression of profound fear of relinquishment." (Nance) Holly shares a feeling of not belonging and acting on a moments notice with the cat. "Like the ugly tom cat she picks up by the river one day, her existence is improvised" (Hassan) Holly finally shows her fear of "perpetual homelessness" (Hassan) when she drops the cat off in Spanish Harlem, and after not being able to find it says: “I’m very scared, Buster. Yes, at last. Because it could go on forever. Not knowing what's yours until you've thrown it away." (Capote 109)

The Bird Cage

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

Influences

Capote's life had a great deal of influence on the novella. Capote was a teenager when he began writing books, and the narrator also was a write in his teens. "But I always knew that I wanted to be a writer and that I wanted to be rich and famous."(Krebs) The narrator wanted to be a success early in life and Capote expressed hiself in the same since. "I had to be successful, and I had to be successful early,"(Krebs). Capote turned into an alcholic because of his drinking at a young age. The narrator was also a heavy drinker. Holly and the narrator would go to the bar and drink many times. Capote was also a homosexual and the novella would hint around that the narrator could possibly be a homosexual hiself. In the novella when the narrator was looking through Holly's book collection, he realized that she only owned books about horses and baseball. The narrator was not at all interested in either subjuct. Holly mentioned how she is in love with horses. She explained to the narrator how she did not like baseball at all but she reads those books for research purposes. Holly informs the narrator that if a man does not like either subject then she is in trouble any way because he does not like girls. Narrator's life was almost a mirrored image of Capote's.

Additional Resources

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

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

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

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

Works Cited

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

Cash, Matthew. The Breakfast at Tiffany's Homepage. 1996. University of Michigan. 14 March 2006. <www.personal.umich.edu/~bcash/criticalanalysis.html>
Hassan, Ihab H. "Wisconsin Studies in Contemporary Literature". Vol.1, No.2. Spring, 1960. pp.5-21

Krebs, Albin. "Truman Capote Is Dead at 59; Novelist of Style and Clarity". The New York Times on the web. 28 Aug.1984 <www.nytimes.com/books/97/12/28/home/capote-obit.html>

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

Nance, Willaim L."The Worlds of Truman Capote, Stein and Day" 1970.Contemporary Literary Criticism.

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

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