Breakfast at Tiffany's Section 8
Summary
Section eight of Truman Capote's "Breakfast At Tiffany's" begins with the title to a shocking newspaper clipping. It reads, "Trawler marries fourth" (74). The narrator reads this clip while riding the subway home from an unsuccessful job interwiew. He immidiately assumes that Rusty Trawler, a playboy that the narrator has come to loath, has taken Holly to be his fourth wife. His first wish after reading this portion of the article is to be underneath the wheels of the train. He justifies his wish by explaining the recent comings and goings in his life. His "mean reds", as he puts it, come from many places at once. First of all, he admits that he has been recently fired from his job. The details of his dissmissal are " too complicated to recount" (75). Secondly, he has reason to believe that his draft board is persuing him in an effort to get him to join the military. He says, "The idea of entering another form of disciplined life made me desperate" (75). This causes his frustration to multiply because he cannot seem to find a job. In fact his unfruitful interview with the PM, a newspaper now closed down, is what he is returning from at the beginning of this section. Most obviously, he believes that Holly has married a man that he completely detests. His mounting jealousy causes him to admit that he does, in fact, love Holly. He also notes that his love for Holly is an identical love that he has experienced with an elderly colored cook and an entire family, probably friends, that he knew when he was younger. Upon reaching the station, he breaks down to his curiosity and buys a paper in order to read the entire article. Much to his surprise, Rusty did not marry Holly! He married Holly's room mate Mag Wildwood. His excitement that Holly is not married to Rusty causes his legs to shake so badly that he must ride a cab home instead of walking.
The surprises seem to keep coming for the narrator when he finally reaches his apartment building. Madame Spanella is screaming in fear for the police to come. The narrator also notes quite a din comming from a higher floor. Madame Spanella raves, " She is killing somebody! Somebody is killing her!" (76). Instead of going for help the narrator bounds up the steps to the source of the noises which is, of course, Holly's door. After pounding the door with a fist, the noises subside, but no matter how many times he calls, Holly will not come to the door. He futilly throws himself at the door, trying to break in, until Jose Ybarra-Jager, Mag Wildwood's ex-fiance, arrives on the scene followed by a doctor. The narrator crossly notes that Jose opens the door to the apartment with his own key. Following the other two men inside, the narrator finds the apartment in disarray, the cat lapping up milk from the floor (the milk was spilled in the fray), and Holly standing, rigid on the bed. She is muttering an incoherrent description of her brother, Fred. The doctor quickly begins to vocally sooth Holly as well as injecting her with a sedative. Jose continues asking the doctor (in bad English) if "Her only sickness is grief?" (78). Annoyed with Jose's questions, he forcefully ejects the other two men from the room. Jose, in anger, chases the snooping Madame Spanella out of the room, and he almost repeats this action with the narrator. In the end though, Jose invites the narrator to sit with him and have drink which happens to be the only bottle that survived Holly's rampage. Through conversation, the narrator learns that all Jose is worried about is how people might think that he caused Holly to have such a terrible fit. Jose is a politician, and he is afraid of being defaced. Later, Jose finds a telegram on the floor that explains Holly's tantrum. The telegram is a message from Doc, Holly's husband, sent to inform Holly of her brother's death in the war.
After that day, Holly seems to hybernate to the narrator. She ceases to talk about her brother(a once common occourance). She also stops calling the narrator Fred. She now re-dubs him "Buster". He observes that Holly's hair gets darker and she puts on a lot of weight. On a positive note, Holly becomes quite a home maker. She purchases many classy items to decorate her apartment such as: tapestries, Gothic arm chairs, and several other ambiance producing items. Furthermore, the purchase of cookbooks led to Holly becoming a very good cook. Oddly enough though, she could only cook delecacies. When she tries to scramble eggs, she simply burns them.
Jose, being a diplomat, works in Washington D.C. three days out of the week. While he is gone the narrator and Holly meet to go on walks or to go out to dinner. During a conversation, the narrator learns that Holly is six weeks pregnant. She then rambles on about how she wants to have nine children with Jose, and ceraselessly talks about how much she looks forward to moving with Jose to Rio. In fact the only regret that Holly mentions is that she wishes that she could have been a virgin for Jose. She insists that she is in love with Jose, but she seems to find a fault in every habit that Jose has. She even says that Jose is not her idea of a perfect man. "If I were free to,..." Holly continues, " I would not pick Jose" (82). The narrator, after hearing so much about Jose(more than he would like),begins to dislike Jose very much. He even stops saying Jose's name while he is speaking to Holly and simply refers to Jose as " Him." Holly moves to a different subject and talks about giving up her horoscopes. She believes that this is an example of a good deed. She thinks that " good things happen t0 those that are good" (83). Later, on an outing, Holly observes ships sailing by and exclaims," one day, one of those ships would bring me(Holly) back, me and my nine Brazillion brats."(84) The narrator, tired of hearing about her "brats" and Jose , says " Do shut up."(85) H e clearly felt left out;" like a tug boat in drydock while she(Holly), glittery voyager of secure destination, steamed down the harbor with whistles whistling and confetti in the air" (85).
Notes
- "The now defunct newspaper, PM" (75) - A left-wing daily newspaper in New York City, PM stood for "Picture Magazine," since it borrowed so many pictures from other newsmagazines. The newspaper began in 1940 and was published until 1948 when it was replaced by the New York Star.
- "A Parke-Bernet Auction" (80) - Parke-Bernet is the United States's largest fine-arts auctioneer, purchased by Sotheby's in 1964.
- William Randolph Hearst (80) - An American newspaper magnate who invented "yellow journalism" and waas a leader of the liberal wing of the Democratic party from 1896 to 1935.
- Modern Library (80) - A division of Randolph House Publishers. Founded in 1917, it identified itself as "The Modern Library of the World's Best Books."
- Metropolitan Museum (80) - One of the world's largest and most important art museums, located in Manhattan, New York.
- Waring mixer (80) - Waring is a leading manufacturer of small appliances for the home, food service, and laboratory industries.
- Hausfrau (80) - Translated from German to English, "housewife."
- Outré (81) - Highly unconventional; eccentric or bizarre.
- Terrapin (81) - An amphibious reptile turtle that can live in the water and on land.
- "Nero-ish novelties" (81) - Nero was the fifth and last emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty of Rome.
- Pomegranates and persimmons (81) - The Pomegranate, or Punica granatum, is a species of fruit-bearing deciduous shrub or small tree. Holly uses the fruit in her roasted pheasant. The persimmon, meaning "dry fruit," is an edible fruit borne by some species of the genus Diospyros.
- Linguaphone records (81) - Founded in 1901, Linguaphone is a company that helps people learn foreign languages, especially through self-learning courses.
- Nehru (82) - An important leader of the Indian Independence Movement and the Indian National Congress. Nehru became the first Prime Minister of India when the country won its independence on August 15, 1947.
- Wendell Willkie (83) - A lawyer and the Republican nominee in the 1940 presidential election against Franklin D. Roosevelt.
- Garbo (83) - Greta Garbo was a Swedish actress who was highly successful in silent films, as well as in those with sound.
- Fado (83) - A music genre believed to have originated in Portugal in the 1820s. The genre is characterized by mournful tunes and lyrics, often about the sea or the life of the poor.
- Joss sticks (84) - Slender sticks of incense burned before a Chinese image, idol, or shrine.
Commentary
Capote seems to have known someone in his life that he loved as much as the narrator loves Holly." He describes this woman in such a way that you get the sense he has moulded her on someone that intrigued him, that held some allure or had an aura of mysticism that left a deep impression."(Kimbofo) On the other hand, he may have intended to spark a female movement of freedom to do what they want."Breakfast at Tiffany's inspired women to pack their bags and seek their fortunes in New York all over the country."(Cash)If this was his goal, then he certainly achieved it! In any case, he portrays very well his anguish upon "learning" that Holly has married Rusty. These emotions of desire, love, jealousy, and lonliness really seem to resonate throughout this section. The narrator, despite knowing that Holly is not yet married, watches mournfully as Holly is converted into an expecting mother of six weeks by Jose. Holly also mentions Jose in almost every conversation. The once "party girl-about-town and exuberant phony"(Prior) that he knew becomes a mostly content stay-at-home-wife.
The main turning point, it seems, in Holly's rebellious ways is the death of her brother, Fred. Fred represented her willingness to run up to this point in the novella. His death, like the death of Holly's freedom, is violent and sudden as Jose converts her into a house wife. Furthermore, Holly mourns her brother's death as much as she seems to subconsiously pine for her old ways of travel. In her conversations with the narrator, she seems unresolved with the idea of spending the rest of her life with Jose. Yes, she wishes to spend time with him, but she finds so many faults in him. She even tells the narrator that she would not choose to be with Jose if she had the ability to go back in time. Obviously she is trying to convince herself that she is in love with Jose because now she is pregnant. She continues to repeat over and over again that she loves him. She does admit, though, that Jose is her first "non-rat" lover in her life. This is an easy statement to believe, as most early referances to Holly's love life make strong referances to prostitution. Taking men to the powder room and coming out with money, for example. She labels all of her past lovers "rats", but she forces herself to see an allure in them. "She feels that she has to if she is going to continue to make a living out of it (prostitution). And not only that, but she hopes to secure her financial future just as easily."(Cash)
This stage of the story is one of the narrator's last chances to tell Holly how he really feels. So why dosen't he? More than likely, he has noticed the pattern that Holly has presented with her other relationships. Every time a man tries to keep her for himself,Holly simply runs away. The narrator, knowing that trying to tie her down will end in failure, assumes that acting indifferent will result in Holly staying as close to him as possible for a longer period of time. Though his "plan" seems to work for a time, the narrator could not forsee Holly's drastic change into a housewife resulting from pregnancy. The narrator's reaction to Holly's new condition is easily pitiful. He simply sinks into a pool and drowns in his own self pity. This self pity may even be the result of future events with Holly. After all, he has never tried to sweep Holly off her feet. She may have simply been testing the narrator to see whether or not he really loved her.
Regardless of her true intentions, this section ends with the narrator giving a wonderful metaphore." So the days, the last days, blow about in memory...all alike as leaves..."(84-85). The narrator's final days with Holly are described as falling leaves before winter. One has seen leaves before, but they all seem the same. Rarely does any one leaf stand out in memory. One can only remember falling leaves look like. The narrator feels the same way about his final days with Holly. He can tell little difference between them, and he spent most of the time with her worrying about the time that she would be away from him. Also like falling leaves, these memories seemed to blow away, unable to be caught to hold on to as a keepsake.
Study Questions
- Who is it that the narrator believes Holly has married?
- Combined with the city heat of the summer and fact that he hadn't seen Holly, what are the other two reasons the narrator wishes he "were under the wheels of the train"?
- Who turns out to be the woman who got married?
- What is Dr. Goldman's explanation for Holly's fit?
- What is the real reason for Holly's fit?
- Whose name replaces Mag Wildwood's on Holly's mailbox?
- Holly mentions something of importance to the narrator, while she is talking about her feelings for Jose. What is it?
- Holly says that she would rather have cancer than a what?