Another Breakfast At Tiffany

’s Essay, Research Paper

Truman Capote wrote the novel Breakfast at

Tiffany’s without a rhyme or a reason.

He used real life characters possessing different

names. It is stated that the narrator just might have

been Truman himself during his early years in New

York. It is clear that Mr. Capote does not believe in

traditional values. He himself did come from a wealthy

unorthodox family life. Capote’s ideal woman was

created in Holly Golightly, also know as Lulamae

Barnes before she was married as a child bride to a

southerner named Doc Golightly. Other people Capote

met in his experiences where also included, such as

Mag Wildwood (a cunning southern bell from Arkansas

who had stolen away Holly?s would be boyfriend, Rusty

Trawler.), Sally Tomato ( a stock mobster inclined to

use innocent girls to fulfill his own needs.), O.J. Berman

( a typical Hollywood agent picking up young girls from

the mid-west promising them stardom.) Joe Bell (a shy

bar owner who conceals his feeling about the

rambunctious Holly.), and Jose` Ybarra-Jaegar ( an

eccentric Brazilian politician who was involved with

Holly for some time.) All or these characters here used

to add depth and local color to the story.

The theme of the novel is, friendship can make

people take drastic measures in helping a friend, which

is explained by the narrator?s relationship with Holly.

The narrator goes out of his way to be with Holly, such

as horse back riding even though he is uneasy about

horses and stealing masks from a costume store. The

narrator also tries to help Holly as much as possible by

taking care of her one-eyed cat while she was gone and

helping her escape from jail. This novel appears to be

written for pleasure purposes. At the beginning of the

novel the narrator starts by explaining the friendship

between Joe Bell, Holly, and himself. Capote keeps the

reader on his or her toes by there being arguments that

would create conflicts putting a halt to the friendships

between the main characters. Such as when Holly

travels to Brazil with Mag, Jose` Ybarra-Jaegar, and

Rusty Trawler ( Holly?s current boyfriend before Mag

had stolen him away and left Holly grateful , but only for

awhile, with Jose`) Then, after all was finished, Holly

and the narrator would meet and make up over a drink

at Joe Bell’s bar or Holly’s apartment room. The whole

novel is based around an eccentric friendship. The

friendship is still maintained long after Holly?s apparent

disappearance from society.

The literary movement in this story is Authentic

Modernism. Authentic Modernism is marked by a strong

and conscious break with traditional forms and

techniques. It is a means for an author to live out his

fantasies by writing about them. It also implies a

historical discontinuity, a sense of alienation, of loss, of

despair. It rejects history and its society and

traditional values. It prefers the unconscious to the

self-conscious. " You b-b-boys not vexed at me for

butting in on your p-p-party." was said by Mag

Wildwood, one of Holly’s party friends. Another quote

from the story showing unconventional technique and

humor is Mag saying," I’ve ten pairs of Argyles in less

than three months. And this is the second sweater.

What’s the point, though? Sweaters in Brazil. I ought to

be making s-s-sun helmets. . Holly Golightly is a

nineteen year-old self-sufficient woman. Some of her

personality traits are admirable, affectionate, while

being sort of cold hearted. She is motivated in life by

striving for her purpose in life, which is to be rich and

famous while keeping her ego. She believes that love is

not sexual. An important action that Holly did was to

make peace with the narrator so easily after a fight,

this reinforces Capote’s concept of friendship. Other

characters responded very well to Holly, she was very

easy to befriend. She had a short relationship with the

Brazilian politician Jose` Ybarra-Jaegar, but that was

ended by her arrest for helping a drug triangle headed

by Sally Tomato unknowingly. She was seeing Sally in

jail just to comfort him but Sally was really using her to

relay information to his drug empire. Holly was a

unique character; she was so well liked because she

had a peculiar approach to situations.

In conclusion, Capote’s ideal woman was created

in Holly Golightly. The theme reached is, friendship can

make people take drastic measures in helping a friend,

which is displayed by the narrator?s actions toward

Holly. Capote used Authentic Modernism brilliantly.

Holly was well liked by everyone she came into

contact, even though she came across as

inconsiderate. Capote creates Holly for his own

pleasure and writes her in an unorthodox way. Holly

was an unrealistic person in a realistic world

interacting with real people is a surreal way.

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