Okay, so I guess I’m the first poster, eh? Well, let’s get some ice broken, shall we?
I’d seen the movie a very long time ago, and truthfully never thought much of it. Except for loving Audrey Hepburn. And hating Mickey Rooney. Thankfully, the novella is much more captivating than the film.
I got a very distinct picture of the time and setting of the story. Capote has an amazing way with words and really takes you right where he wants you without coming right out and giving the details. We have to infer that Holly is an upscale callgirl – never specifically mentioned, but definitely hinted at. We get only a sense that the narrator is gay, but in a way that helps. He can give us a clear picture of Holly that isn’t clouded by lust, like so many of her followers. I read somewhere that Holly’s character was loosely based on 3 or 4 of the most visible socialites and starlets of the day, with a dash of Capote’s mother thrown in. But what I find interesting, is that in a time period of buttoned-up femininity (it was set in the 40s), Holly is the lone bohemian soul, floating through life, doing as she pleases. It speaks of the time because she is so widely loved and despised at the same time. Likely, those detractors were jealous of her fly-by-night attitude and freedom. It was a world where that sort of lifestyle wasn’t very accepted – so unlike today’s society where people are almost expected at be selfish and go ‘find themselves’.
Please, feel free to add your thoughts and/or contest my ideas. Such a difficult, multi-layered story to discuss in such a short post. I hope you all took something away from the sad but buoyant tragedy that is Holly Golightly.
ooh! And so we start a discussion!
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting you sense a whiff of homosexuality in the narrator (interesting how he never has a name) because I don't necessarily find him so... I think he loved her, but quietly and hopelessly, as one could fall in love with a captivating woman in a painting created by a long-dead master. Isn't that kind of how we all fall in love with Holly Golightly, despite her flaws?
What about the scene where she gets into bed with him? He seems to be fairly excited by that...
I think he was more intrigued that a total stranger climbed into his window and then into bed with him. There are a few subtle references that I picked up on. Like the scene at the party in Holly's apartment where he says that he doesn't like any of the books on the shelf because they are all about horses or baseball. And the following quote is: "If a man doesn't like baseball, then he must like horses, and if he doesn't like either of them, well, I'm in trouble...he don't like girls." Some people seem to think that Joe Bell might have been homosexual, too. Because he has a penchant for flower arranging. I guess we can't know for sure, but I have my suspicions.
ReplyDeleteOoh, great use of quote. I think you may be right, then. Maybe Joe Bell, but it might just be one of those things that doesn't matter. Like Dumbledore being gay..?
ReplyDeleteAgreed, completely unnecessary to the story. I wonder if anybody else has any thoughts, yet.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy to have a nice dialogue with you. I'll get a post up tonight to provoke some more thinking.
ReplyDeleteMe too! Still an interesting conversation, even if it's just the two of us. :)
ReplyDeleteIs the story really a tragedy? I feel Capote so expertly weaves comedic charm seamlessly with misfortune and remorse; the ending seems too open to possibility to be tragic. Through all the "mean reds", Holly's cat was found, in a home, and the narrator is "certain he'd arrived somewhere he belonged." In fact, the last sentence of the story speaks of hope.
ReplyDeleteI love how Holly is introduced to the reader. We have less of a clue of who she is than the narrator, and are dependent upon his every word. We're just as addicted to her as her admirers. hehe, and the random French inserts get me everytime. "she says I have a father complex. Which is so much merde."
I didn't pick up on the homosexuality thing upon first reading. Will certainly be on my mind the next read through!
To me, Breakfast at Tiffany's is hopelessly romantic. So based upon remembrance and nostalgia, of people who are gone and futures unknown. And even though Holly ultimately runs away and is never heard from again, her life still touches all who knew her.
Maybe not a tragedy in that she befalls a horrible fate, but definitely tragic in that she lives a life that seems so perfect and full, but really is rather empty and lonely. At least in our brief encounter with Holly (who knows what happens in "Africa" or wherever) we can see that very few of the people she surrounds herself with are genuine, and the few that are she seems to distance when they get too close - the narrator, for instance.
ReplyDeleteShe even tells us that you can "never love a wild thing".
I agree that there is a romance about the story, but at the end I was left feeling sort of dejected and solemn. The only people we could see or feel her connection to were gone: Doc - her father-husband, the narrator - whom she often shut out and ultimately abandoned, and her brother Fred, who died. To me, it felt rather tragic. But romantic at the same time. So, yeah, I get that.
I never read this book, but it might be a good book to pick up at my local library this summer:)
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