Holly Golightly In Breakfast At Giffany's
One of of Truman Capote's most dynamic works, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, tells of the frustrating yet interesting life of young beautiful girl living in New York named Holly Golightly. Capote shows the immoral and somewhat reckless lifestyle of the New York upper class and the high society during the 1940’s and one girl’s attempt to take part in all of its glamour encompasses the evident need to “fit in” named Holly. Holly, originally an orphaned child bride named Lula Mae in a small town in Texas, ventures off to New York, where she dreams that she will be able to cast off the of shame of her past. She wants to be a moviestar, a wife, and to find “normalcy” among the her new “friends”, so she changes everything about herself and invents a new persona that she clings to in desperation hoping to fill the void inside her.
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She instead finds isolation because she is caught between her life as Lula Mae, the child bride from Texas, and Holly Golightly, an escort desperately trying to find acceptance.(Capote,55).
She cannot be one or the other because she has changed too much, but also not enough to feel accepted. In the novel, Holly remarks “Home is where you feel at home. I'm still looking.”(Capote, 39).In his own life, Capote suffered from similar issues as he was a closeted homosexual from Alabama in the 1950’s trying to discover who he was. He surrounded himself with ladies that were upper class,despite changing his attitude,appearance, and erasing his past, he still felt alone. Breakfast at Tiffany’s is Capote’s attempt to demonstrate his own isolation through characters who would never belong in certain social circles and are emotionally isolated from
society.
The City of New York and its elite are constant facilitators of change and force Capote’s characters to change themselves in order to belong. The vivid descriptions provided by Capote paint these “people” as beasts and monsters concerned with wealth and power and draws upon the animalistic nature of these elite. No such character in Breakfast is described in such a ghastly way as Rusty Trawler.” A creature answered the door. He smelled of cigars and Knize cologne. His shoes sported elevated heels; without these added inches, one might have taken him for a Little Person. His bald freckled head was dwarf-big: attached to it were a pair of pointed, truly elfin ears. He had Pekingese eyes, unpitying and slightly bulged. Tufts of hair sprouted from his ears, from his nose; his jowls were gray with afternoon beard, and his handshake almost furry“(Capote 29). The very nature of this man is inhuman, and seems to be of almost a monstrous mythical sort, conveying Capote sense that this people sold their humanity to become “important’. Even Holly recognizes this and is reminiscent of the wide open skies and plains of her youth,"Good luck: and believe me, dearest Doc – it's better to look at the sky than live here. Such an empty place; so vague"(Capote 76). The very idea of what is important in New York is vague and the shallow and hollow feeling that encompass the city are palpable as reputation becomes your identity and molds you into one of these hollow beings. These ideas of New York are exceedingly common but reflect the ultimate truth of the city, a rathole of people trying to be somebody by casting aside the old self. “Versions of New York that are evoked seem virtually interchangeable: It’s a city of people on the make or else clinging to their former reputations, where everyone drinks too much, and where you can easily wake up in bed next to someone you barely remember meeting.”(McGrath 1). McGrath's description is dead on accurate for the lifestyles of Capote’s characters as nealy also scenes reflect this attitude of recklessness brought on by the City and makes New York itself its own character. The vivid imagery drafted by Capote is trumped by his ability create characters that reflect little or no value, a tool which he uses to evolve characters like Holly into intensely powerful and lifelike creations “ Despite the novel’s emphasis on appearance and spectacle, its unqualified candor also enables the reader to see, quite clearly, what lies behind the characters’ at surfaces and empty gestures: nothing, a void, the degree zero of personality.”(Scott 137). Capote chooses characters that will seem flat in order to animate his other characters as well as he convey the sense that New York's themselves of very much void of emotion and value. Capote’s ability to describe and relate the feelings of pride, ego, greed and the loss of the ability to feel of New Yorker’s and their home demonstrates his own inability and attempts to belong. The Narrator and Rusty Trawler, despite adjusting to New York will always be seen as outsiders due to their inability to let go of their past. The Narrator is seen as man with strong feelings toward Holly but never acts upon them but instead, hides them from her in hopes that they will fade but instead they grow stronger. What is most incredible about the narrator is that he never claims he loves Holly or even that he is attracted to her. To him, the love is completely platonic but also incredibly deep.“His strong emotional attachment to the dazzling heroine is intensely romantic yet completely asexual”(Krämer 38). This is what prevents the Narrator from belonging as relationships such as these were seen in a very negative light during the 1950’s when the book was written as men and women were not to be friends and any non-sexusal relationship would draw scrutiny to the man for acting this way. It has since been revealed that the narrator is homosexual,leading to even further segregation from the “normalcy” of New York as he was intensely criticized and polarized by New York,making him a forever outsider. Rusty Trawler, who was previously described as one of those who exemplified New York attitude is also one of those who will be seen as accepted but never truly belong. “Through Trawler, Capote challenges a particular kind of celebrity produced by media, how "money" itself is a celebrity. Trawler does nothing, rarely says anything but stands center-stage, a tabloid figure that represents the emptying out of heroic value”(Smith 7). Despite what Smith says, Trawler does have a purpose as he in itself is another facet of Capote’s identity because he shows how many tried to fill the void with material wealth, just as Capote did with his expensive party and friends, and instead of providing joy, it left only deeper pain. Despite Trawler’s several marriages, he remains unhappy and forever scarred by the death of parents and in a similar fashion, Capote finds it nearly impossible to recover from the death of his mother. Even Holly’s cat shows how difficult it was to be accepted and in the end, can be seen as the only one who manages to find a place at the end of the novel. “I wondered what his name was, for I was certain he had one now, certain he'd arrived somewhere he belonged”(Capote 87). This unnamed cat was a symbol o the life that every person in Breakfast wanted to live, a lae where they could truly be themselves and feel accepted and posses a name, an identity that was their own. Unfortunately, this is not the case for anyone in Breakfast at Tiffany’s but provides a glimmer of hope at what could be.
She instead finds isolation because she is caught between her life as Lula Mae, the child bride from Texas, and Holly Golightly, an escort desperately trying to find acceptance.(Capote,55).
She cannot be one or the other because she has changed too much, but also not enough to feel accepted. In the novel, Holly remarks “Home is where you feel at home. I'm still looking.”(Capote, 39).In his own life, Capote suffered from similar issues as he was a closeted homosexual from Alabama in the 1950’s trying to discover who he was. He surrounded himself with ladies that were upper class,despite changing his attitude,appearance, and erasing his past, he still felt alone. Breakfast at Tiffany’s is Capote’s attempt to demonstrate his own isolation through characters who would never belong in certain social circles and are emotionally isolated from
society.
The City of New York and its elite are constant facilitators of change and force Capote’s characters to change themselves in order to belong. The vivid descriptions provided by Capote paint these “people” as beasts and monsters concerned with wealth and power and draws upon the animalistic nature of these elite. No such character in Breakfast is described in such a ghastly way as Rusty Trawler.” A creature answered the door. He smelled of cigars and Knize cologne. His shoes sported elevated heels; without these added inches, one might have taken him for a Little Person. His bald freckled head was dwarf-big: attached to it were a pair of pointed, truly elfin ears. He had Pekingese eyes, unpitying and slightly bulged. Tufts of hair sprouted from his ears, from his nose; his jowls were gray with afternoon beard, and his handshake almost furry“(Capote 29). The very nature of this man is inhuman, and seems to be of almost a monstrous mythical sort, conveying Capote sense that this people sold their humanity to become “important’. Even Holly recognizes this and is reminiscent of the wide open skies and plains of her youth,"Good luck: and believe me, dearest Doc – it's better to look at the sky than live here. Such an empty place; so vague"(Capote 76). The very idea of what is important in New York is vague and the shallow and hollow feeling that encompass the city are palpable as reputation becomes your identity and molds you into one of these hollow beings. These ideas of New York are exceedingly common but reflect the ultimate truth of the city, a rathole of people trying to be somebody by casting aside the old self. “Versions of New York that are evoked seem virtually interchangeable: It’s a city of people on the make or else clinging to their former reputations, where everyone drinks too much, and where you can easily wake up in bed next to someone you barely remember meeting.”(McGrath 1). McGrath's description is dead on accurate for the lifestyles of Capote’s characters as nealy also scenes reflect this attitude of recklessness brought on by the City and makes New York itself its own character. The vivid imagery drafted by Capote is trumped by his ability create characters that reflect little or no value, a tool which he uses to evolve characters like Holly into intensely powerful and lifelike creations “ Despite the novel’s emphasis on appearance and spectacle, its unqualified candor also enables the reader to see, quite clearly, what lies behind the characters’ at surfaces and empty gestures: nothing, a void, the degree zero of personality.”(Scott 137). Capote chooses characters that will seem flat in order to animate his other characters as well as he convey the sense that New York's themselves of very much void of emotion and value. Capote’s ability to describe and relate the feelings of pride, ego, greed and the loss of the ability to feel of New Yorker’s and their home demonstrates his own inability and attempts to belong. The Narrator and Rusty Trawler, despite adjusting to New York will always be seen as outsiders due to their inability to let go of their past. The Narrator is seen as man with strong feelings toward Holly but never acts upon them but instead, hides them from her in hopes that they will fade but instead they grow stronger. What is most incredible about the narrator is that he never claims he loves Holly or even that he is attracted to her. To him, the love is completely platonic but also incredibly deep.“His strong emotional attachment to the dazzling heroine is intensely romantic yet completely asexual”(Krämer 38). This is what prevents the Narrator from belonging as relationships such as these were seen in a very negative light during the 1950’s when the book was written as men and women were not to be friends and any non-sexusal relationship would draw scrutiny to the man for acting this way. It has since been revealed that the narrator is homosexual,leading to even further segregation from the “normalcy” of New York as he was intensely criticized and polarized by New York,making him a forever outsider. Rusty Trawler, who was previously described as one of those who exemplified New York attitude is also one of those who will be seen as accepted but never truly belong. “Through Trawler, Capote challenges a particular kind of celebrity produced by media, how "money" itself is a celebrity. Trawler does nothing, rarely says anything but stands center-stage, a tabloid figure that represents the emptying out of heroic value”(Smith 7). Despite what Smith says, Trawler does have a purpose as he in itself is another facet of Capote’s identity because he shows how many tried to fill the void with material wealth, just as Capote did with his expensive party and friends, and instead of providing joy, it left only deeper pain. Despite Trawler’s several marriages, he remains unhappy and forever scarred by the death of parents and in a similar fashion, Capote finds it nearly impossible to recover from the death of his mother. Even Holly’s cat shows how difficult it was to be accepted and in the end, can be seen as the only one who manages to find a place at the end of the novel. “I wondered what his name was, for I was certain he had one now, certain he'd arrived somewhere he belonged”(Capote 87). This unnamed cat was a symbol o the life that every person in Breakfast wanted to live, a lae where they could truly be themselves and feel accepted and posses a name, an identity that was their own. Unfortunately, this is not the case for anyone in Breakfast at Tiffany’s but provides a glimmer of hope at what could be.