Breakfast at Tiffany’s

BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’SCarlos Hernandez and Luis Gonzalez

Background: Breakfast at Tiffany’s is a fictional short

novel. It takes places in the Manhattan’s Upper East Side, during the final years of WWII.

Capote composed the novel in the Spring of 1958, and his next major work was In Cold Blood.

Main Characters: Narrator- when the story was being told,

he was a struggling unpublished writer. Holly- was a tenant in the old brown-

stone and lived in the apartment below the narrator.

Joe Bell- runs a bar around the corner on Lexington Avenue.

Characters Continued… O.J. Berman- a Hollywood actor’s agent. Rutherford “Rusty” Trawler- millionaire

who has the physical appearance of a newborn baby. He was Holly’s companion for a while and later marries Mag Wildwood.

Mag Wildwood- one of Holly’s friend and shares the apartment for a while.

Doc Golightly- the man Holly married as a young child.

Narrator His name is never mentioned throughout

the story. For a while, his nickname was Fred since he resembled Holly’s brother.

We do not learn much of his life and mostly recalls events when he is with Holly.

He begins the story when Joe Bell shows him pictures of an African carving that resembles Holly.

Why do you think the narrator’s name was omitted?

pg1-11 Narrator reminisces about his first apartment

in New York Why was the narrator fond of his first

apartment? His memory is triggered by a phone call from

Joe Bell. Both haven’t seen each other for years and

Joe doesn’t give a reason about the phone call Narrator thinks Joe has some information

about Holly Golightly.

Pg 1-11… After arriving, he has no information

about her but a clue instead They hadn’t seen Mr. Yunioshi in

approximately 2 years he’s been in Africa Joe Bell has an eveloped containing

photographs from Mr. Yunioshi taken in Africa

One of the photos, the narrator recognizes a sculpture as an exact image of Holly Golightly.

What was the sculpture made out of?

Holly Golightly The short novel is centered around this

young girl. When the narrator first saw her, she was

a young 18 year old girl. “Her mouth was large, her nose upturned. A pair of dark glasses blotted out her eyes. It was a face beyond childhood, yet this side of belonging to a woman” (pg. 12)

She preferred older men, especially rich men.

Holly cont. As we later find out throughout the novel,

she was married as a young child. She also visits Salvatore “Sally” Tomato

every Thursday and tells his lawyer “the weather report”. She earns $100 per week.

Pg 11-26 Back when he first moved into the

apartments in New York The first time he noticed an unusual card

on one of the mailboxes: “ Miss Holiday Golightly; Traveling” (pg)

Mr. Yunioshi and Holly argued about ringing the door, since Holly lost her key

She stopped ringing Mr. Yunoishi door bell Instead she rings the narrators door bell

Pg 11-26… One night, Holly stands at the narrators fire

escape watching him through the window She calls him “Fred” because he looks like his

brother, Fred Both reveal something, she reveals that she

“trained” herself to like older man and he reveals that he is a writer

Confesses that on Thursdays she goes to visit Sally Tomato, a mobster. “(Joe Bell showed me his picture in the paper. Blackhand. Mafia. All that mumbo jumbo: but they gave him five years)” (pg. 24)

Pg 26-48 Holly leaves an apology note to the

narrator saying she won’t bother him again

Then the following Thursday she leaves an invitation to her apartment

O.J. Berman is found on Holly’s apartment While she takes a shower, both are

talking about her being a “phony” She plans to marry “Rusty Trawler”

Pg 26-48… Holly’s apartment fills with strangers, men older

than her Mag Wildwood returns to the apartment and gets

upset when she finds strangers at the apartment On Sunday, both Mag and Holly talk about Mag’s

relationship with Jose Yberra-Jaegar Also discusses about his brother Fred Mag talks about moving to Brazil with Jose once

they get married Holly pressures Mag for details about Jose sexual

habits

Group Questions1. How does the narrator know I.Y. Yunioshi?2. Why does Joe Bell refuse to believe that

Holly is in New York?3. On what days does Holly visit Sally

Tomato at Sing Sing?4. How did Sally Tomato get Holly to visit?

O.J. Berman “I’m the first one saw her. Out at Santa

Anita. She’s hanging around the track every day. I’m interested: professionally” (pg. 30)

He guides Holly towards being an actress, and was even going to audition in The Story of Dr. Wassell for the part as Dr. Wassell’s nurse.

The day before the audition Holly calls Berman and tells him she’s in New York.

He still tries to be a guidance for Holly.

Pg 49-53 Receives good news from a small

university about his writing Excited he goes to Holly’s apartment Holly offers her congrutulations and takes

him to lunch They went to Joe Bell’s bar After a while, each one tells their

childhood story

Pg 53-60 One afternoon, Holly enters a library and

the narrator follows her At Christmas-Eve, Holly and Mag made a

party Holly buys him the bird cage he admired He buys her a St. Christopher’s medal After the party, Rusty, Jose, Mag and

Holly take a winter trip to key west An incident caused a tension between

Holly and Mag

Pg 60-70 The narrator notices a suspicious man

looking at Holly’s mailbox The man follows him and sits besides him The man, Doc Golightly, happens to be

Holly’s husband Doc Golightly tells the narrator the story

about Holly and his brother Fred Where does Doc Golightly approach the

narrator?

Doc Golightly Halfway through the novel, this character appears. “That evening, on my way to supper, I saw the man

again. He was standing across the street, leaning against a tree and staring up at Holly’s windows” (pg. 61).

One morning, Holly and her brother Fred were caught stealing milk and turkey eggs.

Holly, at only fourteen years old, married Doc. “She knew good-and-well what she was doing when

she promised to be my wife and the mother of my churren” (pg. 64)

According to Doc Golightly, what was Holly's original name?

Pg 71-75 Narrator finds out that Mag and Rusty got

married Holly breaks down after receiving a

telegram from Doc, saying that her brother, Fred, died in action, “It was a telegram from Tulip, Texas: Received notice young Fred killed in action overseas stop your husband and children join in the sorrow of our mutual loss stop letter follows love Doc” (Capote 75)

Holly stops referring to the narrator as Fred

Group Questions 1. On September 30, what did the

narrator do with Holly? 2. What happened to the narrator? 3. What happened to Holly? Why?

pg 75-105 On September 30, Holly was arrested

since she was involved with Sally Tomato. Berman hires a lawyer to bail her out. Holly goes to the hospital because she

was very ill Narrator hands her a letter to Holly What did the letter say? Pg 94 volunteer

Continued… Holly still plans to go to Brazil Narrator goes to her apartment to pick up

her belongings and meets Holly at Joe’s Bar

The narrator and Joe help her escape Joe hires a limousine to take her to the

airport Holly leaves and they never hear from

her

Freedom Holly represents freedom itself. A sense

of adventure. She constantly feels the need to escape

from places and people. Most of the time she is out and comes

home very late. “She kept her promise to Mr. Yunioshi; or I assume she did not ring his bell again, for in the next days she started ringing mine, sometimes at two in the morning, three and four…” (pg. 14)

A Sense of Belonging Throughout the novel, the idea of

belongingness reoccurs. Holly feels the need to constantly escape from

things because she believes what ever situation it might be, does not belong to her. Such as the audition for the part of Dr. Wassell’s nurse; leaving Doc and her brother; moving to South America. She wants to feel at home, like she does at Tiffany’s.

She does not want to attach herself to anything, not even her own cat. (pg. 37&102) Volunteer.

Naming The novel utilizes naming to signify a

person’s character. Both the narrator and cat remain

nameless, which is used to portray a sense of distance. By remaining nameless, it is as if they do not “belong” to anyone.

Holly’s name change represents an attempt of removing her past roots.