In Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote, Holly Golightly’ s life isn’t directly told from her point of view, but her life is told by various people within the novel; as a result, this causes a difference between storytelling and point of view. Holly’s life is told from three character’s point of view within the novel. The difference between these points of views and storytelling will be revealed in this essay.
The narrator tells his experiences with Holly and her weaknesses and strengths from his point of view. He enjoys the company of Holly and will do practically anything for her. The Narrator reminds Holly of her brother Fred (20). The friendship between Holly and the Narrator is shown throughout the novel. The narrator has a positive view on how he portrays Holly. He often lets Holly use him to her advantage sometimes within the story, but the narrator has patience and understanding towards Holly. The main character telling the story is very passive when it comes to situations that revolve around Holly. The narrator is forced to acquiesce or give in to certain dilemmas that he encounters within the novel. One of the most important things to the narrator is Holly finding happiness regardless of the obstacles the narrator telling the story has to go through. The narrator and Holly can be seen as foil characters. The differences between the both of them help Holly and the Narrator get along quite well throughout the story. At times, they will disagree on certain topics, but overall Holly and the narrator have a good and steady relationship. Through the good and the bad, Holly and the narrator are still friends.
O.J. Berman views Holly as a fake and phony individual based on his interactions with her (30). He thinks that she ...
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...Criticism. Ed. Jelena O. Krstovic. Vol. 93. Detroit: Gale, 2006. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 26 July 2010.
2. Capote, Truman. Breakfast at Tiffany’s. New York, NY: Randon House. 1958. Print
3. Dapos; Arcy, Chantal Cornut-Gentille. "Who's Afraid of the Femme Fatale in Breakfast at Tiffany's?: Exposure and Implications of a Myth." Gender, I-Deology: Essays on Theory, Fiction, and Film. Ed. Chantal Cornut-Gentille D'Arcy and José Angel García Landa. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1996. 371-383. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Jelena O. Krstovic. Vol. 93. Detroit: Gale, 2006. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 26 July 2010.
4. Pugh, Tison. "Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's." The Explicator 61.1 (Fall 2002): 51-53. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Jelena O. Krstovic. Vol. 93. Detroit: Gale, 2006. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 26 July 2010.
After reading the passage, “Clover”, by Billy Lombardo, a reader is able to describe a particular character’s interactions and analyze descriptions of this individual. In the passage, “Clover”, is a teacher, Graham. He, in his classroom, shares something that had occurred that morning. In this passage, the author, Billy Lombardo, describes interaction, responses, and unique characteristics and traits of the key character, Graham.
In Charles Baxter’s short story “Gryphon” Tommy defends Mrs. Ferenczi, for two main reasons. First, she’s different than everyone else in five oaks; she makes things up about weird and interesting stories that aren't necessarily true. Tommy has never met anyone like her and enjoys having her around, and as the story unfolds, we see that the more intense and odd Mrs. Freneczi becomes, the greater lengths Tommy goes to defend her. (This is the second part of the prompt, which you haven’t addressed. If you added a bit more information from the text along these lines, your essay would be complete.
"Unit 2: Reading & Writing About Short Fiction." ENGL200: Composition and Literature. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011. 49-219. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.
“Short Stories." Short Story Criticism. Ed. Jelena Krstovic. Vol. 127. Detroit: Gale, Cengage Learning, 2010. 125-388. Literature Criticism Online. Gale. VALE - Mercer County Community College. 28 February 2014
...simov. Ed. Joseph D. Olander and Martin Harry Greenberg. N.p.: Taplinger, 1977. 32-58. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jean C. Stine. Vol. 26. Detroit: Gale, 1983. 41-45. Print.
...Literary Criticism. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Vol. 12. Detroit: Gale Research, 1980. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 3 Mar. 2014.
Publishers, 1992. Rpt. In Short Story Criticism. Ed. Justin Karr. Vol. 44. Detroit: Gale Group, 2001. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 19 July 2010.
Bryfonski, Dedria, and Phyllis Carmel Mendelson, eds. Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1978.
...d. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 254. Detroit: Gale, Cengage Learning, 2008. 287-89. Literature Criticism Online. Web. 9 Apr. 2014.
1. If the narrator is the protagonist in this story, who (or what) is the antagonist? With whom (or what), exactly, is she in conflict? What does the narrator seem to want, and what prevents her from getting it?
First of all, Holly uses freedom as an opportunity to escape from all of her situation that she is faced with. Freedom for Holly is a way to escape from being a scared and skinny 14—year-old child. Holly wants freedom so bad that she chose to leave her immediate family behind. Holly wants “A new birth of freedom” (Lincoln). In order to get “A new birth of freedom”, Ms. Golightly decides that she wants freedom from her new family, which has taking care of her and her brother. While living with this family Holly does not need to do anything because her children made sure that everything is done around the house. Holly feels that people and animals should be free even to the point, when she buys Fred a bird-cage she tells him to, “Promise you’ll...
Bressler, Charles E. Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. 5th ed. New York: Longman, 2011. Print.
"You can make yourself love anybody." (p.41) She also even puts down women, even though she says "I've got him on my hands he's harmless, he thinks girls are dolls literally." (p.43) She would do anything for money, even visit criminals in jail (Sally Tomato) just for money. A modern woman or a woman of today would not be caught dead acting like Holly. A 90's women is only dependent on herself, because women now get equal opportunities and rights for everything. Even in the workplace now too. Another thing that differs in a modern woman, is the rate of single women who got divorced.
Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Jay Parini. Vol. 14. Detroit: Gale Research, 1987. Literature Resource Center. Web. 24 Jan. 2012.
Holly is not only a physical paradox of a girl and a woman, but so is her personality, she has an odd mixture of child-like innocence and street smart sexuality. This is most apparent in Holly's chosen profession, the one dubbed "the world's oldest". Holly seems to always have a man banging on her door or passing out in her apartment asking for more money or another "appointment". Holly's first real conversation with the narrator takes place some time after the midnight hour when she escapes from one of her drunken clients via the fire escape and knocks on the narrator's window. Much to his surprise, she is wearing only a robe and asks if she can stay in his apartment until the man in her's passes out or leaves.