While reading Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's, I was struck by
a certain quirkiness in his characters. From a certain perspective, all of
Capote's characters, including the nameless speaker, seem rather average or
ordinary -- they are all living life in New York as is expected of their
respective social class and circumstances. However, the way Capote paints them,
giving fine details that ultimately outline their respective characters, gives
them an allure that is almost surreal to me.
Describing Holly's follies, not
only in what she says and does, but what she wears, is an example, just as is Joe
Bell’s “disagreeable” personality, and the specific peculiarities of other
characters. Portraying each character’s life and reaction to said life maps
them out in a way that I don’t often find in American novels. In fact, Capote’s
writing reminds me of many British fiction pieces I have read and often
admired. Holly’s frequent injection of French quotes in her daily speech
influenced me to feel that this was a European work as well.
As can be expected, the character that stood out most in Breakfast at Tiffany’s for me was Holly
Golightly, or Lulamae Barnes, as she is later found to actually be named. This
only makes sense since the author and speaker spend so much time in the novel
intrigued by her, following her very own life story. The portrayal of Holly
Golightly is strangely specific, down to her chic black dress, pearl choker, cropped,
bleached hair, and definitely unforgotten, her dark shades. Holly is the archetypical
“interesting” character. Though not loved by everyone, she certainly has her
fair share of – specifically – male admirers, and quite a number of lovers as
well, not only from her word of mouth but from the speaker’s observances. If a
character like Holly were to exist today, in our midst, you can bet that she
would be the type of girl that most guys flocked over, but a girl that was
devoid of female friends. Other girls would most probably be jealous or
contemptuous of her.
Holly is definitely not my favorite character – and no, this is not because
I would be one of those absurdly jealous ‘other girls,’ as aforementioned. I
focus on her character because the author/speaker obviously wants his readers
to. While reading about Holly’s lifestyle and actions, I couldn’t help but be
scornful of her air-headed follies. Not only was she often deceptive, but she
wasn’t even really a “nice,” proper person. When the narrator initially read
his writing to her, she was unimpressed, and didn’t even bother to hide it. Like
her own friend O.J. Berman called her, she was a “real phony.” I have to
commend the author for trying to pass her off as a likeable character.
I am aware, however that this may all be because of how seriously screwed up
Holly is. By the end of the story, she was a teenage runaway turned courtesan
turned conspirator turned fugitive, who lived through the painful news of her
brother’s death and a miscarriage. One thing that struck me most about her was
how young she was through all of this. The events she lived seemed believable
of a woman in her thirties at least, who had lived most of her life. But Holly
was a mere eighteen years at the novel’s debut.
Capote truly makes me think about personal identity and how life’s events
can shape a person by presenting a character such as Holly to me. A great
lesson I take away from this piece is not to judge a book by its cover; Holly
seemed fictitious initially, but the novel made her up to be quite a woman of
substance.
-- Nakita
No comments:
Post a Comment