Truman Capote
Discussion questions:
1. Is there anything particularly modern about Miss Holly Golightly? Is the idea of human beings treating themselves, or others, as commoditites a new one?
2. Comment on the following dialogue:
"So, what do you think: is she or ain't she?"
"Ain't she what?"
"A phony."
"I wouldn't have thought so."
"You're wrong. She is a phony. But on the other hand you're right. She isn't a phony because she's a real phony."
3. Manners and mores were declared "out-dated" in the 60s, and those who clung to them were accused of hypocracy. What are the arguments pro/con? What led to this philosophic development, and what followed it?
4. Post-war America suffered an identity crisis (we'll talk more about this after reading 'God and the Atom'). How did the gradual de-humanizing of society affect individual personalities? How did it affect Miss Golightly? Why is she so insecure?
5. Given the autobiographical nature of this story, what is Capote trying to tell us about himself? Is the vague hope of redemption he accords Miss Golightly (at the end of the story) meant to imply that Capote did not, finally, despair of himself?
6. "Why did God make me?" is the perennial question asked by man. Did Capote, or Miss Golightly, ever come to a conclusion about this?
Of Interest:
- Breakfast at Tiffany's, 1961, directed by Blake Edwards, starring Audrey Hepburn at her most gorgeous (pictured above)
