Breakfast At Tiffany`s Essay, Research Paper

Breakfast at Tiffany?s by Truman Capote is about the thought that friendship

can make a person take drastic measures in helping a friend. The setting is New

York City. The point of view is first person limited. Seen through the eyes of

the narrator, called ?Fred? ( the main character ), who is a starting

writer. I enjoyed the story because it was very interesting to learn and

experience life in old New York. The story starts out, probably in the present

time, when ?Fred?, who had now been living in New York for a great deal of

time, goes into his friend Joe Bell?s bar for a drink. There he learns the his

long time friend, Holly Golightly, is still alive by the use of a photograph

from an explorer which shows a wood carving made by a tribesman which bears the

uncanny resemblance to Holly. After this encounter, ?Fred? begins to

reminisce about his past with Holly and all of their wild adventures.

?Fred?s? first meeting with Holly was through his apartment window. Holly

Golightly is a nineteen year-old self-sufficient woman. Some of her personality

traits are admirable, affectionate, while cold hearted. She is motivated in life

by striving for her purpose in life, which is to be rich and famous while

keeping her ego. She believes that love is not sexual. Holly, trying to escape a

horrible date, decides to visit her new downstairs neighbor. There she

practically tells ?Fred? everything about her life. Fred was a name Holly

chose for ?Fred? because he looked like her brother Fred, but since the

point of view is first person, the narrator refers to himself throughout the

story as ?I?, but Holly generally refers to him as ?Fred?. In

?Fred?s? apartment, Holly tells ?Fred? about her involvement with a

imprisoned drug runner name Sally Tomato, a stock mobster character who pays

Holly to visit him. ?Fred? learns more about Holly?s friends when he

attends a party hosted by Holly. There he meets Rusty Trawler, Holly?s current

boyfriend, Mag Wildwood, a cunning southern bell from Arkansas who would

eventually steal away Holly?s boyfriend. ?Fred? realizes that Holly?s

friends are not the usual type of people that attend parties. Which is described

when Mag first enters the party and says in her southern accent, " You

b-b-boys not vexed at me for butting in on your p-p-party." Mag says this

even though everybody knows she was attending. The tone of the story is funny

and sarcastic. The action then abruptly changes when Holly, Mag, Rusty, and

Mag?s boyfriend, Jose` Ybarra-Jaegar, an eccentric Brazilian politician, went

on a trip to Brazil. There Mag steals Holly?s boyfriend, Rusty, and Holly does

the same with Mag?s boyfriend, Jose`. When they get back, Holly is detected by

her former husband. ?Fred? then learns that Holly?s real name was Lulamae

Barnes before she was married as a child bride to a southerner named Doc

Golightly. Also, over this period of time, Holly?s involvement with Mag?s

ex-boyfriend drives Mag away. This is a very rough time for Holly. In order to

ease the pain and pass the time, Holly spend more and more time with ?Fred?

drinking in Joe Bell?s bar. Joe Bell is a shy bar owner who conceals his

feeling about the rambunctious Holly. Even though he is in love with her, Joe

keeps his feelings hidden. Everything is fine till one day after horse-back

riding. After ?Fred? has a sever accident, involving a horse and an abrupt

trip downtown, Holly is suddenly arrested for being involved in a drug triangle

with Sally Tomato. Apparently, Sally was using Holly to relay information from

him to his drug empire outside the prison walls. At this same moment ?Fred?

finds out that Jose` is leaving Holly and he has to tell her the news. The theme

is reinforced in these chapters by the way the narrator goes out of his way to

do things for his friend, Holly. They go horse back riding, even though

?Fred? is uneasy about riding. They also decide to steal masks from a

costume store. After all of these horrible things happen to Holly, she decides

to break out of jail and move to Brazil. Even though ?Fred? knows she is

probably never coming back, he still has hope for Holly?s return. And he

shares that hope with Joe Bell at his bar. ?Fred? knows that he would have

done anything to keep his and Holly?s relationship strong. Which is the theme

of the story: friendship can make a person take drastic measures in helping a

friend. Holly Golightly was just a lost romantic. A surreal person living in a

real word. Dealing with real people and problems in an unorthodox way. So, if

you?re ever in Brazil and you happen to see Holly, tell her that ?Fred? is

doing fine.