Preview

Symbolism In Breakfast At Tiffany's

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
749 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Symbolism In Breakfast At Tiffany's
Breakfast at Tiffany's reveals a persistent theme of freedom and need to break confinement with a hidden unwarranted desire for stability. The desire for these things can cause individuals to act in unusual ways to protect the things they want the most. Holly craves this sense of freedom and independence while others attempt to form a more stabilized bond and environment with Holly, she refuses. The intense desire she feels for the necessity to be independent causes her to push people away and neglect any close ties individuals attempt to have with her. The symbols presented throughout the story show the evolution of Holly, as a character, as her once overbearing desires become restrained in an attempt to get a taste of a life of stability. …show more content…
A cage is a reoccurring object; the cage first comes into the picture when the narrator and Holly are walking past an antique shop in New York City. When Holly first sees the cage in the window of the store, she expresses her true disgust for them. "It was near the antique shop with the palace of a bird cage in its window, so I took her to see it, and she enjoyed the point, it's fantasy: "but it's still a cage"(Capote, 44). The audience, later on, finds out that Holly envisions herself as a "wild animal" that should never be caged. She thinks that all wild animals should be free and should not be held captive by people in cages. When the narrator and Holly walk through Central Park, she refused to go near the zoo never the less through it. The description she gives of living life in Doc's house in Tulip, Texas was like being held captive in a cage for her. It doesn't stop there the cage becomes prevalent again. When Christmas rolls around the narrator and Holly exchange presents, Holly gives the narrator the massive picturesque bird cage they saw in the window of the shop. Well, Holly gives the narrator the cage, she requires that he never puts any wild things in the cage; which she knows that if she gifts the cage to him, he will listen to her and not put any wild thing within it. The cage came to be a symbol of the narrator and Holly's connection. It was also the cause of an argument the two shared, as a result the narrator

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The 1961 movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s directed by Blake Edwards and based on the novel of the same name, is about Holly Golightly a young woman who is living independently as a socialite in New York during the 60’s. The movie is regarded as a large reflection of American culture and the different values and opinions that were held by many people during the time. The movie is also a great example of filmmaking in the mid-20th century and how it compares to today’s style of filmmaking.…

    • 455 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    does a caged bird symbolise? Obviously the bird represents her young self and the cage…

    • 611 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Symbolism In Lolita

    • 286 Words
    • 2 Pages

    This same truth can be found in Vladimir Nabokov’s “Lolita”. Like Gatsby, the protagonist, Humbert of the novel Lolita fantasizes of attaining another person and also succeeds. Humbert dreams of grasping and possessing his flawless Lolita who has no will and who can satisfy his sexual desires. The parallelism between these situations is that in Humbert’s quest of molding Lolita, she is completely destroyed, her innocence is snatched from her and so is her right to live. In the same way Tehran’s regime ends up damaging the country and most importantly Islam by utilizing it as an “instrument of oppression” thus wounding the country more profoundly than any other foreign country could have done. In each case, either a person or group of greater…

    • 286 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When birds are caged up they aren’t able to be free and fly away peacefully. The patients in the ward are all caged in the mental institution. In the novel Chief Bromnen is the narrator and he talks about the institution as being a “pen”. A pen refers to an area that confines chickens. McMurphy talk about chickens in the novel when referring the patients and their treatment. He talked about a pecking party, in which chickens spot blood on each other and start pecking each to death. This was a reference to how the head nurse holds group meetings which lead to a negative result. The patients go at each other like chickens at these meetings causing them all to hurt each other in the…

    • 483 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Symbolism is used throughout the novel To Kill A Mockingbird. A mockingbird is used as a metaphor in the book. Some characters are portrayed as a mockingbird, including Tom Robinson, Scout Finch, and Boo Radley. These characters represent mockingbirds in different ways.…

    • 477 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Glass Menagerie, by Williams, Tennessee is set in 1937 in the city of St Louis. The narrator is Tom Wingfield who supports his sister, Laura, and mother, Amanda. Tom acknowledges that he is the only man in the family and he strives to take care of the two women. Laura is a shy girl who drops out of school due to the challenges that she faces because of her shyness. The relevance of the narrative is deeply engraved in the use of the symbolism of the unicorn whose horn was later broken to resemble a normal horse due to its association with the conversion of the disillusioned Laura into a normal minded woman. Laura keeps the unicorn and other glass animals to be distracted from the normal daily activities that provoke her painful shyness. This paper analyses the use of symbolism in the play The Glass Menagerie.…

    • 1088 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Awakening Symbols

    • 943 Words
    • 4 Pages

    ▪ The fact that both birds are caged clearly indicates a feeling of entrapment. The ability to spread wings and fly is a symbolic theme that occurs often in the novel.…

    • 943 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In order to value a movie such as To Kill A Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee; one must recognize the significance of certain symbolic items that are placed in the movie, and how they turn this story into a work of art. The opening credits play an important role in the movie, and help to illustrate certain symbols within the novel. The various objects that are included in the title sequence are a drawing of a bird, a harmonica, a pocket watch, a pearl necklace, marbles, and a whistle. The title, To Kill A Mockingbird has little importance to the occurrence of events within the novel, but it does hold value in terms of symbolism. Two characters in the novel represent the mockingbird and each illustrates the idea of how innocence is destroyed by evil. The objects that take on symbolic value in To Kill A Mockingbird represent something much larger than their physical appearance. Although the title sequence holds great symbolic value, the central symbol is the harmless mockingbird. Both Tom Robinson and Boo Radley are innocent members of the community and invoke no harm on society, and they are destroyed by the illogical stereotypes within the town of Maycomb. However, the first occurrence of symbolism lies within the title sequence.…

    • 835 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    A professor named Peter Drucker stated, ‘’the most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said.’’ The quote basically means the ability to read the emotions and nonverbal communication of another person increases the understanding and elevates relationships. A prominent writer and producer named John Hughes directed a movie called The Breakfast Club where five students with nothing in common are faced with spending a Saturday detention together. At the beginning of the movie they have absolutely nothing to say to each other but by 4 P.M., they had bared their souls to each other and become good friends. The five main characters are introduced as Allison the Basket Case, Brian the Nerd, Claire the Princess, Andy the Athlete, and Bender the Criminal. John Hughes uses characterization in The Breakfast Club by showing people from totally different backgrounds can communicate and even agree on issues.…

    • 1505 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    What do you believe the pearl symbolizes? The pearl can symbolize multiple things depending on how you view the things that happen. The pearl in The Pearl symbolized a lot of things to Kino and his family. It also symbolized many things to the others like the citizens of the town. Kino and his family go through various things because of the pearl. Their life changes it as they know it.…

    • 603 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Truman Capote

    • 822 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Breakfast at Tiffany’s was one of his best novels. Truman Capote loved the social life. He constantly wanted to be going out partying and wanted to be the center of attention. He met a girl named Holly Golightly who made his book Breakfast at Tiffany’s possible. Holly was a woman who depended on men to get by with everything in life. Truman went to social events with her and spent as much time as possible with her. Once he got enough stories about her life he wrote the popular and successful book Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The novel soon became a movie starring Aubrey Hepburn.…

    • 822 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Megna-Wallace, Joanne. Understanding I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998.…

    • 2750 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Writers often use symbols to present a deeper meaning in their writing. A symbol is used to communicate meaning by representing a physical entity, a situation, or an emotion. Using symbols is an effective way to add dynamics to a storyline. It is a way to display a mood or theme without simply stating it. Tennessee Williams uses several symbols in the play, The Glass Menagerie.…

    • 675 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novel, of mice and men, theer was symbolizm throughout the story. In the beginning of the novel the stting was perfect, like "The Garden of Eden". LIke in "The Garden of Eden" there was a snake, and in this novel it slipped across the water sggestin possible evil to come. The rabbits on the other hand symoloized Lenny's joy and goodness, and formed the bases of his dreams.…

    • 609 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The story of Cinderella has been shared through many generations, exploring the life of a beautiful girl who is cruelly abused by her wicked stepsisters and stepmother. The director of Cinderella uses a song in every scene, making a definite contribution to the tone of underlying happiness despite the pitiful servitude Cinderella must succumb to in the movie. Not a single rhythm or melody is arbitrarily inserted into the narrative. Not only this, but the use of shadows and romantic auras to elicit a full quota of inventive ideas, is also eminent. However, the films' strongest point is its ability to elicit an emotional response from its audience through the traumatizing scenes, which consist of many horrific elements. This ability to get a hold of the audience in a way that makes the viewer feel that they are experiencing the whole film is where its success lies.…

    • 762 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics