1958 in Truman Capote’s work was marked by the publication of the novel Breakfast at Tiffany’s, in which he described the world of Holiday (Holly) Golightly and her friend – the writer whose name is unknown. It is full of various symbols represented in literary devices. In 1961, the novel was adapted into a popular film. One of the most striking symbols appearing in the history is a cage. The reader can see it throughout the story – in the woman’s grudge against zoos, in her Christmas gift to the friend – a birdcage, and even in the fact that Holly herself goes to prison (Capote 12, 14, 22). It is a symbol of imprisonment, the opposite of freedom, which Holliday so desperately seeks. Many readers and viewers may think that this is the main purpose of this cage – to emphasize the main character’s wild and freedom-loving nature. It is difficult to notice that both characters of the story built their own cages – they feel out of place, in isolation.
Despite the fact that the cage and everything that it symbolizes worries Holly throughout the story, she seeks to find a rich husband and become domestic at a certain price (Cusack 173). Her passion for Tiffany’s brand, the richness and chic of secular life can only lead her to the gilded cage. Thus, the readers see Holly’s superficiality – her pursuit of money deprives all her conviction of meaning and makes her hypocritical. Although Holly Golightly is the embodiment of the struggle for freedom, the symbol of imprisonment – a cage – is next to her throughout the novel, because she, without noticing, also builds a cage around herself. Thus, this symbol’s study gives impetus to reconsidering the very content of the concept of freedom and changes the understanding of Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
Works Cited
Capote, Truman. Breakfast at Tiffany’s. 1958.
Cusack, Carmen M. Birds and Women in Music, Art, and Politics. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2019.