47 pages • 1 hour read
Truman CapoteBreakfast at Tiffany's
Fiction | Novella | Adult | Published in 1958A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 13-16Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 13 Summary
That evening, a story about Holly is printed in the newspaper. Alongside pictures of her, the article claims that she has been "ARRESTED IN NARCOTICS SCANDAL" (79). The newspaper claims that Holly has been helping Sally Tomato run an "international drug ring" (80) from inside Sing Sing prison. The narrator claims to have known about the arrest before the story hit the papers. Holly had taken him home and was administering medicine to him like "an attentive nurse" (81) when the police burst in. The police officers pointed to the sick and nude narrator as evidence of Holly's scandalous behavior, ignoring her attempts to explain the innocent nature of the situation. As she was led away, Holly asked the narrator to "please feed the cat" (82).
Chapter 14 Summary
Joe Bell comes to the narrator to ask whether the stories about Holly are true. Joe and the narrator call around to Holly's friends, trying to raise money for her bail. They struggle to reach anyone who is truly close with Holly and they drink too much. Finally, they talk to O. J. Berman who claims to have already sent the best possible lawyer to resolve the situation on the condition that they keep his name "anonymous" (84).
Chapter 15 Summary
The next day, Holly is still in jail. The narrator feeds her cat by climbing in through her window. In her apartment, he meets Jose's cousin. The cousin claims to be packing up all of Jose's possessions; he gives the narrator a letter from Jose to give to Holly. The narrator understands that Jose is breaking up with Holly. He says Jose should be "horse-whipped" (85).
Chapter 16 Summary
The narrator visits Holly in jail, where she tells him that she lost her baby during their high-speed horseback ride. Her conversation drifts to a "fat woman" (86) who she has been seeing everywhere since the death of her brother. She asks the narrator whether he now understands why she felt the need to destroy her apartment after her brother's death. Reluctantly, the narrator hands Jose's letter to Holly. Jose claims in the letter that he loves Holly but, as a politician, he cannot afford to be associated with "the disgrace of [her] present circumstance" (87). Jose acknowledges that he is a coward for this. The narrator suggests that, at the very least, Jose is honest.
Given this revelation, however, Holly thanks the narrator. If not for the narrator, she says, she would still be pregnant with Jose's child and she would be in an even more difficult situation. The "strenuous exercise" (88) of the horseback chase caused her to miscarry. She admits that she has given thought to suing the police department and claiming that they were the ones to instigate her miscarriage. The narrator cautions Holly to be more serious. She suggests that she plans to leave the country once she makes bail, traveling to Brazil even if she is no longer with Jose. The narrator warns her that fleeing the country while under "criminal indictment" (89) is illegal but he cannot change her mind. Holly insists that she will never betray her "friend" (90) Sally Tomato as he is the only person who was ever truly kind to her. If she stays in the United States, she says, her reputation will be ruined by the trial, even if she is found innocent. A woman with her "particular talents" (91) would not be able to continue in such a fashion. Then, she asks the narrator whether he can do her a favor and put together a list of Brazil's 50 richest men.
Chapters 13-16 Analysis
Holly's departure from America is prompted by a spate of newspaper articles which accuse her of working with known-criminal Sally Tomato. The newspaper articles illustrate Holly's complicated relationship with the truth. Like so much of her life, her relationship with Sally Tomato is portrayed through innuendo, wry comments, and assumptions. The narrator tries to ask Holly about the true nature of what she does for Sally Tomato but she deflects his questions, leaving an empty space in the narrative where the truth might be. This empty space is filled with gossip, rumor, and mistruths. Like Holly's past, her potential involvement in sex work, or many other private parts of her life, she prefers vagueness over the definitive truth. The obfuscation of reality allows Holly to hide her truth self; she does not need to expose her raw, vulnerable emotions to the world if the world is too busy guessing about the truth.
While this approach has served Holly well thus far, the newspapers provide a definitive endpoint for her desire to preserve her privacy. Once the newspaper articles are published, the truth is irrelevant. In the minds of the public, Holly is a criminal. Her reputation is ruined by stories which may not be true, meaning that Holly can no longer maintain her carefully-constructed identity. If everyone believes Holly to be a criminal, then the truth is irrelevant: She will be treated like a criminal and her reputation will be ruined, simply because this is the version of reality which has become accepted. Holly's complicated relationship with truth and reality protects her for a long time but this same dynamic forces her to flee the country.
Jose and Holly's relationship provides Holly with a brief moment of hope which is ultimately dashed by the accusations in the newspapers. Holly's hope for the future is represented by her pregnancy. However, she loses the child when she is chasing after the narrator and his out-of-control horse. The miscarriage happens at a particularly brutal moment in Holly's life. Shortly after losing her baby, she loses her reputation and then she loses Jose. She loses the possibility of moving to Brazil as the wife of an ambitious politician and instead faces the prospect of fleeing the country as a wanted criminal.
The loss of the child also complicates her relationship with the narrator. He thanks Holly for saving his life but neglects to mention that he is, at the very least, partially responsible for her miscarriage. He struggles to vocalize his condolences to Holly but his guilt is heartfelt enough that, following her arrest, he is one of the few people who works hard to help her reclaim her freedom. He arranges for her to post bail and he helps her to flee the country. The guilt—coupled with his realization that he and Holly have no romantic future—places a burden of responsibility on him. He realizes that he has misunderstood Holly and misinterpreted the tragedy of her past and her present. As a result, he does what he can to alleviate tragedy in her future.
Most of the people in Holly's life reveal themselves to be cowards following her arrest. Few people are willing to offer help. Mag goes so far as to threaten to sue anyone who associates her with her former roommate. Most strikingly, Jose breaks up with Holly by letter. He is, as he admits, a coward. He cannot face seeing Holly one final time, so he sends her an infantilizing, patronizing letter. Jose claims that he cannot face a public scandal for the sake of his career, particularly in the wake of the recent newspaper articles. Holly, however, has always been honest with Jose. He knows about Sally Tomato and this knowledge was never enough to prevent him from impregnating Holly, nor from dangling the prospect of a future in Brazil in front of her. Jose was willing to risk public scandal right up until the moment he was not. His claims about his career seem hollow and cowardly, providing him with the opportunity to decline his responsibilities and flee the country right when Holly needs him most. Jose claims to have been in love with Holly but, like so many of his promises, these words are revealed to be empty.
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By Truman Capote
