Miriam Truman Capote Sparknotes

In the short story, Miriam, Truman Capote tells the story of an older woman who meets a peculiar little girl. Mrs. Miller, the elderly women, lived a very scheduled, and orderly life. She normally kept to herself, due to her lack of friends and family. Mrs. Miller plans on living out the rest of her life in tranquility, until she meets Miriam. From the first moments of Mrs. Miller meeting Miriam she finds there is something quite mysterious about the little girl. After meeting Miriam, Mrs. Miller’s life begins to change, she loses track of the days, and she has weird dreams featuring a little girl in a white dress. The clear implication is that Miriam is an angel of death. On a cold, and snowy day Mrs. Miller decides to go out to a movie.

Miller ventured outside to go into town. She stops by the grocery store and a diner. When leaving the diner she notices a strange raggedy old man watching her from across the street. “There was nothing friendly about this smile, it was merely two cold flickers of recognition. But she was certain she had never seen him before” (Capote 45). Mrs. Miller is almost sure that she had never seen this man before, yet she feels as if she knows him. He smiles at her almost as if he knows what is going to happen too. This can be interpreted as he has also fallen victim to the angel of death. Mrs. Miller continues on her way, yet this man begins to follow her. She finally reaches a florist’s shop and enters as the man passes on the street with only “a tip of the hat” to her. There she bought white roses, and then goes to a bakery to buy some sweets. All the shopping that had been done was odd behavior for Mrs. Miller, but what she bought were things that Miriam asked her for. “She touched a paper rose in a vase on the coffee table. ‘Imitation,’ …‘though now an almond cake or a cherry would be ideal. Sweets are lovely, don't you think?’”(Capote 40-43). This implies that Mrs. Miller is subconsciously being forced to buy those things for

Miller returned home, she set up all the items that were bought earlier that day, and soon after Miriam appears at the door. She claimed that she had come to live with Mrs. Miller. Flustered Mrs. Miller ran downstairs to her neighbors, and had one of them go see if they can get rid of her. The Man comes back and informs her that there was nothing in her room. She returns to her apartment, and notices the room looks dead. “But this was an empty room, emptier than if the furnishings and familiars were not present, lifeless and petrified as a funeral parlor.”(Capote 49). Capote describes the living room to look like a funeral to help foreshadow that Miriam is about to do something bad to Mrs. Miller. She tries to get a grip on what is real, but suddenly an upper surge flow through her body. This sudden upward rush feeling is meant to represent the process of the spirit trying to be removed from the