ipl-logo

Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory

978 Words4 Pages

Giving all you have to make other people happy is selfless. Observe as the theme of a “A Christmas Memory” is revealed through love and generosity. In “A Christmas Memory,” Truman Capote’s theme of it’s better to give than to receive is proven through the use of the literary elements setting, characterization, and plot.
The setting of “A Christmas Memory” proves that the older lady and Buddy rather use their money for others and for each other than using their money for housing or things that they like. The setting is during the Great Depression when there is poverty everywhere (Morgan Todd Katie). The author uses the setting during great poverty to show that Buddy, the older lady, and Queenie have very little and use what they do have not …show more content…

Truman Capote uses the elderly lady and Buddy to show that it is better to give than to get. The old lady has a long youthful illness that causes her to act like a child. During the time of year the story is set in, the elder lady’s imagination stimulates. Even though she has very little and is old, she saves up all she has to get things for other people. This lady even tries to sell her cameo that her Papa gave to buy buddy a good Christmas present (Capote 348). Instead of buying something for herself, she tries to give all she has to him because it gives her joy. Miss Sook fills with happiness because it is “fruitcake weather.” Although there are many things that need done such as Christmas fixings and shopping list as well as purchases to be made, she devotes her well needed time to making these fruitcakes (Storypath). Miss Sook makes fruit cakes so other people can be delighted even though the elderly lady has much to be done. She gets joy out of giving. The older lady would rather give something, such as a fruit cake, to someone and make them happy than receive something or buy herself something. The older lady and Buddy save up all their other money they have all year long to make fruit cakes (Mary Todd Katie). Buddy does the same as Miss Sook. He tries to save up all his money to buy her something instead of himself. He tries to buy her a pearl-handled knife, a pound of chocolate-dipped …show more content…

During the story the old lady, Miss Sook, and Buddy conserve their money the whole year for Christmas presents for others. To back up the theme, the plot of the story is based on Buddy and the elderly lady giving all they have to other people to have joy at Christmas time. The conflict in this story arises when neither of the main characters have enough money to get each other when they would really like to buy them. Buddy and Miss Sook both do not have money left after making the fruitcakes for other people to buy each other things. Their joy to give each other things rather than to get it for themselves shows the need to give rather than to receive (Mary Todd Katie). Throughout the story the characters go through adventures finding the ingredients for the fruit cakes. All the time they are making a Christmas memory. Further analysis shows that the Christmas memory they are making is their greatest Christmas present of all. While Buddy and the old lady are giving others their time and money, they are also receiving joy themselves, and both of them are receiving the best present of all, the gift of

Show More
Related
284 Words | 2 Pages

A Christmas Memory: Imagery & Mood In the story "A Christmas Memory" by Truman Capote was a young boy and his elderly cousin. They were really good friends and the elderly cousin called the little boy Buddy in memory of her best friend who died when she was a little kid. People in the house where she lived yelled and screamed at her. "

Read More
644 Words | 3 Pages

This evidence leads right back to support the argument in which she is greatly irritated by these events. This proves how bad she feels because she loves to give out cookies and be generous, but her hard work should not be complimentary. When talking to another person about this situation, they use sarcasm, mentioning that they should give out free cookies to people, but then says she is kidding. She mentions, “…one does not have to give cookies to everyone. Except of course to one’s sister, and one’s best friend, one’s librarian… I’m kidding…the trick is to act on this knowledge-and to do so graciously” (Finck 8).

Read More
459 Words | 2 Pages

The “Lady in Red” tells the story of a man, that used to have a good life, but something in his life goes wrong and he ends up homeless. Seeing himself without money, nor gas, on thanksgiving day, he decides to go out and beg for money, but to his luck everything goes wrong and he is just humiliated by the the people he asks money from. When he was about to give up a ‘lady in red’ comes up to him and gives him sixty-four dollars and fifty cents. LeMieux believes in the existence of kind people that don’t expect anything for their kindness. . LeMiuex tries to influence people that think kind people don’t exist

Read More
1013 Words | 5 Pages

By comparing and contrasting how he feels at the exposition and the end of the novel and going through the ghost’s visions influenced both Scrooge and us, the readers. Any reader can come to realize that he is an emotionally changed character for life. On top of that, readers can take away many valuable lessons. This classic novel will forever be cherished with the journey to the Victorian times, the meeting of spectacular characters along the way, but especially the remembrance of old Ebenezer Scrooge, the true father of Christmas spirit. As Dickens has said once, “God bless us every one.”

Read More
625 Words | 3 Pages

Inherently, these movies give us a sense of nostalgia and longing for the happiness that the holiday season brings. These movies represent the idea that, in the midst of frigid and lonely winters, people can find solace with joy and unity. These movies share the same mission that Buddy and McMurphy share in which they spread happiness through comedy and try to alleviate pain and bring people back into a state of cheer whether if it’s for Christmas or for the happiness of

Read More
867 Words | 4 Pages

It's Rex and Rose Mary not being able to provide food for their children and or them blatantly using the money they have on non essential items like alcohol and paint supplies. We see this in the first couple pages of the book when Jeannette, age 3, gets sent to the hospital after her dress caught on fire when she was cooking her own hot dogs on the stove. While being in the hospital she says “That was the thing about hospitals, you never had to worry about running out of food.” (12) for Jeannette to think about this at such a young age and early in the book shows its prominence in her life as we read. Jeanette's relationship with food throughout the book is very eye opening to the American dream.

Read More
440 Words | 2 Pages

“The intimate contest for self-command never ends, and lifetime happiness requires finding the right balance between present impulses and future well-being,” Author, Virginia Postrel. This is particularly evident in Charles Dickens’s classic novella, A Christmas Carol. In A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge is a selfish and unthoughtful man who hates Christmas. Marley, his old business partner, comes to him and tells him that three ghosts will come, and they do. The ghosts show him things from his past, present, and future that help him become a kind and generous person at the end of the story.

Read More
1393 Words | 6 Pages

When people are poor, they often have a lot of problems in their life. They struggle through every day, but they learn to appreciate everything that they have. However, when people are going through tough times, they often think that money will solve all of their problems. In “A Raisin In The Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, she guides the audience through a black family -- impacted by the need for money -- living on the south side of Chicago. The Younger family gets Lena Younger’s dead husband’s insurance check and buys a house in a white neighborhood, and they save the remainder of the money for Beneatha’s medical degree and for starting a liquor store.

Read More
457 Words | 2 Pages

A young couple who is indebted to Scrooge for some amount of money that they cannot presently repay, rejoices in his death, because now they may find some leniency in the creditor who takes over Scrooge's business. When Scrooge finds out the headstone is what reveals to Scrooge that the friendless man who died in the vision of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come was actually Scrooge himself. This headstone bearing his name was the greatest catalyst for Scrooge's repentance. Once he sees the way that his greedy, loveless life will end if he continues in his ways, Scrooge promises to be a more charitable, generous person to prevent such an

Read More
1647 Words | 7 Pages

Then he realizes that he was not going to stay with his money when he die. At the end, he helped his employee with a monetary situation. Further, he went to his nephew’s Christmas dinner. Significantly, this novel helps people retrain the meaning of being humble and kind with others. Something that is very important about this novel is that it teaches a lesson of helping others, because you are not going to stay with your money when you die.

Read More
453 Words | 2 Pages

The second comparison between the book and the movie was Who’s love for Christmas. This is very important because the it is the Who’s love for Christmas that causes the Grinch's hate for

Read More
658 Words | 3 Pages

“A woman with shorn white hair is standing at the kitchen window. She is wearing tennis shoes and a shapeless gray sweater over a summery calico dress. She is small and sprightly, like a bantam hen; but, due to a long youthful illness, her shoulders are pitifully hunched…….. “Oh my,” she exclaims, her breath smoking the windowpane, “it’s fruitcake weather!” ( Capote 177). This all describes a women called buddy's friend, she is young in heart but brittle in age, she is a very spritely little old women whose kind, and innocent.

Read More
130 Words | 1 Pages

What Happiness Is In the essay “What Happiness Is,” Eduardo Porter states that happiness is a slippery concept. He believes that happiness doesn’t have a specific definition, it means different things to each person. In the essay happiness is broken down into 3 parts: satisfaction, positive feelings, and the absence of negative feelings. Porter says that most people think that money and economic stability will bring them happiness and because of that they will push themselves to do better at their jobs.

Read More
691 Words | 3 Pages

Composers utilise language to explore significant ideas. Steven Herrick’s prose novel, The Simple Gift is a valuable novel that showcases the development of belonging from the perspectives of three characters, Billy, Caitlin, and Old Bill. Herrick uses these multiple perspectives to further explain the damaging effects of grief, trauma, and isolation through Billy and Old Bill. In addition to the importance of valuing others communicated by Herrick with the characters Caitlin and Old Bill. The Simple Gift leaves the readers questioning the impacts of grief and trauma, as well as the importance of valuing others in life.

Read More
1589 Words | 7 Pages

"London", by William Blake uncovers a city overwhelmed by neediness and hardship. Blake overshadows London’s elegant appeal and replaces it with his own twist of the corrupted city. London is nothing more than a city with a shortage of money due to harsh economic times. Those in power have weakened the moral of the while city so that poverty exists in the lower classes. Blake uses three distinct metaphors: “Marriage hearse,” “black’ning Church,” and “mind-forged manacles” to express that the city suffers from social tyranny, physical and psychological confinement, and widespread suffering and despair society.

Read More

More about Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory

Related Topics

Open Document