Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory

Many people can tend to confuse the meaning of Christmas for just food, presents, or even time off from school. In this story Truman Capote shows what truly matters around this holiday. It shows that being with the people you love is much more important than anything else. In “A Christmas Memory,” Truman Capote’s theme of Christmas happiness is proven through the use of the literary elements of tone, style, and setting. Interpreting these three elements correctly can hugely impact the understanding of the story. It’s important to clarify the theme also. Buddy and his friend show to the readers how necessary it is to have love and happiness around Christmas time. The tone of the story can be seen in two different point of views. Also it can

Some of the sentences Capote uses in his story wouldn’t make sense if they were in past tense. Such as when he uses dramatic sentences. The story is told through the first person view of Buddy. However, this is not his real name, but it is one given to him by his friend. There are many of dramatic types of sentences, such as when Buddy says “other people inhabit the house, relatives; and though they have power over us, and frequently make us cry, we are not, on the whole, too much aware of them.” (Iffan) With this style, Capote is able to address reality in an easier way. Present tense is much easier to show reality than past tense. Even though the story is about the author’s past experience, he uses present tense so that he will able to demonstrate 1st person point of view. Whenever Capote references the past in the story, he is always very efficient at returning to the present tense of the story. He make sure to not stay hung up on any one idea or event. Towards the ending of the story, the dramatic style of the story seems to turn to kind of a sad style. Buddy begins talking about how their last Christmas together was the best one they experienced so far. Also, the sad style is demonstrated more when the author says, “a morning arrives in November, a leafless, birdless coming of winter morning, when she cannot rouse herself to exclaim: ’Oh, my, it’s fruitcake weather!’’ (A Christmas Memory Analysis: Style and