Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory

In the short story, “A Christmas Memory”, by Truman Capote, a boy relives his most memorable Christmas with his older cousin. During his story the old woman and him both develop strong developments. The use of character to character interaction and visual imagery is key to the suggested theme that the power of memory influences people to relive their lives. One of Capote’s major supporting tactics relies on the clever use of character to character interaction, even when inferred. A certain such example reveals itself early in the story, in which the narrator explains that his cousin calls him “Buddy, in memory of a boy who was formerly her best friend (Capote 1).” This explanation, detailing the ways in which her cousin describes him, delivers

In a way, it is giving her relief by filling up the hole that was empty after Buddy’s death. To be concise, it can be related to someone naming their new pet after an old pet. For those like the old woman, this can be a form of saying that the pet simply came back to life as another pet. Yet another powerful way in which character interaction played a key role is reflected in the old woman being comforted by the narrator. An instance that presents itself takes place after their relatives scold the woman for giving the child whiskey. She weeps afterwards that the reasoning behind her excommunication is because she is “too old, old and funny (Capote 4).” As follows the obvious fishing for sympathy, the old woman’s grieving leads to the boy reasoning that she is “more fun than anyone else (Capote 4),” thus calming her down as the boy’s sympathy supported her weight. Provided that her reasoning for the alienation of her in the environment is due to her unrelenting aging, it is inferred that she