The Longing for a Safe Place

Breakfast at Tiffany's

Holly searches for security in stores, relationships, and imagined homes, but each refuge proves temporary or dependent on someone else.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

A Private Room A Private Room from "Breakfast at Tiffany's". Safety in a Small Space The Narrator’s Home The narrator’s shabby room feels valuable because it is his own.

A Private Room from "Breakfast at Tiffany's". Safety in a Small Space The Narrator’s Home The narrator’s shabby room feels valuable because it is his own.

Safety in a Small Space The Narrator’s Home The narrator’s shabby room feels valuable because it is his own. Its books and pencils give him a modest place from which to imagine a future. Holly’s Contrast Holly’s apartment is packed for departure and lacks ordinary furniture. The neighbors begin with opposing ideas of what makes a place secure.

Tiffany’s Refuge Tiffany’s Refuge from "Breakfast at Tiffany's". A Store as Shelter Calm Against Fear Holly goes to Tiffany & Co. when she feels frightened without knowing why.

Tiffany’s Refuge from "Breakfast at Tiffany's". A Store as Shelter Calm Against Fear Holly goes to Tiffany & Co. when she feels frightened without knowing why.

A Store as Shelter Calm Against Fear Holly goes to Tiffany & Co. when she feels frightened without knowing why. The quiet and order help her believe that nothing bad can happen there. A Model for Home She wishes for a real-life place that offers the same reassurance. The wish exposes how rarely her actual surroundings provide lasting calm.

Doc’s Texas House Doc’s Texas House from "Breakfast at Tiffany's". Home as a Memory A Family Past Doc’s account recalls a household where Holly was cared for and treated as part of the family.

Doc’s Texas House from "Breakfast at Tiffany's". Home as a Memory A Family Past Doc’s account recalls a household where Holly was cared for and treated as part of the family.

Home as a Memory A Family Past Doc’s account recalls a household where Holly was cared for and treated as part of the family. His invitation offers a return to a real, if imperfect, home. Affection Cannot Decide Holly loves Doc but refuses to return. The old home remains emotionally important without becoming the place she can live now.

The Home with José The Home with José from "Breakfast at Tiffany's". A Domestic Promise Building a Household Holly buys furniture and cooking equipment and imagines marriage in Brazil.

The Home with José from "Breakfast at Tiffany's". A Domestic Promise Building a Household Holly buys furniture and cooking equipment and imagines marriage in Brazil.

A Domestic Promise Building a Household Holly buys furniture and cooking equipment and imagines marriage in Brazil. Her routines suggest that she wants to turn romantic hope into a home. Security on Loan José’s commitment is less certain than hers. The household’s apparent stability depends on a promise he has not made.

A Home for the Cat A Home for the Cat from "Breakfast at Tiffany's". A Quiet Resolution The Cat Settles The narrator finds Holly’s cat in a warm, orderly room where it appears to belong.

A Home for the Cat from "Breakfast at Tiffany's". A Quiet Resolution The Cat Settles The narrator finds Holly’s cat in a warm, orderly room where it appears to belong.

A Quiet Resolution The Cat Settles The narrator finds Holly’s cat in a warm, orderly room where it appears to belong. Unlike Holly, the animal has arrived somewhere stable. Hope Left Open The narrator hopes Holly will also find a place like this. The contrast makes her unresolved search the novel’s final emotional question.

During the narrator’s early years in the brownstone

During the autumn conversation about the mean reds

During Holly and Doc’s reunion in New York

Late summer after the death of Fred

The winter after Holly’s departure