Havana

Havana enters the narrative through Holly Golightly’s account of a winter trip: after leaving their injured companions in Key West, she and José Ybarra-Jaegar travel to the Cuban city. Her recollection makes Havana the bright counterpoint to the trip’s mishaps, but also the setting for an encounter that complicates the party’s suspicions about her relationship with José.

A stop on the winter trip

In February, Holly had traveled with Rusty Trawler, Mag Wildwood, and José. In Key West, Rusty became involved in a fight with sailors and was left needing a spine brace; Mag suffered severe sunburn and was hospitalized. Holly says she and José left them in the hospital and went on to Havana. The city is thus introduced not through an independent description of its streets or landmarks, but through the decision to continue traveling while their companions recovered.

Holly’s account of Havana

Holly presents Havana as a place she enjoyed: she says it could have her money, even as José promises that she will like Rio de Janeiro too. Her account centers on a guide, whom she describes as having Chinese and Black ancestry, and on her own response to him. She says she allowed him to play footsie with her under the table because she did not find him boring. The detail gives her story a teasing, provocative tone, while keeping the city’s significance tied to her self-presentation rather than to a broader portrait of Havana.

Suspicion and the journey back

The trip’s sexual rumors gather around the stop in Havana. After Holly and José return to Key West, Mag is convinced Holly spent the whole time sleeping with José; Rusty is convinced too, though Holly says he mainly wants to hear the details. Holly describes the situation as tense until she had a heart-to-heart with Mag. Havana therefore functions in the recollection as more than a destination: it is part of a journey whose separation from the others fuels their assumptions, and whose return brings those assumptions into the open. The account leaves the exact nature of Holly and José’s relationship unresolved, while showing how readily the group turns travel into gossip.