Breakfast at Tiffany's Writing Style

Direct, Straightforward

Capote isn't afraid to be blunt, and he doesn't shy away from using language that many readers might find shocking or offensive. But since so much of the writing in the novel is dialogue from Holly, this seems only fitting she sure isn't afraid to be blunt either. Let's take a look at a passage in which Holly discusses wanting a roommate who is a lesbian:

"Incidentally," she said, "do you happen to know any nice lesbians? I'm looking for a roommate. Well, don't laugh. I'm so disorganized, I simply can't afford a maid; and really, dykes are wonderful home-makers, they love to do all the work, you never have to bother about brooms and defrosting and sending out the laundry." (3.31)

Holly throws around some incredibly derogatory language here and she resorts to huge generalizations about people based on sexual preference. Yet we have to remember that writing style is one of the tools an author has at his or her disposal to help create a character, and this passage seems quintessentially Holly to us. We might cringe at some of her words, but we also have to recognize this as Capote being totally in tune with the character he's created.