Quote 21
"I don't. I'll never get used to anything. Anybody that does, they might as well be dead" (3.12).
The idea of staying put feels like a death sentence for Holly. To her, life is about continuing to move and to experience new things. She doesn't believe in staying in one place long enough to get used to it.
Quote 22
I wondered if she'd often stolen. "I used to," she said. "I mean I had to. If I wanted anything. But I still do it every now and then, sort of to keep my hand in" (7.5).
A part of Holly knows that she might have to pick up and go at any moment, and she expects that she might have to struggle to survive. Living her life on the fly permanently affects her day-to-day actions.
Quote 23
"Then nothing," he shrugged. "By and by she went like she come, rode away on a horse" (1.26).
This is the end of Joe's story about Holly in Africa, but it's in the beginning pages of the novel itself. This passage prepares us for the transience that characterizes Holly for the rest of the narrative. She just comes and goes in Joe's story, just as she does in Capote's.
Quote 24
It was near the antique shop with the palace of a bird cage in its window, so I took her there to see it, and she enjoyed the point, its fantasy: "But still, it's a cage" (7.4).
Although this passage is similar to the one about the zoo, we think the birdcage is such a significant symbol that it's worth mentioning. Holly can appreciate the beauty of the cage, but she can't get in line with what it stands for.
Quote 25
"Bless you, Buster. And bless you for being such a bad jockey. If I hadn't had to play Calamity Jane I'd still be looking forward to the grub in an unwed mama's home" (17.14).
Holly loses her baby after rescuing the narrator from his out-of-control horse, and she pretends to be happy that she'll be free from motherhood. But we know this is just an act. She seems genuinely happy when she's pregnant, suggesting that being a mother doesn't signify confinement to her.
Quote 26
Holly stepped out of the car; she took the cat with her. Cradling him, she scratched his head and asked, "What do you think? This ought to be the right kind of place for a tough guy like you. […] So scram," she said, dropping him (18.12).
Holly's poor cat. She knows she loves him and we know she loves him, but he represents being tied down to something, and Holly just isn't prepared to do this yet. This innocent cat signifies confinement to skittish Holly.
Quote 27
"Look. Don't despise me, darling." She put her hand over mine and pressed it with sudden immense sincerity. "I haven't much choice […]" (17.24).
After spending her life cultivating freedom and resisting confinement, Holly finds herself left with little actual freedom when it comes to her future. She doesn't have many options after being arrested so, in the end, she's pretty confined by the decisions she's made.
Quote 28
"And if you lived off my particular talents, Cookie, you'd understand the kind of bankruptcy I'm describing" (17.24).
Holly has painted herself into a corner, so to speak. She can't stay in New York because she has no way to make any money after she gets arrested. The places she used to visit and the people she used to depend on just won't welcome her anymore, so her future has been decided for her. She has no real freedom when it comes down to it.
Quote 29
"Can't you see that Rusty feels safer in diapers than he would in a skirt? Which is really the choice, only he's awfully touchy about it. He tried to stab me with a butter knife because I told him to grow up and face the issue, settle down and play house with a nice fatherly truck driver" (4.72).
Holly believes in everyone's absolute freedom to live their lives in ways that make them happy, and this includes the freedom to be honest about one's sexual preference. But Rusty clearly doesn't feel free enough to admit that he's gay.
Quote 30
"She believes all this crap she believes. You can't talk her out of it" (4.16).
Holly feels absolutely secure in the freedom to believe in whatever she wants. She simply won't be confined by other people's expectations of what's right or normal or good.
Quote 31
"If I could find a real-life place that made me feel like Tiffany's, then I'd buy some furniture and give the cat a name. I've thought maybe after the war, Fred and I – " (4.58).
This is Holly's idea of home in a nutshell. It needs to be a place where she feels safe and it needs to include Fred. Home is both the place where she feels secure and is the people who she surrounds herself with.
Quote 32
"Anyway, home is where you feel at home. I'm still looking" (17.22).
We couldn't ask for a more perfect articulation of Holly's idea of home. It's not a place but a feeling, not a physical location but an emotional reaction.
Quote 33
"Of course he was never my lover; as far as that goes, I never knew him until he was already in jail. But I adore him now, after all I've been going to see him every Thursday for seven months, and I think I'd go even if he didn't pay me" (3.40).
Holly doesn't love Sally in the traditional sense, but she has come to feel great affection for the man over the past seven months of their relationship. Her love for him is like a granddaughter for her grandfather. She adores him more than anything else.
Quote 34
"Doc really loves me, you know. And I love him. He may have looked old and tacky to you. But you don't know the sweetness if him, the confidence he can give to birds and brats and fragile things like that. Anyone who ever gave you confidence, you owe them a lot" (10.3).
Holly's love for Doc is pretty complicated. On the one hand, it's kind of selfish on Holly's part because Doc makes her feel better about herself. But she's also very giving, in a way, because she feels indebted to Doc for all he's done for her. This love is about the give and take between a couple.
Quote 35
I wish, please don't laugh – but I wish I'd been a virgin for him, for José (12.3).
This is an interesting statement coming from Holly since she seems so indifferent to what people consider acceptable. But she reveals herself to be a bit of a traditionalist here. And she also exposes the desire to change part of her past in order to please the man she loves, which is very unlike her.
Quote 36
"A person ought to be able to marry men or women or – listen, if you came to me and said you wanted to hitch up with Man o' War, I'd respect your feeling. No, I'm serious. Love should be allowed. I'm all for it" (12.3).
Holly believes in love without restrictions or rules. She truly feels that everyone should be free to pursue the love that makes them happy.
Quote 37
"But oh gee, golly goddamn," she said, jamming a fist into her mouth like a bawling baby, "I did love him. The rat" (17.13).
Love can also mean pain. Holly finally let her guard down, finally let herself fall in love with someone. But when José leaves her, the loss of his love thrusts her right back into her old life and her former ways.