How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Even so, whenever I felt in my pocket the key to this apartment; with all its gloom, it still was a place of my own, the first, and my books were there, and jars of pencils to sharpen, everything I needed, so I felt, to become the writer I wanted to be (1.1).
Even though his apartment is small, old, and dingy the narrator loves it because it's his. This apartment is home to him because it represents the start of his career as a writer and the beginning of life on his own.
Quote #2
"Oh, you get used to anything," I said, annoyed with myself, for actually I was proud of the place (3.11).
After Holly criticizes the narrator's apartment and he agrees with her in order to save face, he feels like he's betrayed his home since it's a place he actually loves a lot. This passage presents us with the interesting idea that betrayal can extend to an idea like "the home."
Quote #3
"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 #4
I warmed to the room at once, I liked its fly-by-night look (4.4).
The narrator finds the unlived-in quality of Holly's apartment very appealing. It's the lack of a homey feeling that he's actually drawn to.
Quote #5
"If only I could get used to the idea of m-m-marrying a Brazilian. And being a B-b-brazilian myself. It's such a canyon to cross. Six thousand miles, and not knowing the language – " (5.16).
As Mag gets ready to move to Brazil with José, she laments the fact that she has to leave America. To her, the idea of home is very much tied to one's nationality and to one's physical location.
Quote #6
That Monday in October, 1943. A beautiful day with the buoyancy of a bird. To start, we had Manhattans at Joe Bell's; and, when he heard of my good luck, champagne cocktails on the house. Later, we wandered toward Fifth Avenue, where there was a parade. The flags in the wind, the thump of military bands and military feet, seemed to have nothing to do with war, but to be, rather, a fanfare arranged in my personal honor (7.1).
OK, bear with us. After getting his first story published, the narrator feels like New York is rolling out its best for him. The city, and the people and sights that are a part of it, are at this moment his happy home.
Quote #7
"She had good cause to run off from that house. She didn't have none to leave mine. 'Twas her home" (9.18).
Doc's idea of home is simple and humble. In his eyes, Holly had all the home she needed with him as his wife and as the stepmother of his children. He just doesn't get the idea of leaving a home like his to search for something different.
Quote #8
"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 #9
Flanked by potted plants and framed by clean lace curtains, he was seated in the window of a warm-looking room: I wondered what his name was, for I was certain he had one now, certain he'd arrived somewhere he belonged (19.1).
Holly's cat finally finds a home in his owner's absence, and the narrator knows it's a home because someone cares enough to give him a name and to claim him. The cat finally belongs to someone, and this is what makes this place home.