Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory

Bud, Not Buddy was published by Christopher Paul Curtis in 1999 in the Untied States. The author, Christopher Paul Curtis was an African-American who wrote about the adventures and travails of a ten-year-old African-American boy, Bud. The readers get to follow Bud during the depression era in Michigan during the thirties. Bud faces bad times and, is in the search of his lost father. The author challenges the reader to walk in someone else shoes, he shows the readers how life can be difficult and only a few people live in luxury.

Imagine a staged production of A Christmas Carol set in 1843. See the stage set in the exact time it was written by Charles Dickens. The foggy, crowded streets abuzz with carolers and shoppers, the children staring wide eyed into the shops and bakeries. Hear the bells ringing as a round of “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” fills the gaslit streets with joy. As a child, going to see A Christmas Carol was one of my fondest Christmas memories. To witness Scrooge 's’ transformation from a mean, greedy old man to a joyous, loving benefactor always left me smiling and filled me with hope.

Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol ‘A Christmas Carol’ written by Charles Dickens tells the story of a man named Ebenezer Scrooge who is taught the true meaning of Christmas and is shown the errors of his ways. ‘A Christmas Carol’ was published in 1843, this was a time of social and political unrest. Dickens motivation for writing this story was to encourage employers to treat workers well, he uses the Christmas Carol to portray this message. Charles Dickens felt strongly about the working conditions and poverty that many people endured. He wanted to encourage employers to treat their workers well.

It is curious that as children, humans have the ability to observe and remember details of specific situations and instances yet lack the ability to describe them. Truman Capote, as a grown man, took advantage of his vivid memories and composed the short work, "A Christmas Memory." The story begins in late November, a month symbolic of all the years gone by that Capote could remember beginning preparations for Christmas fruitcakes.

The short story I read was “A Christmas Memory” by Truman Capote. The book was mainly about two characters, Buddy and his friend, and a memorable Christmas that they spent together a couple of years back before Buddy’s friend passed away. Basically the whole story is a memoir, his own memories and experiences , because Buddy is reminiscing on the past and is speaking upon the memories that he remembers from that Christmas spent with his friend. Even though it was a short story, Capote did a well enough job of describing not only the characters, but also their relationship with literary devices such as figurative language, symbolism, theme, and many more.

In the short story, Rachel’s parents represent comfort from the outside world. “Mama is making a cake for me tonight, and when Papa gets home everybody will sing Happy birthday, happy birthday to you” (n.p.). The aforesaid quote is mentioned twice

The film adaptation of “A Christmas Memory” does very little that differs from the original piece by Truman Capote; however, the film takes the heart of the original, and adds even more through the main characters’ casting and memory-like direction. On the other hand, this move is far from faultless and features some questionable decisions that take away from the movie’s greatness. Even with its faults, “A Christmas Memory” is still a decent movie that would be a treat to any fan of the original work, but those who are unfamiliar with Capote’s work would find very little interest in the story or the characters within.

In the play, A Christmas Carol: Scrooge and Marley by Israel Horovitz the main character Scrooge is a cold-hearted miser who despises Christmas and people. At the beginning, he shows very different and mean actions towards people and how he is always mad. For example when Scrooge leaves his office's people start to walk past him in a happy and merry mood. But in contrast to the people, Scrooge has a frown and looks unhappy for the Christmas time. Another example is that when his nephew is talking to him he is wanting him to leave so he keeps on repeating the words, “Good Afternoon!” until he leaves. The last example would be that when Cratchit is cold in the office, Scrooge starts yelling at him saying that he would fire him because he was showing he was cold. Scrooge also shows it in his own words by saying “...every idiot who goes about with “Merry Christmas” on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart.”(647).

She said that the worst memory she had was her great aunt and uncle’s death. Doris said this was the first death in their family. Doris had many good memories that she shared. Her favorite memory was of her older brother Sandy playing Santa, he was 11 years older than her. She remembered him leaving on Christmas Eve to go to the YMCA to play basketball, at least that is what he told her. A few minutes after he left, Santa came to the house. She remembered being sad for Sandy because he missed Santa. She also remembered thinking that Santa had the same shoes as Sandy, but she didn’t put two and two together until later.

Capote introduces the theme of friendship in the beginning of the story “A Christmas Memory”  by letting his cousin call him Buddy, even though that’s not his real name. In the story “After Twenty Years,” also introduces the theme of friendship in the beginning of the story when Bob waits for Jimmy, Bob explained he and Jimmy had planned to see each other for twenty years and they were best friends. Buddy is best friends with his distant cousin. They have a problem with money but they both love one thing, Christmas. Buddy is seven while his cousin is her sixties. They share the joy of baking fruit cakes together and they will do anything to get the ingredients for the cakes. In “After Twenty Years,” Bob is waiting in the meeting place he planned to see Jimmy again after twenty years. Bob explains to the police officer that he has not seen Jimmy for twenty years and is very excited to see him again. In the story “A Christmas Memory,” the text says “She calls me Buddy, in

“My purpose was, in a whimsical kind of masque which the good humour of the season justified, to awaken some loving and forbearing thoughts, never out of season in a Christian land” (Dickens Preface). Dickens wanted to convey a theme of the Christmas Spirit in A Christmas Carol and it shined through in Christmas Cupid.

In Truman Capote’s short story “A Christmas Memory” imagery and symbolism are used by the author to show that friendship has no age limit. Truman uses very vivid details and many different types of figurative language to show his theme ,which is that friendship has no age. An example of symbolism is, “As if I expected to see, rather like hearts, a lost pair of kites hurrying toward heaven” (6). After getting the news of his friend’s death, he goes outside and almost expects to see kites. In this example of symbolism, the author shows us how deep a bond Buddy and his friend have by showing us a glimpse of Buddy’s mind and how his heart is going to heaven with his friend. Furthermore, the author uses some imagery when he gives us a vivid description

The characters are from a poor socioeconomic background, but they are still able to find the Christmas spirit. The wealth of their friendship and the gift of giving make them oblivious to the depression around them. In one particular scene, the friends are baking fruitcakes. They decide that the cakes are for “friends. Not necessarily neighbor friends: indeed, the larger share are intended for persons we’ve met maybe once, perhaps not at all”(Capote). This illustrates their giving nature regardless of their own dreary circumstances. Buddy is a reflection of Truman Capote himself. Capote’s childhood was filled with misfortunes, but yet he was still able to find peace in his friendship with his cousin.

old sinner! Hard as a steel and sharp as a flint, from which no steel

I think Christmas has always been one of my favorite holidays. Maybe because of the special atmosphere that you can feel everywhere, in shops, restaurants , pubs and even streets, where you can hear the magical carols, or maybe it's because of its religious background, but what I can tell you for sure is that I can't think of anything more exciting than the image of the entire family preparing the Christmas Tree or fixing the Christmas dishes.