Monday, June 21, 2010

Wisdom Which Withstands the Test of Time

I have been reading Truman Capotes "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (which, btw, every time I glance at the cover the song by Jackie O starts running through my head.. "And I say, what about Breakfast at Tiffany's? You say, I think I remember the film and as I recall I think, we both kinda like it, and I say well that's the one thing we got")

But anyways, I picked up this book not because of its iconic status, but because the time period it's set in and the writing style genuinely intrigued me. For those of you who doesn't know (and no, seeing the film does not constitute knowing the story according to many different reviewers; I have yet to see the film myself, but this is hardly surprising) this story revolves around 20 year old Holly Golightly, a chic, well dressed socialite who is trying to find a place to call home and the narrator, her neighbor, who against his better judgment falls in love with her. Holly has been running her whole life, from Texas to Hollywood to New York and so on. At one point in the book she was explaining to the narrator why her husband (and seemingly unbeknownst to her, himself) was foolish for expecting her to stay with him.

"If you let yourself love a wild thing. You'll end up looking at the sky"

This quote struck me so deeply I had to stop and read it again. It is spot on; a person cannot truly tame a wild animal. Do you not think the lion in a circus would not run free if given the opportunity? Why then do we think that we can do the same to human nature? If a person is not ready to be "tamed" are they not going to be watching for the very moment they can run out the unguarded door?

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