Critical paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Critical paper - Essay Example In his short story, Capote has successfully made me feel empathy with the protagonist of the story and his elder cousin, about whom the story is about, and around whose Christmas memories it revolves. Starting his reminiscing from late November in his past, the protagonist, who is referred to as â€Å"Buddy† in the story, relates how her older cousin, who is not named throughout the narrative, exclaims, as she does every year, â€Å"it’s fruitcake weather† (Capote 437). The older cousin is much, much older than Buddy himself, he is â€Å"seven; she is sixty-something† (Capote 437). Although it is never clear just who these two live with, however, it is clear that they live with their other relatives, as Buddy says â€Å"other people inhabit the house, relatives; and though they have power over us, and frequently make us cry, we are not, on the whole, too much aware of them† (Capote 437). This clearly means that both of them rely on each other and are friendlier towards each other than anyone else in the house, despite the extreme age difference. They like to do things together, and the older cousin has the tradition of making fruitcakes for various people before Christmas. They are poor, and though they want to buy a lot of things to bake the cakes, â€Å"there is the question of money. Neither of [them] has any† (Capote 438). Not much is provided to them by their relatives, and what they do have, they earn themselves by â€Å"holding rummage sales, selling buckets of handpicked berries, jars of home-made jam and apple jelly and peach preserves, rounding up flowers for funerals and weddings† (Capote 438). â€Å"But one way and another [they] do each year accumulate Christmas savings, a Fruitcake Fund† (Capote 438). Buddy reminisces about how they took pains to earn any penny they could, in any way possible, relating the story of how â€Å"[l]ast summer others in the house contracted to pay [them] a penny for every twenty-five flies