8 /10 1 Votes
Language English Media type Print ISBN 978-0-14-119586-5 Country United States of America | 4/5 Goodreads Published in English 1948 Pages 96 (for image shown) Published in english 1948 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Publisher Penguin (for image shown) Genre Southern United States literature Adaptations Children on Their Birthdays (2002) Similar Truman Capote books, Other books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
"Children on Their Birthdays" is a short story by Truman Capote, published serially in the late 1940s and appearing in A Tree of Night and Other Stories in 1949; it is noted as one of his better quality early short stories.
Contents
Conception
Capote wrote "Children on Their Birthdays" in the Summer of 1948 while traveling in Europe, from London to Paris, and on to Venice, where he worked alongside Donald Windham.
Plot summary
The story is set in rural Alabama where a precocious 10-year-old girl, Miss Lily Jane Bobbit, moves to town with her mother. The young girl is pretty and attracts the positive attention of the town boys, and the negative attentions of the town girls.
Characters
Miss Lily Jane Bobbit: the 10-year-old protagonist of the story who always goes by Miss Bobbit. Her character is said to be the inspiration for the young socialite Holly GoLightly in Capote's novella Breakfast at Tiffany's. Truman Capote's aunt, Marie Rudisill notes that both characters are "unattached, unconventional wanderers, dreamers in pursuit of some ideal of happiness."
Billy Bob: one of the local town boys who is lovesick for Miss Bobbit.
Aunt El: the narrator's aunt who is a model of traditional values in the community.
Manny Fox: a con artist.
Critical reception and analysis
The short story has been described as resembling less complete writing by Eudora Welty.
It has been praised as "the jewel" of the collection A Tree of Night and Other Stories and is said to be a "perfect illustration of Capote's blending of Southern Folk writing with Jamesian classicism."
Adaptations
As early as 1980 Capote's estranged friend Alan Schwartz asked for permission to sell a television script, which he had adapted with Capote's encouragement. Capote refused, saying he had written a television script himself.
In 2002 "Children on Their Birthdays" was made into an American independent film by director Mark Medoff.