"The Thanksgiving Visitor" is a short story by Truman Capote

Truman Capote

Truman Streckfus Persons , known as Truman Capote , was an American author, many of whose short stories, novels, plays, and nonfiction are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's and the true crime novel In Cold Blood , which he labeled a "nonfiction novel." At...

 originally published in the November 1967 issue of McCall's

McCall's

McCall's was a monthly American women's magazine that enjoyed great popularity through much of the 20th century, peaking at a readership of 8.4 million in the early 1960s. It was established as a small-format magazine called The Queen in 1873...

magazine, and later published as a book by Random House, Inc. in 1968. The story takes the form of a childhood tale about a boy and his bully problem. The story has a strong moral

Moral

A moral is a message conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim...

 lesson related to revenge

Revenge

Revenge is a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. It is also called payback, retribution, retaliation or vengeance; it may be characterized, justly or unjustly, as a form of justice.-Function in society:Some societies believe that the...

. It is a sequel to Capote's A Christmas Memory

A Christmas Memory

"A Christmas Memory" is a short story by Truman Capote. Originally published in Mademoiselle magazine in December 1956, it was reprinted in The Selected Writings of Truman Capote in 1963...

.

Conception

The Thanksgiving Visitor was inspired by Truman Capote's childhood growing up in Alabama. One of the main characters, Miss Sook Faulk is based directly on Truman's older cousin, Nanny Rumbley Faulk, whom Truman called "Sook".

Plot summary

The story is narrated

Narrator

A narrator is, within any story , the fictional or non-fictional, personal or impersonal entity who tells the story to the audience. When the narrator is also a character within the story, he or she is sometimes known as the viewpoint character. The narrator is one of three entities responsible for...

 by eight-year-old Buddy, whose older cousin is his best friend. Buddy gets stopped on the way to school every day by local bully Odd Henderson, who pins him to the ground and rubs burrs into Buddy's head because "he's a sissy

Sissy

Sissy is a pejorative term for a boy or man who violates or does not meet the traditional male gender role. Generally, sissy implies a lack of the courage and stoicism which are thought important to the male role...

", an appellation to which Buddy admits. To stop this problem, his cousin, Miss Sook, invites Odd to her big Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving (United States)

Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a holiday celebrated in the United States on the fourth Thursday in November. It has officially been an annual tradition since 1863, when, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving to be celebrated on Thursday,...

 party. During the party, when Buddy is sulking in his bathroom

Bathroom

A bathroom is a room for bathing in containing a bathtub and/or a shower and optionally a toilet, a sink/hand basin/wash basin and possibly also a bidet....

 cupboard

Cupboard

A cupboard or press is a type of cabinet, often made of wood, used indoors to store household objects such as food, crockery, textiles and liquor, and protect them from dust,vermin and dirt....

, he spots Odd stealing a precious cameo. When Odd leaves the bathroom, Buddy leaves and claims in front of the whole party that Odd has stolen the cameo. Miss Sook goes to check, and she claims that the cameo is in place, but then Odd admits to stealing the cameo, lays it on a table, and walks out. Buddy then runs out and sulks in the barn, until the afternoon, when Miss Sook teaches him that he shouldn't have publicly humiliated

Public humiliation

Public humiliation was often used by local communities to punish minor and petty criminals before the age of large, modern prisons .- Shameful exposure :...

 Odd.

Reception and critical analysis

An aunt of Truman Capote's was hurt by the tale because she felt Capote had invented a troubled childhood. She said "I just can't believe what Truman has made us out to be and the way he's talked about his childhood. We were a very decent, well-off family, and he's made it to be quite another story."

Adaptation

The story was adapted for television and filmed in Alabama with Capote and many of his friends and family present as observers. The 1967 television production of The Thanksgiving Visitor earned Geraldine Page

Geraldine Page

Geraldine Sue Page was an American actress. Although she starred in at least two dozen feature films, she is primarily known for her celebrated work in the American theater...

 a second Emmy Award

Emmy Award

An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...

.