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He wants awfully to be on the inside staring out: anybody with their nose pressed against a glass is liable to look stupid.

The narrator overhears Holly say this about him while talking to Mag Wildwood. Although the narrator rarely comments on his own hopes and desires (outside of his dream of being a published writer), Holly’s remark groups him with the many other characters yearning for social status and recognition. At some level, Holly is aware of indignity associated with social climbing. Even those who already enjoy a measure of wealth and social status, like Rusty Trawler and Mag Wildwood, are preoccupied with the challenge of preserving their present social status while seeking a higher one. Holly’s observation underscores a motif that runs through Breakfast at Tiffany’s: the superficiality of social hierarchies.

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