“Miriam” by Truman Capote Plot Questions

1. How, specifically, does Mrs. Miller feel when she first meets Miriam?

2. What is unusual about Miriam’s first and last name?

3. What does Mrs. Miller agree to do if Miriam promises to leave her apartment?

4. In what two ways does Mrs. Miller give in to Miriam’s requests?

5. What is strange about the way that Miriam is dressed for the first time of year in the setting of

the story?

6. Who lives in the apartment below Mrs. Miller?

7. Do the people who live in the apartment below Mrs. Miller see Miriam?

8. Who is Tommy?

9. What happens in Mrs. Miller’s unusual dream?

10. What does Mrs. Miller find strange about the old man who follows her?

Does Miriam (the young girl) exist???

If yes then answer these questions…

1. Why does the author make Mrs. Miller a childless, friendless widow whose life is dull and

routine?

2. Why does the author give Miriam the same first name as Mrs. Miller but no last name?

3. How does Miriam know where Mrs. Miller lives?

4. At times, why does Miriam speak more like an adult than a child?

5. Why is Miriam free to come and go by herself at all hours?

6. Why does Miriam dress so strangely during the winter?

7. Why does neither the man nor the woman in the apartment below Mrs. Miller’s see Miriam?

8. Why does Miriam repeatedly have her own way with Mrs. Miller?

If no, then answer these questions…

1. Why does Capote have Miriam tell Mrs. Miller that she had lived previously with an old man?

2. Why does the story end with the return of Miriam?

3. Why is it not clear who is staring at the end of the story—Mr. Miller or Miriam?

4. Why is Mrs. Miller attracted to and yet repelled by Miriam?

5. If Miriam is imaginary, how are we to explain the broken vase?

6. What happened to the cameo brooch if Miriam didn’t steal it?

7. If Miriam is imaginary, what does she represent at this moment in Mrs. Miller’s life?

8. Before the return of Miriam at the end of the story, why does Mrs. Miller tell herself that the

appearance of the child was of no importance?