CHIU#1/3  
Thomas  Chiu  

Professor  Wayne  Wild  

LENG  111-­009  

 29/9/2010  

The  Diamond  Guitar  Explication  

The Diamond Guitar is a short story composed by Truman Capote. This story

explores the relationship of two convicts, Mr Schaeffer and Tico Feco. The story is set in an

isolate prison farm that is “twenty miles away” from the nearest town and which “Many

forests of pine trees stand between the farm and the town.” Throughout the story, the

audience witnessed the development of the relationship between Mr. Schaeffer and, Tico

Feco. The two of them planned an escape together, but only Tico Feco made it in the end.

It was only after the failed attempt to escape the prison farm that Mr. Schaeffer realises that

“Tico Feco had not wanted him to make it, had never thought he would.” The theme of

relationship and betrayal is evident throughout the short story.

The last paragraph is the resolution scene. The audience are told that a significant

amount of time had passed after Tico Feco escaped the prison farm and that “Three winters

have gone by, and each has been said to be the coldest, longest.” Mr. Schaeffer has “no

friends beyond the prison” and “he has none there- that is, no particular friend.” (Pp140).

The expression of time decelerating suggests that Mr. Schaeffer is missing his friend, Tico

Feco. A comma is used between the words “coldest” and “longest.” This has the effect to

force the reader create a pause between the two words, reflecting Mr. Schaeffer’s sense

that the time is delayed without his friend. Due to the escape of Tico Feco, there had been
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improved security measures in the prison, which includes “a pair of searchlight” that “burn

there through the night like the eyes of a giant owl.” The comparison of the pair of

spotlights to the eyes of a giant owl has the effect to make the reader picture the intense

level of security in the prison farm. Owls are nocturnal animals and by linking searchlights

to the eyes of an owl, it creates an image that the guards monitor and scanned the prison

farm constantly during the night.

During the escape, Mr. Schaeffer “did not see the log that lay across the creek”

(pp153) which caused him to trip over “as though he were a turtle stranded on its back.”

Because of accident, it not only caused the escape mission to fail for Mr. Schaeffer, but it

also gave him a “broken ankle he walks with a limp.” This theme of betrayal can be seen

through Mr. Schaeffer’s perspective in this resolution scene. Due to the betrayal of Tico

Feco, Mr Schaeffer was “deeply mortified” when he saw the article regarding to the escape

of Tico Feco on the newspaper. Capote chose to use the word “mortified” to further

exaggerate the level of embarrassment Mr. Schaeffer suffered when he saw the news

article. The alternate meaning of the word “mortified” or mortification is used to describe

decaying body tissues. By using this connotation with the word in the sentence, Capote

successfully conveyed the idea that Mr. Schaeffer was embarrassed to death due to the

betrayal of his friend.

Capote referred back to the title of the short story The Diamond Guitar at the end of

the narrative by referring back to the glass diamond guitar that Tico Feco brought to the

prison camp when he first arrived on the farm. Even though the “glass diamonds are turning

yellow,” “it lies under Mr. Schaeffer’s cot.” The guitar was a procession of Tico Feco and

now, in Mr. Schaeffer’s eyes, symbolises Tico Feco himself. Mr Schaeffer “claim to the

guitar” shows how much Mr. Schaeffer values his relationship with Tico Feco. The use of

the word “cot” has the effect to create an image of a father nurturing a baby. This further
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supports the theme of relationship of which Mr. Schaeffer is taking care of Tico Feco as is

he was his son. Although this image of father-son relationship can be seen earlier in the

story, it is recapitulated in the resolution scene. Other ideas that are conveyed to the

audience throughout the story are also recapitulated in this paragraph, such as the map of

the world that Tico Feco carries with him. We are told that “in the night…his fingers drift

across the string: then, the world.” Apart from reminding the readers that Mr. Schaeffer and

Tico Feco had discussed about travelling the world in the novel, it also suggests that Tico

Feco is now free, as if he is drifting across the world.