In A Christmas Memory, the author repeats "under" in this sentence: "These moneys we keep hidden in an ancient bead purse under a loose board under...

This beautifully written story is a memoir based upon events of Truman Capote's own childhood, when he was raised by an elderly relative after the suicide of his mother. He refers to her as his cousin and his friend, and also says she is "still a child." Her energy and enthusiasm provide him with much pleasure, and their deep bond causes him pain when she is sad, ill or otherwise unwell. One reason for their...

This beautifully written story is a memoir based upon events of Truman Capote's own childhood, when he was raised by an elderly relative after the suicide of his mother. He refers to her as his cousin and his friend, and also says she is "still a child." Her energy and enthusiasm provide him with much pleasure, and their deep bond causes him pain when she is sad, ill or otherwise unwell. One reason for their closeness is their poverty; they must be very resourceful and this means the cousin must teach Buddy all kinds of ways to survive and do what they can to eat and stay warm.

The yearly tradition of making fruitcakes of loved ones uses up every bit of the cousin's money she manages to save throughout the year. The sentence "These moneys we keep hidden in an ancient bead purse under a loose board under the floor under a chamber pot under my friend's bed," describes the special and secret hiding place for the money used for the Fruitcake Fund. There is a ritualized, chanting feel to the repetition of the word "under" that makes one feel the physical action required to retrieve the money. Also, this repetition emphasizes the idea that the gathering on ingredients and all the steps required to do so are also a ritual of sorts, performed every year when the cousin decides that it is "fruitcake weather."