Mea Cleary         9/9/25

Language and Literacy Essay 

    The first time I ever watched the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s I was forever changed. It was a rainy fall day on the couch and I had just got home from school. After a tough day of seventh grade girl drama I was needing a pick me up. The next thing I knew I was sitting with some ice cream and my favorite person, my mom, watching Audrey Hepburn eat a bagel in a beautiful and classic black dress standing outside of Tiffany’s. I was hooked. The way she carried herself, the confidence she had, the way she spoke to everyone in the world, not just people she was trying to impress…that’s who I wanted to be. From there I found myself changing how I spoke, the choices I made, the clothes I wore all with the thought “what would Audrey do?” She became more than just an actress in a movie, she was everything I wanted to be and more. I wanted her grace and her poise and more importantly I wanted her “class.” 

       With complete honesty, I found myself thinking “everyone should be thinking like Audrey.” With that came subconscious judgment of the “class” people had, or lack thereof. This mentality came with unintentional consequences. Although I never intentionally would set out to judge, I would, and it would usually start out with the way people spoke. I valued a good first impression, firm handshake and eye contact. I valued a coherent and clear conversation because in my head that is just the way Audrey Hepburn would do it. I would, and sometimes still do, get very frustrated with people who don’t speak the way I do. I currently have a professor that says the word “um” on average 187 times per class (yes I actually kept a tally). As my frustration bubbles over I find myself paying less attention to the topic at hand and more on the fact that I have the idea in my head that professors shouldn’t speak like that. That I am paying for a professional in their field to speak to me in a professional way.  But where did this come from? This professor is incredibly intelligent, kind and a very gifted teacher, so why do I have such a pet peeve? Why is this small filler word getting under my skin so much? Why do I let my bias on how people speak affect me in such a way I lose my focus on topics I should be learning? Because in my mind Audrey Hepburn never said the word “um” in Breakfast at Tiffany’s so why can’t everyone “think like Audrey?” 

      A huge part of my college experience is and will continue to consist of evolution, like many. However mine is coming from the desire to change the close-mindedness I grew up with. I came from a small town and had 2 people of color in the entire high school, and now I live in Harlem, a place bursting at the seams with culture, beauty and life. Although I consciously have no problem being accepting and welcoming of all the beautiful cultures around me, subconsciously I am thinking “why can’t people think like Audrey” but “thinking like Audrey” could in all reality be just my privilege and prejudice creating a negative idea around people that are not like me. My love and admiration for Audrey Hepburn could be seen as a mask to hide my subconscious close-mindedness. Not everyone has the same ideas of what the word “class” means. I find myself comparing others on the basis of my very narrow idea of what “class” is. Audrey Hepburn made me chase the ideal of grace, however true grace is not about how people speak, look or act. Grace and class surround the humility and empathy humans have for one another. Acknowledging privilege and prejudice is vitally important to becoming the person I strive to be, to be like Audrey.