For decades there had been people who were racist and others that felt better because of their skin color. In Truman Capote’s book In Cold Blood these characteristics are captured; however, since its publishing ideals have changed. Some believed that two killers were not given a truly fair trial. Furthermore there was a fight between the system and if the killers should be sentenced to death. This book although effective with style could have used fewer details.
Capote presents alternating perspectives, the four members of the Clutter family Nancy, Kenyon, Mrs. Clutter and Mr. Clutter, being victims, and the two murderers, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. These different perspectives allow the reader to relive each side of the story for example, “Good grief, Kenyon” (Capote 17). Then the next part begins "Dick was driving a black 1949 Chevrolet sedan” (Capote 22). The alternating views help to control each section of thoughts and help prevent the reader from misinterpreting the thoughts. I found it easier to read since so many characters were involved. By using this perspective the reader gathers pieces of the puzzle leading up to an awful Clutter family murder.
The Criminals have sort of cult of personality. Perry a high school dropout and a loner while Dick has children and been married twice. The entire story Perry seems to appeal towards the readers emotions since he has no family. Capote is partially biased towards Smith because at friends. Truman Capote gives the reader a detailed chronicle of Perry Smith's and Dick Hickock's childhoods. Smith's childhood was problematic from years of abuse. Perry witnessed his father abusing his mother; as a result, his parents divorced. His adulthood rendered him the chance to avenge the ...
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... the prosecution is trying to make an example of Dick and Perry. The trial seems lopsided because these men are being portrayed as guilty until proven innocent. There have been a few cases like this in history although the prosecution had more evidence than the latter case. An example includes the OJ Simpson trial only he was found innocent because his lawyers had an effective defense strategy. However, since the defendants Dick and Perry were being tried in a small town, the system was not fair.
Truman Capote spent dedicated his time making In Cold Blood and it is apparent. Even though nearly fifty-years this book was published it remains popular today. Therefore, had this book been published today there would likely be a backlash since the language at sometimes can be extreme.
Works Cited
Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood. New York: Modern Library, 1965.
Capote tells the story in a way that makes you feel you are being told about the characters by a close acquaintance of each individual character. When you aren't hearing the voices of the characters as they tell their own stories, we hear, not the voice of an author, but the voice of a friend who knew the characters well. (Before saying her prayers, she always recorded in a diary a few occurrences... Perry didn't care what he drank... etc.)
This lesson will examine the impact of Harper Lee on Truman Capote 's true-crime novel, 'In Cold Blood. ' Lee helped her childhood friend with much of the research for the book, although she was not credited when the book was published.
Truman Capote establishes respect and trust in what he writes from with audience, ethos, through the use of an extensive variety of facts and statistics, logos. Capote uses so many dates, times, and other facts about the crime committed in the book and the subsequent investigation that the reader has to believe what the author is writing. The use of all these facts shows that Capote did his research and he interviewed, questioned, and obtained the opinions of every person that even slightly important to crime itself and the investigation/trial. The author is obviously very meticulous when it comes to dates and times; every important event in the book has a date and sometimes even a time of day to go with it. Some examples of dates included were the day of the murders (November 15th, 1959), dates of when Perry and Dick were here or there (December 31th, 1959- a small restaurant in Texas or noon on December 25th, 1959- beach in Miami Florida), date when the two criminals were apprehended (January 1st, 1960), dates when they were brought from this prison to that one and finally when they were brought to death’s row (April, 1960). Other small facts are also used by the author, like facts about the criminal’s early lives or experiences that they had, which could only have been obtained through extensive interviews with Perry and Dick. The use of all these logos by Capote establishes strong ethos, showing the reader that the author did more than enough research to show that he has the knowledge to write a whole book on the subject.
Truman Capote showcases his very distinct style of writing in his true crime novel, In Cold Blood. Capote intentionally frames ruthless murderer Perry Smith as a relatable, well-intentioned human throughout the whole novel, and employs various rhetorical devices to show us that Perry is not just a stone cold killer. Specifically, Capote uses diction comprised of complex words, interviews conducted by Capote personally in which he interacted with the suspects and their loved ones, and sentence structure that came off as very to the point, in order to illustrate Perry’s dynamic and unique personality, opposed to the one dimensional heartless murderer many made him out to be.
Capote opposes the death penalty, almost pleading that Perry is insane. As the Psychologist is unsure of whether or not Perry is insane, the court quickly shuts that escape route down. The imminent death of Perry and Dick makes the reader feel split on the two, where they would rather have Dick put to death and let Perry live, if the reader so chooses that Perry is insane.
In Cold Blood is the most Capote's favor that improves his novelistic skills to create a collaboration between psychology and physiology of a true crime while he uses actual events as a basis. The author combines real-life events and his literary techniques to provide both sides of this case. Unlike the Clutters, hadn't the good fortune to have stable home lives, Perry Smith, particularly, had a chaotic and abusive childhood. Dick Hickock, who had a childhood warmer despite poverty. For Perry and Dick, they made a close-knit team to engage a homicide. Obviously, Capote's target is discovering what the real motive is. My feeling is hard to control because I don't want to continue since the perpetrators were known before. But, after I skim more chapters, the plot handled as if it is a breaking news story that causing excitement, curiosity. In other words, I have the feeling that I am reading simultaneous accounts of this murder in several different newspapers. I suddenly finds myself siding with Perry in a certain extent even I get interested when I read “ That's incorrect. The grammar is.”(Capote 89). However, this case has left a moral lesson, one must take responsibility and should not blame circumstances. Overall I think In Cold Blood is book worth reading, it presents realism, humanity, morality in society and the justice of the law. From now on, it is one of the books my
Capote's structure in In Cold Blood is a subject that deserves discussion. The book is told from two alternating perspectives, that of the Clutter family who are the victims, and that of the two murderers, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. The different perspectives allow the reader to relive both sides of the story; Capote presents them without bias. Capote masterfully utilizes the third person omniscient point of view to express the two perspectives. The non-chronological sequencing of some events emphasizes key scenes.
In 1966, Truman Capote published the novel In Cold Blood that pierced the boundaries of literary genres, as he narrated the events of the 1959 Clutter family massacre in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas and the quest that took place afterwards through the perspectives both the murderers and those looking for them. As Capote bends these genre normalities, he ventures with the killers and the detectives and describes the murderers’ lives in-depth to further characterize Dick Hickock and Perry Smith--their psychological states and the possible contributing factors to their undeniable personality disorders. The two killers are ultimately diagnosed by a mental health professional with mental illnesses rather than chronic personality disorders,
Truman Capote finds different ways to humanize the killers throughout his novel In Cold Blood. He begins this novel by explaining the town of Holcomb and the Clutter family. He makes them an honest, loving, wholesome family that play a central role in the town. They play a prominent role in everyone’s lives to create better well-being and opportunity. Capote ends his beginning explanation of the plot by saying, “The suffering. The horror. They were dead. A whole family. Gentle, kindly people, people I knew --- murdered. You had to believe it, because it was really true” (Capote 66). Despite their kindness to the town, someone had the mental drive to murder them. Only a monster could do such a thing --- a mindless beast. However,
Most people believe that everyone gets what they deserve. That all bad actions deserve consequences. To many, that is what the so-called “justice” system is for. Criminals are supposed to be punished by the law, but is it always fair to the criminals? What if one of those criminals had an awful life growing up and just was unable to stay out of trouble? It is just this question that Truman Capote addresses in his book, In Cold Blood. Throughout the book, Capote creates sympathy for Perry Smith while claiming the justice system is flawed in the way it punishes the wrong people.
...ion...” (“Truman” 84). Capote creates a story that was based on true events while being able to evoke emotions out of the readers. The use of an objective writing style was a fundamental part in adding to the garnering of emotions to the story as well. Through In Cold Blood, Capote alerts the audience to “...Ambiguities of the American legal system and capital punishment” (“Truman” 84), stating that in the court of law in America there are some flaws and laws that are obscure in their purpose that one should be weary about. Capote wrote In Cold Blood in order to convey the idea that whenever a person or a group of people is murdered, vengeance is always sought upon the murderers. In a place where everyone knows everyone, it is hard for the community to adjust to the losses without proper compensation, and sometimes the only way is through punishing those by death.
Richard Mulcaster, a British instructor of English, once wrote, “Nature makes the boy toward, nurture sees him forward.” Mulcaster recognizes that both genetic and environmental factors determine the type of a person one becomes. Truman Capote’s nonfiction novel, In Cold Blood gives the reader an opportunity to see prime examples of how nature and nurture influence one’s character. Capote’s novel, In Cold Blood introduces the reader to two men; Richard Eugene Hickock known as Dick throughout the novel, and Perry Edward Smith whose lives of crime are almost identical; although both Perry and Richard come from very humble backgrounds, their childhood particularly their family life, has very little in common. It is not until later in their lives that we begin to see similarities between the two men. Despite their differences, Perry’s upbringing and Dick’s genetic disposition allow both men to share a disregard for life, which becomes apparent on the night they gruesomely burglarized and murdered four innocent members of the Clutter family.
The detailed account of the killers’ childhoods makes the reader sympathize with the Clutter family’s killers Smith and Hickock. Should they reserve the death penalty? Did Truman Capote take a stand on the death penalty? By giving the reader a detailed account of Perry Smith’s and Dick Hickock’s childhood, Capote sets up the reader for a nurture vs. nature debate on the death penalty. The question then becomes, do the effects (if any) caused by environment in childhood make for a trained killer or a natural born one?
In Truman Capote’s non-fiction novel In Cold Blood, the Clutter family’s murderers, Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, are exposed like never before. The novel allows the reader to experience an intimate understanding of the murderer’s pasts, thoughts, and feelings. It goes into great detail of Smith and Hickock’s pasts which helps to explain the path of life they were walking leading up to the murder’s, as well as the thought’s that were running through their minds after the killings.
In the nonfiction novel, “In Cold Blood” by Truman Capote, the author tells a story of the murderers and victims of a slaughter case in Holcomb, Kansas. Instead of writing a book on the murder case as a crime report, the author decides to write about the people. The people we learn about are the killers, Dick and Perry, and the murdered family, the Clutters. The author describes how each family was and makes the portrayals of Dick and Perry’s family different from the Clutters.The portrayal of the Clutters and of Dick and Perry’s families, was used to describe what the American Dream was for each character. In the beginning we learn about what type of family the Clutters were and how they represented the American Dream for the people of Holcomb.