How Does Truman Capote Corrupt In Cold Blood

because the novel provides accurate description of what took place during and after the trials, and how the townsfolk of Holcomb, Kansas reacted to the murder of the beloved Clutters. It is assumed that the townsfolk’s reaction to the murders was pretty accurate, giving the fact that Capote traveled to Holcomb shortly after the murders were reported in the New York Times.

Capote goes to great efforts to show the admiration which the community held for the Clutter family, one of the elements which made the murders so shocking. Everybody socialized with the Clutter family. For example, Mr. Clutter's friend Mrs. Ashida felt comfortable telling Mr. Clutter her conflict with her husband regarding the Ashida family's possible move, confiding that people like his family are the reason she wishes to stay in Holcomb.

Truman Capote wrote In Cold Blood with the intention of creating a new non-fiction genre, a creative spin on a newspaper article with the author, and his opinions and judgments completely absent from the text, leaving only the truth for the reader to interpret. The pages of In Cold Blood are filled with facts and first-hand accounts of the events surrounding the brutal murder of a wealthy unsuspecting family in Holcomb, Kansas. Author Truman Capote interviewed countless individuals to get an accurate depiction of every one affected by and every side of the murder. Although he declares himself an unbiased and opinion-free author, based on the extensive descriptions of one of the murderers, Perry Smith, there is much debate about this

For centuries, men and women have murdered each other for greed, lust, revenge, etc. However, in 1959, Truman Capote traveled to Holcomb, Kansas to discover the other side of murder. Truman Capote, author of In Cold Blood, offers a close examination of the horrid murder of the Clutter family. He explored how two men of different backgrounds, ethnicities, and personalities joined together to kill an innocent family for riches. Capote provides different points of view through each of his character’s eyes for his readers’ better understanding of the murderers. The use of juxtaposition compares and contrasts Dick to Perry, the murders. Capote succeeds with using juxtaposition to reveal the murderer's how he perceived them.

When we hear about a killing on the news, our natural instincts are to immediately antagonize the killers. More likely than not, we hate the killers, and hope they get a vengeful prison sentence. In Truman Capote’s true crime non-fiction book, In Cold Blood, we learn about the murders that took place in Holcomb. The story is about much more than the slaying of a respectful family, its focus is on the killers, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. One of Capote’s main purposes in the book is to convey the multiple perspectives of a crime in order for the readers to view the killers as more than just the bad guys, and he achieves his purpose primarily through the use of pathos, anecdotes, and his chosen narrative.

Capote expresses his idea of nature vs. nurture in Dick Hickock and Perry Smith and whether killers are born or made. With this in mind, he writes, “Dick became convinced that Perry was a rarity, ‘a natural born killer,’— absolutely sane but conscienceless, and capable of dealing with or without motive, the coldest-blooded deathblows” (205). This makes apparent Perry’s instincts to kill and Dick’s desire to manipulate Perry’s instincts to do so. Dick uses Perry as an image of who he wants to be, even though Perry feels shame and embarrassment. Capote inspects their motivations for the killings based on their backgrounds.

We see two heartless, cold blooded killers that slain the innocent family of the Clutters with the intent to leave no witnesses and to rob them of their hard earned money but Capote deceives the reader's emotions throughout the entirety of the book to humanize straight killers and make them likable. We often see a murderer as a psychopath without any emotion but it is hard to label Smith and Hickock one because Capote brings the reader into their lives in a way that we would feel sorry and have pity for them. Capote makes the reader relate to Smith and Hickock by describing their families and showing insight into the killers’ dreams and aspirations so we could perceive them as people and forget that they ended the future of the Clutters. Perry was a lonely child growing up and had a drunkard mother that forced him into foster care where he was abused and bullied

Capote purposefully detaches himself from this section of the story, allowing the only sense of sympathy come from those who personally knew the Clutters. Because Capote is not able to form a personal relationship with any members of the Clutter family, he simply chooses to briefly explain the family’s murder and shift his attention to the murderers instead. The Clutters all-American image could not rescue them from tragedy and instead of portraying the family as victims, Capote focuses on attempting to encourage the audience to remain optimistic on their views regarding the family’s murderers.

“Dick was carrying his shotgun, and how he described how Smitty took my shotgun and just blew that man's head off,' And he says, 'Dad, I ought to have grabbed back the gun and shot Smitty dead. Killed him 'fore he killed the rest of that family. If I'd done it I'd be better off than I am now” (164). I am using this quote to explain how Perry just suddenly snapped or blacked out and killed the entire Clutter family. This quote proves that they are in fact guilty of brutally killing the entire Clutter family and that they are mentally

By using this example, Capote is able to strengthen his argument by implicitly claiming Perry was made to be a murderer because environment shapes person’s nature especially when they are young; therefore, it evokes feelings of pity within readers toward Perry’s criminal record. It seems that his criminal record was an extension of godforsaken environments which he had to grow up. Furthermore, Capote shows Perry’s internal emotion he was murdering the Clutter family. “I didn’t want to harm the man. I thought he was a very nice gentleman.

Because Perry is already an established killer, Capote utilizes symbolism to add an air of sensitivity and tenderness to Perry’s already tainted character. Capote spends ample amounts of time to explain a recurring childhood fantasy, which softens Perry character greatly, “And that Perry could not abide: anyone’s ridiculing the parrot, which had flown into his dreams when he was seven years old,” The parrot, a creature symbolizing the caring and sensitive side of Perry, has always been there. This bird has been his savior, a thing he can look to in dark and desperate times. It was here before Dick and will always be here in Perry, meaning that Perry will never lose that sensitive and sweet side of him. It can just be overpowered and belittled by the darkness

Although Capote uses section two to display Perry’s actual innocence, Capote’s true aspirations are to display that a seventh person- Holcomb- has too ‘died’; therefore, he contends that the repercussions of the murders’ actions are felt by all, and will permanently break and kill their spirits and morale even if the town itself appears untouched.

However, the daughters of the Clutter’s were not the only ones negatively influenced by the discrepancies in In Cold Blood. Duane West, former Finny County prosecutor who tried the case contended that he and the other people who appeared in the book “had been portrayed unjustly or misquoted” (Source B). This is an example of yet another negative critique Capote received due to the fibbed material included in his novel. This is important because the more individuals who support the evidence of these fabrications, the more reliable the criticism is. With reliable criticism comes a widespread of negative connotations towards the author and his writing. With that being said, “the problem is once the fabrication has been uncovered, everything else is thrown into questions too” (Source C). This only goes to prove that when the lies behind an authors writing are unveiled through criticism, it spreads the negativity to others who may not have had the chance to form their own

Capote’s opening is an exemplification of narrative journalism and its role in fictional and non-fictional narratives. He describes the serenity of the landscape by saying “ The land is flat, the views are awesomely extensive; horses, herds of cattle, a white cluster of grain elevators rising as gracefully as Greek temples are visible long before a traveler reaches them”(1). He also says that the Holcomb village was on the high wheat plains in the western parts of Kansas. It was a lonesome place, and other residents of Kansas called it ‘out there.’ The book describes a haven for the residents, a place free of the commotion and crowdedness that was characteristic with the rest of Kansas. It is an essential description since it creates a notion of safety and tranquility until the murders. This narrative method is standard in most stories with a picture-perfect beginning until a strong force that is beyond the residents’ control brings chaos and disorder. Capote gives the reader a

Capote uses imagery to characterize Holcomb, Kansas. He uses imagery to describe the visual details of Holcomb. Capote depicts Holcomb as a “lonesome area” with “prairie lands and wheat fields,” “hard blue skies,” “desert clear air,” “apartment houses,” and, “horses, herds of cattle” (Capote, pages 3 and 4). This helps him to characterize Holcomb as a small town because it describes how it was a lonely area that is on the rural side instead of urban. This also helps to show how significant of an impact this made on the town because since it is smaller, everybody knew everybody. So it had a larger impact than it would if the murder were to take place in a larger city where everybody living there aren’t as involved in each other’s lives as they were in Holcomb. Capote also shows that the town of