Analysis Of In Cold Blood By Truman Capote

While reading Truman Capote's novel,"In Cold Blood ", I spent more than one night lying awake in my bed, frightened by Capote's presentation of the facts surrounding the murder of an obscure Kansas farmer and three of his family members. Several times, I caught myself wondering why this book

In the non-fiction novel In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, four horrific murders shock the small, innocent town of Holcomb, Kansas, the murders all occur on one night killing an entire family. Before the killings, the town felt like a family. The citizens of Holcomb were seen as good people, innocent and free of worry. However, after the Clutter murders take place, a community that seems so tightly knit quickly dissipates. The murder

John Hollowell's, critical analysis of Truman Capote's novel In Cold Blood focuses on the way Capote used journalism and fiction to try and create a new form of writing (82-84).

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 characterizes Holcomb as a innocent and peaceful farm town with a small population of people and a few rundown buildings. As he describes the town of Holcomb he paints a picture that not a lot happens in the town and that the surrounding towns do not pay attention to Holcomb or even know that the small town exists. Capote describes the town as being melancholy, lonesome and unknown he describes the town like this so that when a crime happens in this town it has a greater impact on the people. In order to convey these ideas Capote uses a great deal of imagery and has a good use of diction that is easy to understand so that his ideas come across clear and he is able to paint the picture he wants to paint.

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.

Capote uses literary devices such as anaphora to describe the town Holcomb to give readers a comprehension on how Holcomb acted before the chaos began. In the beginning of the book Capote reports Holcomb town as, “Like the waters of the river, like the motorists on the highway, and like the yellow streaking down the Santa Fe tracks, drama, in the shape of exceptional happenings, has never stopped there” (Capote 5). Life in Holcomb was as if the town had its own little world and nothing from the outside mattered. Holcomb was just a small, quiet town in the middle of nowhere. Capote wants people to know how separated Holcomb town was and how one big murder could matter so much.

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.

Capote talks of the city as an observer and describes Holcomb in a more negative viewpoint. He describes the town as “unnamed”, “unshaded” and even “unpaved” which gives the reader a negative viewpoint toward the image of Holcomb. He also describes many of the buildings as run-down including saying “...A falling over post office” which shows the city is pretty much not a good image. But later in the passage, Capote changes his view on the town and the people saying things as they are “comfortable people” and the town “has done well”. So, the tone shifts through the passage, first it had a negative view, and then a positive view on the town of

In Truman Capote’s book In Cold Blood, Capote takes readers to the town of Holcomb, Kansas. As someone who has always lived in large cities, such as New Orleans, Louisiana or New York City, Truman Capote was a complete outsider to this town. His interest in traveling to this town came as a surprise to his publishers, it was so tremendously unusually for his character. Capote’s depiction of Holcomb, Kansas from an outsider's point of view, was that of a small country town in the middle of nowhere, which Capote has characterized using rhetorical devices such as imagery, diction, and Syntax.

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.

A. At this point in the text, Truman Capote starts to describe the small town of Holcomb, Kansas and the murders that took place on November 15, 1959. Two tone words that best describe the tone in this section are dramatic and ambitious because of how he describes this section. B. At this point in the text, Truman Capote describes Nancy getting ready for Sunday church and when she visits the Clutters house to pick up Nancy then discovers Nancy's dead body and runs to her father. Two tone words that best describe the tone in this section of the book are awestruck and gloomy because of the environment Capote creates in the book.

Capote begins his novel with a conventional narrative structure choice: describing the setting. He spends several pages familiarizing the reader with the town of Holcomb, Kansas. This move is crucial, especially when contrasted with his unconventional choices for the traditional narrative timeline as the book progresses. As Capote introduces the reader to the Clutter family, with a particular focus on Herb, he sets the groundwork for the conflict. With necessary background information in mind, the reader first confronts the conflict with the words, “...he headed for home and the day’s work, unaware that it would be his last” (13). It is this moment, that the reader experiences the first sense of satisfaction. This is the

The captivating story of In Cold Blood by Truman Capote is a beautifully written piece describing the unveiling of a family murder. This investigative, fast-paced and straightforward documentary provides a commentary of such violence and examines the details of the motiveless murders of four members of the Clutter family and the investigation that led to the capture, trial, and execution of the killers. As this twisted novel unravels, Capote defines the themes of childhood influences relevant to the adulthood of the murderers, opposite personalities, and nature versus nurture.

It was Capote's use of stylistic devices that the novel memorable to Swanson. Capote not only vividly recreated the events leading up to the murders, but he also described in "meticulous detail and diamondlike prose" the "dozens of lives destroyed or altered" in the process (33). Capote carefully chose each word he recorded, enabling his readers to encounter the same feelings of despair, grief, and fear the characters experience. But Capote's greatest gift was his "ability to listen" and then composing what he heard into a symphony of voices, sounds, and silences (33). Swanson heard the voices of the Clutter family pleading for their lives, the sounds from the "roar of a twelve-gauge shotgun", and the subsequent silence of "an upright, accomplished, and much-admired" family's removal "from a quiet community" (33).