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.
Perry Smith and Dick Hickock are two remarkably different characters. In the beginning of the novel, they’re known only as the murders of the Clutter family, but Truman Capote tells their life stories in such a way that they become more than that. Even though these two men are basically introduced as murderers, they quickly become relatable and interesting characters. So much is learned about their feelings and lives that one can not help but almost look past their reckless ways. Both of these men have unique character traits that amalgamate in an intriguing way. Throughout In Cold Blood, Capote includes many instances that show how Dick and Perry, when combined, make the perfect murderer.
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.
Rural Kansas was a peaceful, welcoming community. The farmers and townspeople were very close and friendly with one another. Nothing bad ever happened in these farming areas because the people were nice and friendly. Until one frightful night, everything changed. Back in 1959, the town of Holcomb, Kansas was absolutely shocked and taken aback by the news of killings that occurred in their small town. The victims were a well-known and loved family from the community. They were brutally murdered in their rural farmhouse. Truman Capote unravels the secrets, rumors, suspicions, and truth about the crime of the small town murder of the Clutter family in his non-fiction book, In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences.
Crime and glimpses into the heads of criminal masterminds has always been something that fascinates people. Although crime is a terrible thing, the complexity and intricacy of it is something that people love to hear about. One can turn on the news at any given time and almost certainly hear an account of some form of a crime within ten minutes. In the novel In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, an account to a perplexing crime is taken to a whole new level. The Clutter family was a charming family of four that lived in the little town of Holcomb, Kansas. They were brutally murdered with no apparent motive by Dick Hickock and Perry Smith, two men that had
The life of crime is not for everyone but some people are just thrown into it and cannot really control it. On just a regular day back in 1959, the Clutter family of Holcomb, Kansas were murdered in cold blood by 2 men: Dick Hickcok and Perry Smith. Truman Capote heard about this and decided to learn more about it and once hearing about it more he decided to combine this real life event and a little bit of his own creativity to create this masterpiece. The established author Truman Capote wrote the fictionalized crime novel “In Cold Blood” and by using pathos, imagery, and ethos, he is able to convey his purpose of letting the people know that he can basically change the game of “non fiction” writing and create the first real life fictional crime novel.
Although in the first two sections of the book Capote describes the innocent side of Perry, he shows the negative aspects of Perry to then explain reasons why he deserves less punishment; therefore people with traumatic pasts do not deserve as much of the blame for their actions.
Truly successful authors have the ability to convey their view of a place without actually saying it, to portray a landscape in a certain light simply by describing it. In the opening paragraphs of In Cold Blood, Truman Capote does just this. Through his use of stylistic elements such as selection of detail, imagery, and figurative language, Capote reveals his own solemn and mysterious view of Holcomb, Kansas, while setting the stage for an imminent change.
In Cold Blood begins in a small town in Kansas, called Holcomb. The book endeavors into an elaborate investigation of the massacre of the Clutter family. The family includes Herb, his wife, and their two children: Nancy and Kenyon. The two criminals, Dick and Perry, initially avoid being caught, but the law catches up to them when they leave small clues behind.
Have you ever experienced something unimaginable? The brutal murder of the Clutter family on November 15, 1959 sure was to the people around them. On pages 58- 60 of the chapter The Last to See Them Alive in Truman Capote’s novel, In Cold Blood, he emphasizes the disbelief of the townspeople when they find out the beloved family is dead. Capote uses descriptive imagery, diction, tone, and syntax throughout the book to create sympathy for the family .
The narrative switches back and forth to focus on the experiences of different characters. Capotes way of writing and changing structures and shapes is because he withholds a good description of what actually happened in the Clutter home. This is logical because the way the story is being told Perry Smith and Dick Hickock and their families. This is the hook that keeps the reader turning pages. Part 3 “Answers” allows the reader to feel secure in the promise that finally everything will be answered and explained. Such as the journey that the wto men took, driving eight hundred miles during a twenty-hour period, are now discovered by Nye during the investigation, Capote's way of being a journalist and a novelist at the same time. Capote’s
There were many drastic sexual remarks by both Dick and Perry. And listening to Dick’s conceited chatter, hearing him start to describe his Mexican “amorous conquests,” he thought how “queer” it was, “egomaniacal.” (Capote 173). It seems that the two murderers have had some encounters with homosexuals and are stereotyping. I have numerous homosexual friends and do not talk bad about them. During the 1960’s there was a completely different ideology than today of gays and lesbians. In the past decade the government has start making different pieces of legislation trying to make marriage legal for gays.
In “In Cold Blood” (1966) from page 200 to 202, Capote give us the insight into the past of Dick and Perry characters that caused them to resent a certain type of situation or condition. The author acknowledge this matter by showing how Dick and Perry nature being revealed through what they seen and encounter on their get away trip, first he inform us about how the view of the sea, and people Dick see in the hotels remind him of how he growth to feel hostile against people who possessed thing that he known he couldn’t have, “Why should that sonofabitch have everything, while he had nothing? Why should that “big shot bastard” have all the luck?” (Rhetorical question and Parallelism were used to emphasize Dick animosity), “open them up and let
Truman Capote writes a genius book about a real murder that happened and he tore the case apart to find out every detail that happened in the crime. In Cold Blood is about two men who almost get away with a hostile murder of a family. How a lead detective on the case gets so pressured about finding these men. It is also about the anxiety that these murders put on the killers because one of them is afraid they are going to get caught. The town that turns on each other and locks their doors at night and prays no one comes in. Capote’s purpose in this book was sympathizing with the killer and all the other people in the book, also in the book he presents foreshadowing, and Pathos, he has many other Rhetorical Strategies but these are the important Strategies.
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote is a novel that explains the history of a family murder through two characters perspective. Capote unravels each character through the concept of juxtapose, which helps prevail the occurrence of events. Dick, is a very straight forward man that does not care about what others think. Whereas, Perry has a shy, conserved personality that is shown through transitions and details. Juxtapose effects the readers and characters as explained throughout the novel by comparing and contrasting two different characters opinions.Details are shown on every page and are illustrated in every sentence, which gives the reader the image. In Cold Blood represents the development of characters, juxtapose, transitions and details.