Analysis Of The Poem ' The Village Of Holcomb '

Capote goes to great lengths to show that the townspeople viewed the Clutter family as an ideal American family. Mr. Herbert Clutter was the most successful farmer in Holcomb: "He was, however, the community's most widely known citizen, prominent both there and in Garden City, the close dash by county seat..." (6). Capote details his numerous

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.

Holcomb is a lonesome place, isolated, and hushed “a lonesome area that other Kansans call “out there” (Capote 1). Capote highlights this fact to draw attention to the solitude of the location. This achieves the effect of preparing the stage for the murders to happen. This sets up a contrast with the explosive events and revelations of the latter half of the novel. It also reflects the loneliness of individual humans and more importantly the loneliness of the murderers (especially Smith). It also builds up a suspenseful, paranoid atmosphere that makes one uneasy because no one can hear screams “out there”. It’s a perfect setup for a suspenseful crime story, “out there”. Throughout the novel, one follows the travels of the K.B.I. agent Dewey and the culprits he is chasing such as when Dewey is in Las Vegas “weather had removed the first letter and the last – an R and an S – thereby coining a somewhat ominous word: OOM…upon a sun-warped sign” and the murderers as they reenter the United States “It was midday deep in the Mojave Desert…Dick was standing at the side of a black-surfaced highway, Route 66, his eyes fixed upon the immaculate emptiness as though the fervor of his gaze could force motorists to materialize” (Capote 154). Capote uses geography here to demonstrate the ominousness of the novel’s mood. Both locations are barren wastelands, desolate

In “Mericans” Sandra Cisneros uses imagery to develop the text’s theme. Imagery is when an author uses visually descriptive or figurative language, especially in a literary work. In “Mericans” Sandra Cisneros uses imagery multiple times to describe and develop the scene around the narrator. The first example of imagery is “Some with fat rags tied around their legs and others with pillows, one to kneel on, and one to flop ahead”. Additionally imagery is used again, as it states, “After all that dust and dark, the light from the plaza makes me squinch my eyes like if I just came out of the movies.” The use of imagery creates an visualization of the area around the narrator and how she is reacting to that area.

To elaborate, the reader can not truly hear what is taking place in the poem, but does get a sense of being able to hear what they are reading. For instance when the speaker says “While his gills were breathing in” (22), the reader can almost hear the fish breathing. The speaker again stimulates the auditory senses when she says “and a fine black thread, / still crimped from the strain and snap” (58-59). Again the reader can virtually hear the sound of the line snapping. The next aspect of imagery that needs to be examined is the sensory imagery. An excellent example of sensory imagery is found when reading the lines “It was more like the tipping, / of an object toward light” (43-44). These lines can give an almost unbalanced feeling to the reader as they conceptualize these words. Imagery is not the only important element used in this poem. As stated earlier, irony is an important component involved in “The Fish”.

Throughout the passage, Capote uses sterling imagery to convey his view of Holcomb. In the passage Capote sees Holcomb as a negative sight. He shows this by saying “...Haphazard hamlet bounded on the south by a brown stretch of the Arkansas... Street... Turns from the thickets dust to the dirtiest mud.” Capote also says “...Gaunt woman who wears a rawhide jacket and denims and cowboy boots” when referring to the people of Holcomb. In these two descriptions of the town, these show a negative view of Holcomb and how old-fashioned it is. Capote also says it is “...More Far Western than Middle West” which shows an image of the town is old-fashioned and run down like the old-time Western towns.

Twain uses imagery, analytical diction, and extended metaphor in order to remind people to step back and see the beauty in things they now find mundane. Mark Twain uses Imagery throughout the first paragraph in order to illustrate the mystique of the Mississippi River before he became the captain of a steamboat. He describes the water as being “broken by boiling, tumbling rings, that were as many-tinted as an opal[.]” He describes the water as being like the semi-precious stone opal in order to symbolize the value and beauty of it. Later in the paragraph he remarks, “There were graceful curves, reflected images, woody heights, [and] soft distances.”

The town of Holcomb is a small town located in west Kansas, seventy miles east of the Colorado border. A prosperous farmer, Herb Clutter, owns River Valley Farm; and, is well-known in the town. He has no known enemies, as he is liked by most, but the day of November 14, 1959 will be his last. He carries out a normal day unaware of this, and starts his day of work.

Capote starts his novel describing the small town of Holcomb, setting the stage for how the murders will change the town. Capote wants to make the readers understand that the small town

The passage begins with Capote describing what the town looks like and how many people could interpret it. It makes the reader believe that the town could be considered a ghost town, but it takes a turn that you wouldn’t expect. The author writes about the school and how much they care about their education system. As I said above, you can feel an immediate change in the tone when Capote says “Until one morning in mid-November of 1959, a few Americans - in fact, few Kansans- had ever heard of Holcomb.” Capote is foreshadowing to what’s about to happen later on in the book that isn't present in the passage. The way the

One literary device that Capote utilizes is imagery. It is most noticeable when he describes the atmosphere of the town after the murder. “Imagination, of course, can open any door-turn the key and let terror walk right in.” Ever since the murder, the people of Holcomb have been imagining the worse. Capote puts it perfectly as he describes the town that the hunters see when they first arrive from Colorado: “windows ablaze, almost every window in almost every house,

For example, “... did nothing to block the blinding light and searing heat beating down from above. He opened his mouth… and a raw plume of dry warmth shot down his throat, seeming to obliterate any air or moisture in its path.” (94). This displays imagery because it describes how it made Thomas feel. The reader can imagine how bright and how dry it was. Additionally, “It was a wasteland. In front of him, a flat pan of dry and lifeless earth stretched as far as he could see. Not a single tree. Not a bush. No hills or valleys. Just an orange-yellow seat of dust and rocks; wavering currents of heated air boiled on the horizon like steam, floating upward, as if any life out there were melting toward the cloudless and pale blue sky.” (95). This exhibits imagery by describing what the land looked like. It puts a picture in the reader’s mind. To sum up, the imagery in this novel helped understand what the characters

The author uses imagery in the poem to enable the reader to see what the speaker sees. For example, in lines 4-11 the speaker describes to us the

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

Imagery is a strong element that helps portray a lot of internal feelings for the audience to fathom with, thus creating an experience that the audience can enjoy. Imagery is the language represented by sense experience and a literary device that helps create a mental picture for the reader to understand what the writer is trying to say to the audience (Johnson, Arp 779). The following is the poem by Langston Hughes: “The calm,/Cool face of the river/Asked me for a kiss.” (Hughes 1-3) When examining the poem, “Suicide’s Note”, it is full of imagery with only three lines present. The