Analysis Of Truman Capote 's ' Cold Blood '

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.

Truman Capote’s rhetorical choices in his novel In Cold Blood captivates the reader’s attention, allowing them to connect with the plot. He uses rhetorical strategies to sympathize the murders of the Clutter family and create vivid images of how the murders were conducted. His authorial style of using disturbing images within the book allows the reader to feel as if they are an eyewitness to every investigation, scene, and event that occurred before and after the night at the Clutter house. Capote arranges the details and events in the book in a weird sequence that also allows the reader to be involved in every scene while also confusing them in a way. Capote's tone is evidently empathetic and fatalistic tone as he feels for the murderers’ mental state

Truman Capote's non-fiction novel, In Cold Blood, relates the murders of the small Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas in 1959, the sand and harsh lives of the fugitive killers, Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, and their persecutors. Capote awakens multiple emotions throughout the novel on the reader, leaving a thirst for justice and a heavy stomach due to the accuracy of the story, but mainly achieves this by using concrete, evocative techniques, such as the juxtaposing of chapters that foreshadows events and contrast the characters' personalities and motivations, creating an even more emotional impact on the reader.

The famously known novel, In Cold Blood was written by Truman Capote and was published in 1966. The novel written by Capote was based on the 1959 murders of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas. The novel later became a classic 1967 film directed by Richard Brooks. Throughout the film and the book, one seems to notice the multiple differences that occurs within both. While some viewers and readers may debate about the similarities and differences of In Cold Blood film v. In Cold Blood text, one cannot deny the major differences in the depth of exploration of the Clutter’s marriage and the question of who killed whom, and the similarity of the characterization of Dick and Perry throughout. Though there are many differences, the biggest one is the relationship between Herbert and Bonnie Clutter.

The chronicles of Perry’s past that Capote includes in the novel create a sense of pity for Perry in the reader’s perspective. Perry admits to Dewey in the car, while traveling to the Holcomb jail, that he “didn’t feel I ought to ask him[Mr. Clutter] to stretch out on the cold floor, so I dragged the mattress box over, flattened it, and told him to lie down” (241). Compassion and thoughtfulness indirectly characterize Perry because of his unnecessary actions toward keeping Mr. Clutter comfortable in his last moments alive. Perry

In Truman Capote’s captivating nonfiction, In Cold Blood, Capote ventures through the journey and lives of both the killed and the killers all while analyzing the point in which they crossed paths. From the days before the four Clutters were murdered to the last moments of the two killers’ lives, Capote takes into account each and every aspect that creates the ‘famous’ Clutter Case with an in depth look of just how and why these strange and unforeseeable events occurred. What was originally supposed to only be an article in a newspaper turned into an entire book with Capote analyzing both how and why a murder comes to be through the use of pathos, juxtaposition, and foreshadowing.

Aren’t we all a bit crazy at times? In Truman Capote’s rhetorical masterpiece, In Cold Blood, is about a murder that actually occurred in a small town in Kansas. Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, also known as Dick and Perry, are the criminal minds behind the murder. Capote’s work is regarded to as a masterpiece because he uses many rhetorical devices to convey his message. He uses rhetorical devices such as diction, imagery and pathos. Capote’s purpose for writing the book is to show the insights of what goes on in these two’s criminal minds and to humanize Perry.

Capote talks about the lives of both killers previous to the murders in fairly significant detail. In the case of Perry Smith, his parents divorced early in his childhood and neither his mother nor father really wanted him. This produced feelings of abandonment and uselessness early on in Perry and affected the rest of his life. Capote brings up a letter written to the Kansas State Penitentiary about Perry by Perry's father, who was trying to have Perry paroled for a previous crime he had committed. Perry says that "this biography always set racing a series of emotions--self pity in the lead, love and hate evenly at first, the latter ultimately pulling ahead" (130). Perry didn't feel as though his father ever knew him very well, or even wanted to know him. He says, "whole sections of my Dad was ignorant of. Didn't understand an iota of...I had this great natural musical ability. Which Dad didn't recognize. Or care about...I never got any encouragement from him or anybody else" (133). When Perry's father threw him out of the house one evening because his father could no longer afford to have Perry live with him, Perry lost his sense of direction in life. He even says

Imagine two people, both the same race, both the same gender, and they both committed the same crime. The two people are on trial for their crime, but instead of getting the same punishment, one gets the death penalty while the other gets 15 years. To think that the outcome should be the same, however there are more than one factors that play into a person receiving the death penalty and they are not always considered fair. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, displays a situation where Perry Smith commits a violent crime, and is charged with the death penalty instead of serving years in prison. Some might argue that his crime was vicious enough for him to receive death, but who gave them the power to decide whether to take someone’s life?

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.

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

In the final months of 1959, the Clutter family was brutally murdered in their Holcomb, Kansas, home. Reports of their murders made national news. One of these headlines captured the attention of Truman Capote who chose to pursue the story further; eventually, after years of research and thousands of pages of notes, he penned In Cold Blood. It was first published in 1966, and it found immediate success. Capote’s original storytelling methods combined with the sensationalism of the crime was instrumental in creating, at the very least, popularizing a new genre: creative nonfiction. Utilizing unique narrative structure and author-tainted character development, Capote weaves a tale that questions the authenticity, the intent, and the meaning of justice.

Many people say the documentation of the murder of the Clutter family is Truman Capote’s best work. It started out as an article for The New Yorker, and evolved into the non-fiction novel; the first of its kind. Capote traveled to Kansas with friend Harper Lee to research the killings. In the course of six years bringing this narrative together, Capote began taking drugs and drinking heavily due to the dark nature of the book. Truman Capote tells the true story of a family murdered in In Cold Blood, through character analysis and symbolism to prove nature is a stronger force than nature in shaping a person’s character.

The dynamic partnership between Dick and Perry stems from their egos, or lack thereof. Perry is especially self-conscious, and his behavior as presented in the book is due to his sense of lacking and

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.