Capote's Narrative Voice

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.

Despite this claim of Mrs. Clutter, Capote gave the readers glimpses into the Clutter’s home their daily life and their last day alive; the book shows scenes of Mr. Clutter at the breakfast table, Kenyon working in the basement on his sister’s hope chest, and Nancy laying out her clothes for Sunday morning- the clothes she will be buried in. Simultaneously, Capote effortlessly weaves in illustrated scenes of the murders, Perry Smith and Dick Hickok, on their ominous journey to the Clutter’s family farm.

Clutter as an involved person, and are most commonly used when describing his ability to be a leader of the Holcomb community. For example, Capote describes Mr. Clutter as, “an educated man successful in his profession” (34). In 1959, very few people were both well-educated and successful due to the existence of fewer opportunities for higher-quality post-secondary education; therefore, Mr. Clutter belonged to an elite class of people in Holcomb that likely led society. Furthermore, the inclusion of more elaborate words portrays Mr. Clutter as a powerful and distinguished figure rather than a common man. Throughout the duration of this passage, Capote’s use of descriptive phrases to accompany these statements explains to what extent Mr. Clutter volunteers in the community. He is described as an, “eminent Republican and church leader” (35). These two positions would make him known by other residents of Holcomb for two drastically different activities, politics and religion. Moreover, Mr. Clutter was a leader of a less popular church in Holcomb, further

Capote’s use of description to illustrate Alvin Dewey’s final part with the Clutter family as well as Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, again add well-needed and greatly included closure to the Clutter case that gripped the community of Holcomb, Kansas.

At the beginning of the opening, the author’s tone is relaxed. He talks about how small the town is. Capote mentions that nothing ever happens in Holcomb. He describes the town as a desert. There is not much to see. In the fourth paragraph, the author begins to talk about the school in Holcomb. When he describes the school, Holcomb starts to sound like a very conceited town. Capote characterizes the school as “a good looking establishment.” He describes the school like this because the readers will compare the charming school to the boring town. The readers will wonder why this small town owns such a outstanding school. In the last paragraph, the tone dramatically changes. Capote writes, “...few Americans-in fact, few Kansans-had ever heard of Holcomb.” The author implies that Holcomb will soon be what everyone is talking about. The author also says that the town was happy that they have kept a low profile. The author hints that everything will soon change for the little town of

Holcomb, Kansas was a small town where an awful tragedy took place. Truman Capote characterizes Holcomb as a friendly town that was once defiled by using imagery, diction, and tone. Furthermore, Capote uses imagery to characterize Holcomb,

Residents of Holcomb, Kansas, did not expect an atrocious tragedy would occurred in their small quiet town on November 15, 1959. During the night of the tragedy, four members of the Clutter family were ferociously murdered with a click of a shotgun held by a vile man, Perry Smith. Truman Capote, who was an American novelist, was intrigued by the news and decided to set his goal to write a book about the crime while setting his purpose on creating a new genre of writing. As he got more involved in the crime case, he slowly shifts his original purpose from creating a new type of writing to portraying Perry as a sympathetic figure because of his close relationship with him.

Capote illustrates Holcomb as the ideal American small town and how the community is a close knit group through the use of tone in the text. His use of tone portrays Holcomb as a blitheful town: “That Monday, the Sixteenth of November, 1959, was still another fine specimen of pheasant weather on the high wheat plains of western Kansas--a day gloriously bright skied, as glittery as mica” (Capote 77).

Capote’s word choice, instead of painting a quaint little town, illustrates a “falling apart” and “ramshackle” town that one likely wouldn’t want to live. This could very well be because of how used to city life Capote is. Capote sees Holcomb as “dry.” “Not that there

Capote uses specific first person details to … Neighbors, friends, no longer trust each other, with one of the townspeople going as far as saying “‘When this is cleared up, I’ll wager whoever did it was someone within ten miles of where we stand now”’ (Capote 88). The townspeople, which had always left their doors open, brought each other to church, and helped each other with household chores and tasks have now put up barriers, feeling as if no one can trust each other and that each person had to watch their back. The inclusion of this person’s vocalized thought about who murdered the Clutter completely obliterates any trust that they had in the people in the town. The serene, tranquil foundation that this town stood upon has been annihilated so suddenly, displaying the impact of the murder on the

Capote presents alternating perspectives, the four members of the Clutter family Nancy, Kenyon, Mrs. Clutter and Mr. Clutter, being victims, and the two murderers, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. These different perspectives allow the reader to relive each side of the story for

PART I: The Last to See Them Alive How does Capote use the resources of language to characterize the Clutters and their farm as well as his view of Holcomb, Kansas? With his skilled use of detail and imagery, Capote describes Holcomb, Kansas, its residents and the Clutters to convey to the reader his perspective and attitude towards the setting of the story. For example, in the first paragraphs of the story, Capote goes out of his way to describe the town and its surrounding in the most boring details. This is believed to portray the town as bland, isolated and utterly dull.

Beginning in the first line of the passage, Capote selects the most boring details of life in the small town in order to portray its character. He draws attention to the physical isolation of Holcomb by referring to it as the place that "other Kansans call 'out there.'" In addition,

Capote using the neighbors point on view when talking about the Clutter family makes the reader like the Clutter family. Even if the Clutter family was not the best family on the inside when other people saw them for example their neighbors, friends, and family all they saw was a close family that could do no wrong. Even though Mrs.Clutter was not the most stable women the way people perceived that family and talked about them made the readers like and admire the Clutter family. While all the neighbors knew about the murders was that they killed a happy family with four lovely kids who were also a joy to have in Holcomb. If Capote chose to tell the point of view through Perry’s and Dick’s family, friends and neighbors the reader would

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