Cold Blood By Truman Capote, A Cold Blooded Killer

Truman Capote’s non-fiction novel, In Cold Blood (1963), implies that the death penalty should only be used as a last resort.

Being homeless presents many challenges for youth that they normally live day to day, unable to develop plans for forming a productive life structure. Since many homeless youth don’t have money so they start begging or selling drugs or start prostituting to earn money to cover their basic needs. The basic problem of homelessness is the human need for personal shelter,

In today’s society, the stigma around child poverty is related to homelessness. Poverty is the lack of support, goods, and money. As a matter of fact, many kids who partake in the 21% statistic from NCCP do live with parents who go to work and have a paying job. With that being said, the jobs that some of their parents have are unstable and their income is very low making it difficult for these children’s parents to make ends meet. This issue is transparent and many do not realize just how much we are surrounded by those who suffer from child poverty.

Literature, the dictionary defines it being the art of written works that is simultaneously designed to entertain, educate and instruct its audience; writers, using their skill of telling stories, use literature in an attempt to transfer their ideas from paper to the reader; for some, this task means bringing their story to a different place and time that is entirely separate from what the could be perceive as ordinary, on order to serve the writer’s intent. With this, the impossible, becomes the probable, and the worst fear imagined becomes the breathed reality; with no separation between the truth, and fiction. The word “literature” in itself cannot be accurately defined, and by attempting to do so, it limits the word not only in its

The book “With No Direction Home: Homeless Youth on the Road and in the Streets” written by Marni Finkelstein refers to the homeless youth. This book describes the lifestyle of the teenagers with no home and explains with detail about what consist in their everyday lives in the streets of New York City. The purpose of this book is to explain to people who these kids are and to see life in their point of view. It explains the difference between street kids and the kids that live on the street. We need to understand that the kids that live on the streets have their own culture and their own way of surviving. Learning their point of view would be a great eye opening experience for everyone and to also understand their struggle. This book explains a study that was done to 50 street kids and life on the streets.

In the non-fiction novel, In Cold Blood, Truman Capote follows the tail of the Clutter family murder in Holcomb Kansas. Four members of the Clutter family are brutally murdered by two ex-cons and the story follows the hunt for the murderers, their capture, and eventually some country justice. The murder took place on the night of November 15, 1959. The investigators had no motive for the crime and the only clues that they had were two pairs of boot prints left by the killers. Capote took all of his notes and after the murder had been solved he began to formulate a new kind of non-fiction novel, a feat that no one had truly succeeded at before. Many challenges faced him due to not being able to change facts like a fiction writer might be

In the book In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, one of the two killers, Perry Smith, is presented to be an emotional villain whose actions towards others reflects the way society has treated him. The traumatic and broken childhood that Perry endured did not only leave him untrusting of others but was a gateway to the dramatic and unpleasant life that Perry lived. Not only shown through his criminal actions, but every aspect of Perry’s life is negatively marked by his experiences, illustrating the trainwreck that his life turned out to be. Perry’s complicated feelings towards society is shown through his treatment of the Clutters during the home invasion.

In In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, the device of juxtaposition is used to contrast the differing mental states of Dick and Perry, which is emphasized by the syntax, diction, and tone throughout the two passages. Capote uses opposing accounts of the same situation to add a deeper characterization of the two men, and to emphasize their differences psychologically. Throughout the book Capote attempts to show the true complexity of the killers, and how their backgrounds and psyches affected their actions. Although Capote is talking in the third person omniscient, he changes his style when describing the two characters.

Youth who live on the streets are there for two main reasons either they chose to leave the home because of the living situation or they will leave home because they are kicked out or drugs and alcohol have led them onto the streets. 20% of the homeless population is youth and it is increasing every year because of the changes that our generation is going through and being affected by. The rates of suicide in homeless youth are 10.3 times larger then an average Canadian youth. (McKay, E. (2009). Independent Living Accounts: Leaving Homelessness in the Past.).

In discussion of In Cold Blood, one controversial issue has been Perry’s plea. Was justice served correctly by sentencing Perry to death row? On one hand, it is a fair eye for an eye sentence, in which the consequence matches the wrongdoing. On the other hand, Perry could have been sentenced to an insane plea, which would’ve spared his life, and therefore given him a chance at treating his psychological illness. In his book, In Cold Blood, Truman Capote illustrates the events of the trial to the reader. On November 15, 1959, both Perry Smith and Richard Hickcock broke into the Clutter’s home in hopes of finding a safe with a monetary reward. Unfortunately, there was no safe and Richard, who was the mastermind behind this massacre, felt it was

Many murder novels have been written but few give the killers the benefit of the doubt. In Cold Blood author, Truman Capote, shows an unusual amount of empathy for the Clutter Killers Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. Capote shows compassion towards the two by focusing on their misfortunate upbringings, tragic life experiences and questionable unstable mental health. Both Dick and Perry had their share of misfortune prior to committing the murders. Capote uses subtle attempts to sway his reader’s outlook on the killers by sharing their backstories and exposing their side to the story.

In his “nonfiction novel” masterpiece In Cold Blood, Truman Capote attempts to shape readers’ perceptions of Perry as a cold-hearted murderer to a mentally ill, childlike character whose suffering has driven him to commit a horrendous crime. Capote introduces Perry Smith to readers with a physical description, opening the premise that Perry encapsulates an injured child: “His tiny feet, encased in short black boots with steel buckles, would have neatly fitted into a delicate lady’s dancing slippers; when he stood up, he was no taller than a twelve-year-old child” (Capote 15). Through this comparison and metaphor of Perry’s figure to a lady and child, Capote references characteristics of weakness and innocence that not only resonate in the

It is known that the children are unable to determine their life circumstances, their families, and care solely for themselves without supervision. With this being said, children have little to no jurisdiction in determining the situations that they are confronted with. Most of the time when we ponder child poverty we think of low-income families or lack of food in the household, but it extends beyond that to “an environment that is damaging to their mental, physical, emotional and spiritual development” (“Children Under Threat,” 2005). Unfortunately, the prevalence of youth poverty in the United States may seem uncommon to those who are personally unaffected by the crisis; however, statistics show that 15 million children (21% of all children) live in families with incomes below the federal poverty threshold (Child Poverty, 2017). Moreover, when considering the demographics of impoverished children the following are true: a child in the U.S. has a 1 in 5 chance of being poor and the younger they are the poorer they are likely to be, and a child of color is more than twice as likely to be poor than a White child (Child Poverty, 2017). Research proves that poverty is the single greatest threat to a child’s well-being as it decreases the likelihood of a child graduating from high school, and it increases the chances of them becoming involved with the criminal justice system (Ending Child Poverty Now, 2017).

Many children are living on the streets. The number is growing and their rights are denied. Street children are a problem that faces many countries that should be fixed. Street children are a human beings who should be taking care of. Day after day their numbers is increasing and sometimes they become a threat. Everyone have the right to be educated, respected, and be healthy. Street children do not have this chance and their rights are being stolen. Street children are facing a great opportunity to become criminals, but they are actuality the victims. Some people see that street children do not have any rights, on the other hand some say that street children should be helped to overcome this crisis that certainly every country is facing. Street children should be helped because they can be of benefit, many organizations are willing to contribute in this

One of the miseries brought by the modern civilization is the situation of the street children.