Critical Evaluation of Stone Cold by Robert Swindells Essay

Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" is the story of Perry and Dick and the night of November 15, 1959. This investigative, fast-paced and straightforward documentary provides a commentary on the nature of American 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.

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

“Arthur! Hey Arthur!” Arthur turned his head to see his two friends James and Derek . The three of them had been best friends for years. “Hey guys” Arthur said. James winked at him. “Guess who got lucky

Throughout the book I felt connected to one character, that character was George. George and I share similar qualities and our lifestyles can relate. One major characteristic I found in George is his ability

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 “The Homeless and Their Children”, author Jonathon Kozol explains how poverty and homelessness can go hand in hand, but he also shows his readers that the government in New York City during the 1980’s did not really attempt to assist those in need. The author shows us how the homeless and illiterate struggled by sharing with us an interview with a young woman called Laura who resided in a massive welfare hotel. Kozol did not find it necessary to write this piece in a persuasive tone, or a compassionate tone, or even an angry tone to get his message across. He did not need to include a multitude of statistics to convince his readers that homelessness, illiteracy, and governmental apathy were issues. As stated in the introductory

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.

“But afterward the townspeople, theretofore sufficiently unfearful of each other to seldom trouble to lock their doors, found fantasy re-creating them over and over again—those somber explosions that stimulated fires of mistrust in the glare of which many old neighbors viewed each other strangely, and as strangers.”

Frederick Dupee dubbed In Cold Blood, “The best documentary account of American crime ever written.” Unfortunately, the events that had taken place, and the whole story of Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, two on the run murders, are placed as a very memorable episode in history.

part of the movie moved a little slowly, but I think this was necessary to show

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.

In "Murder, He Wrote," William Swanson believes the stylistic techniques employed in Truman Capote's novel In Cold Blood are more memorable than the story itself. For Swanson, Capote not only captures the readers' attention with a story about a horrific crime, but his use of diverse voices, sounds, and silences make it an event people will never forget.

The speaker also talks of Nell, his ex-wife. Though there were things that annoyed him about her, he still speaks fondly of her. For instance, he remarks, "That's why Nell was good to have ‘round. She could be a pain in the ass, you know, like making me hang those stupid bells, but mostly she knew what to do." This allows the reader to see that the loss of his family has had a deep impact on him. He misses his wife and son and speaks of how families should be together, though his never will be again. This is what provokes him to do what he did next.

Lev meets a teenage kid named Cyrus Finch who is nicknamed CyFi. Lev and CyFi travel together for a little while before they start going into a Christmas store.while they are in the Christmas store CyFi goes up to a Christmas tree and he takes one of the golden baubles and stuffs it into his pocket then sneaks out of the store and starts running. Lev follows him and learned that CyFi has a part of his brain from a unwind and the unwind liked to steal things giving CyFi the impulses to steal shiny things. Lev could have ditched CyFi to deal with this problem on his own but Lev stayed and helped him through it. Also when Lev went with CyFi to the town of Joplin and Tyler who is the unwind who CyFi got the part of the brain from takes over CyFi and digs up the treasure Lev helps by telling CyFis parents what to say and in the end freeing CyFi from the dead unwind.(Pg 191) This is showing loyalty and selflessness that Lev never had coming from a rich privileged

invited back to help turn the city around spiritually. He never held a political office in