In Cold Blood Comparative Essay

On November 14, 1959 the police were called early in the morning of a small town called Holcomb in Kansas, the Clutter family had been killed in cold blood. Herb Clutter, the loving husband of Bonnie Clutter the mother of two children Kyen and Nancy Clutter, were all murdered brutally by Dick Hancock and Perry Smith. Truman Capote wrote the book In Cold Blood to show all points of views of this trial and to show his own view on the case. As Capote writes he grows close to the two murderers, Dick hickock and Perry smith. Capote shows Perry 's character as many things such as a quick learner, a follower and he talks a lot about how his past life made him like this. This is not only how Capote portrays perry through the book but he also backs everything up with a story to show why he is like this. This is how Perry Smith was and the way he acted up will he was hung on April 14, 1965 at the age of 36 for the murders of the Clutter family.

Besides using anecdotes and stories from his childhood, Capote also used analogies to invoke a sense of sympathy for Perry, thus further using the means of pathos. In specific, a constant ‘comparison’ or analogy coupled with Perry is typically his ‘childish’ like structure. Short legs, small feet. This analogy is used constantly, including the hanging scene, where it is said Dewey had “open his eyes [and] saw the same childish feet, tilted, dangling”(Capote 341). This comparison is seen often when describing Perry and seems to give the man a childlike presence, making him come across as more innocent and understandable. This connection to Perry takes away from the ‘severity’ of his actions and instead reminds readers of his childhood and how it has affected him all through life. Using pathos to soften the personality of a killer and bring to life his struggles helped Capote to better exemplify the ‘makings’ of a murderer. When creating this book, Capote wanted to analyze how a murder came to be and thus how a murderer came to exist - in particular, Perry. The use of pathos in correlation to one of the main characters helped break down the hostile killer into a damaged, young, sensible young man who simply had a tough go at life. The device allowed for connection and personalization.

Perry Smith and Dick Hickock are two remarkably different characters. In the beginning of the novel, they’re known only as the murders of the Clutter family, but Truman Capote tells their life stories in such a way that they become more than that. Even though these two men are basically introduced as murderers, they quickly become relatable and interesting characters. So much is learned about their feelings and lives that one can not help but almost look past their reckless ways. Both of these men have unique character traits that amalgamate in an intriguing way. Throughout In Cold Blood, Capote includes many instances that show how Dick and Perry, when combined, make the perfect murderer.

Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood: a fictitiously unfactual fantasy or an accurately arranged account of a murder? The verdict is unclear; the novel-like manner of the book juxtaposes with the precise details of the plot. Capote’s writing style, unique compared to other works, poses this question with his seamless marriage of novel-like fabrication and stone cold facts. Capote’s use of ornately descript imagery and omniscient characterization intertwines with his intricate expertise and factual evidence, creating an intellectually fascinating portrayal of the Clutter family’s tragic murder.

create a novel out of an actual event. He had thousands of notes on the subject,

The best novels are the ones that connects with the reader and just toys with their emotions, as if they too were also in the story by using pathos, the most powerful appeal. This holds true with Truman Capote’s, In Cold Blood and his writing appealing to the reader’s emotions in the portrayal of Perry Edward Smith and Richard “Dick” Eugene Hickock, the two murders with an addition of Capote showing a great deal of favoritism to Perry over Dick. Throughout the novel, Capote uses tone and diction to allure the reader into the novel’s world and into every character’s life, just as if we knew their whole backstory.

Throughout In Cold Blood, Truman Capote presents the idea of how one’s upbringing can shape what kind of person he becomes. This idea ultimately ends up showing what makes a killer a killer, which is Capote’s second authorial intent. As a child, Perry Smith was neglected by his parents, which ultimately leads to his psychological problems and him killer the four family members. All of his siblings went to school, but he was never allowed, and Perry never forgave his dad that they had the opportunity to get an education but he did not. He always despises all well educated people because they got an opportunity that he did not. For example, while Perry was on death row, he did not get along with one of his fellow inmates named Lowell Lee Andrews. He would always correct Perry’s speech and this made him mad. Perry felt that he should keep his “mouth shut [rather] than to risk one of the college kid’s snotty lines” (318). While Perry was a child he was also abandoned at an orphanage that was run by nuns. While he was there, "[t]here was this one nurse... she [would] fill a tub

By all the accounts, Truman Capote was a mysterious man, being unhappy and self-absorbed even in some parties he over drink himself to death. In his masterpiece writing “In Cold Blood” he invented a new sort of writing, “the non-fiction” novel which was criticized on the basis of his emotional manipulation of a condemned murderer with whom he seems to fall in love. Capote is actually the dramatization of his famous writing “In Cold Blood” which covers the territory that the movie is based on the subject of Truman Capote’s attempt to somehow or other create the genre of non-fictional fiction. Capote illustrates a portrait of the interest of author in the two-cold blooded killers especially in the character of Perry Smith. (Brevet, 2009)

Truman Capote forms a close relationship with convicted murderer, Perry Smith, and allows his own personal perception of Perry to influence his story. Capote repeatedly puts emphasis on the fact that Perry comes from a troubled background and

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 Cold Blood by Truman Capote is a novel that explains the history of a family murder through two characters perspective. Capote unravels each character through the concept of juxtapose, which helps prevail the occurrence of events. Dick, is a very straight forward man that does not care about what others think. Whereas, Perry has a shy, conserved personality that is shown through transitions and details. Juxtapose effects the readers and characters as explained throughout the novel by comparing and contrasting two different characters opinions.Details are shown on every page and are illustrated in every sentence, which gives the reader the image. In Cold Blood represents the development of characters, juxtapose, transitions and details.

Today in the post –Taliban era, women still struggle with their rights. Resolutions were produced and rights for women have advanced since September 11th but in order to move forward, much work needs to be done. Hundreds of years of repression for Afghan women will take a lot longer than a few years to actually revolutionize. There is violence towards women that are not practicing traditions customs and fear retaliations from the Taliban. Customs are difficult to change as well as government policies. (Bora Laskin Law). In Afghanistan, religious and cultural values, politics, and an uncertain acting government have played a major part in the struggle for women’s rights.

Imagery allows for a reader to picture the events in the novel, the way the author wants the readers too. Truman Capote uses imagery during the execution of Perry Smith and Dick Hitchcock. Truman Capote provides details to show his readers the harshness and cruelty behind the death penalty. Truman Capote describes Perry in his final minutes, “His sensitive eyes gazed gravely at the surrounding faces, swerved up to the shadowy hangman, the downward to his own manacled hands (Capote 340).” This quote indicates Truman Capote’s interest in maintaining human life and defying the death penalty by stating words such as sensitive. Throughout the novel, In Cold Blood, various times Truman Capote compares The Clutter’s murderers to other murderers, for example Lowell Lee Andrews. The comparison allows the readers to view Smith and Hitchcock as less horrible people. Truman Capote explains Andrews as a cold-hearted murderer. During descriptions of Andrew’s killing spree the reader’s realize the lack of details behind Andrew’s emotions, as there was in the description of Smith and Hitchcock’s murder. The use of Bias becomes understood through Truman Capote’s provided quotes for each killer. Andrews stated quote “ ‘I don’t care what you do with them’” (Capote 314), indicates a cold-hearted killer with no respect for his family and Smith stated quote, “ ‘ I didn’t want to harm the man. I thought he was a very nice gentleman. Soft-spoken. I thought so right up to the moment I cut his throat’” (Capote 302), provide evidence that Capote strongly believe in the humanity behind Smith.

3. In “In Cold Blood”(1965), a nonfiction novel, Truman Capote accounts for the murder of the Clutter family, residing in Holcomb, Kansas, and the events that followed. The mode of development includes Gothic themes and motifs to make the audience question the roles of the protagonists and the antagonists, “Uh-huh. But you’ll have to kill me first”, said Perry to Dick when he proposed to rape Nancy Clutter; Capote also juxtaposes between different time periods to make the audience question what had really happened in the Clutter household. This work of “new-age journalism” continually asserts that Perry killed the Clutters, although scant evidence is produced. Capote’s target audience is the people who are part of the criminal justice system and psychologists. Capote is trying to prove that all people are inherently benevolent, but when they have had traumatic events occur in their past, they have injured psyches, thus attempting to explain the formerly inexplicable murders.

Before the rise of the Taliban in the early 1990s, women in Afghanistan were mostly treated as equals and with respect. Though women were still expected to be