Juuxtaposition And Diction In In Cold Blood By John Capote

Murder is the most atrocious crime fathomable, reasons why someone would do such a thing are beyond the understanding of most people, however much too often this horrific act is committed due to a larger and more confusing reason, and that is mental health. Those who suffer from these disorders require more research and a better understanding to fully judge and punish those inflicted by these awful and tormenting ailments. The novel In Cold Blood by Truman Capote depicts the story of two mentally ill men that, due to ailment commit the slaughtering of a family. The story of these men ends with state ordered execution, demonstrating the country's lack of guidance in how to properly punish mental patients.

The author's details in presenting the two killers are also vivid. Capote focuses on their physical appearance and differences. Dick Hickock was a "flimsy, dingy-blond youth of medium height, flesh less, and perhaps sunken chested" (30). He also had many tattoos--a hand, torso, and other places. "There is an ironic element into the inscription on one of Hickock's tattoos... 'the word PEACE accompanied by a cross radiating , in the form of crude strokes, rays of holy light.'" (Reed 108). Hickock's head looked as if it "has been halved like an apple, put together a fraction off center" (31). The author

Throughout In Cold Blood Capote goes through the lives of the killers, Dick and Perry. Both convicts released from jail and at first glance seem to have a lot in common, but as the book continues the reader can see that the two characters are in fact very different. To characterize the killers Capote frequently uses flashbacks into their pasts, giving the reader a sense of what their lives were like and why they became who they are. Capote also utilizes detailed descriptions of the men’s appearances, quirks, and habits to characterize the murderers.

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

For centuries, men and women have murdered each other for greed, lust, revenge, etc. However, in 1959, Truman Capote traveled to Holcomb, Kansas to discover the other side of murder. Truman Capote, author of In Cold Blood, offers a close examination of the horrid murder of the Clutter family. He explored how two men of different backgrounds, ethnicities, and personalities joined together to kill an innocent family for riches. Capote provides different points of view through each of his character’s eyes for his readers’ better understanding of the murderers. The use of juxtaposition compares and contrasts Dick to Perry, the murders. Capote succeeds with using juxtaposition to reveal the murderer's how he perceived them.

Does a man who brutally murdered four humans-for the sole reason that he had the power to-deserve any ounce of sympathy? “In Cold Blood”, Truman Capote uses “pathos” to appeal to the emotions of the readers about the two murderers, Perry Smith and Richard Hickock. Capote certainly sympathizes with one more than the other. He portrays one of the cold-blooded murderers in a positive light, but portrays the other murderer as a despicable and disgusting human being. For instance, Capote utilizes righteous and simple diction to advocate Perry’s emphatic nature with choices like, “compassion” and “uncharitable”. Furthermore, the author’s piteous tone emphasizes the tragic and hopelessness of Perry’s life with choices like, “You think I like myself?”(Capote 185) and “...the Black Widows were always at me. Hitting me”(Capote 132). In addition, Capote’s tone and diction paint Dick as a tasteless, vicious creature who deserved to take the full blame of the murder. Lastly, there are several rhetorical strategies that author employs to encourage the audience to empathize with Perry and to hate and despise Dick. Primarily, diction is one of the most persuasive literary device in the novel.

In the novel “Crime and Punishment”, the author, Fyodor Dostoevsky gives the reader a glimpse into the mind of a tormented criminal, by his guilt of a murder. Dostoevsky’s main focal point of the novel doesn’t lie within the crime nor the punishment but within the self-conflicting battle of a man and his guilty conscience. The author portrays tone by mood manipulation and with the use of descriptive diction to better express his perspective in the story, bringing the reader into the mind of the murderer.

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.

In “In Cold Blood” (1966) from page 200 to 202, Capote give us the insight into the past of Dick and Perry characters that caused them to resent a certain type of situation or condition. The author acknowledge this matter by showing how Dick and Perry nature being revealed through what they seen and encounter on their get away trip, first he inform us about how the view of the sea, and people Dick see in the hotels remind him of how he growth to feel hostile against people who possessed thing that he known he couldn’t have, “Why should that sonofabitch have everything, while he had nothing? Why should that “big shot bastard” have all the luck?” (Rhetorical question and Parallelism were used to emphasize Dick animosity), “open them up and let

The true account of a premeditated murder of four, Clutter family members unfolds throughout Truman Capote’s novel, In Cold Blood. Truman Capote depicts a fact based story in his book, In Cold Blood; although non-fiction, the book can be categorized as biased towards various aspects and characters in the novel. Truman Capote strives to write In Cold Blood without recognition of preferential treatment towards certain characters, but fails as his tone and imagery supports the defense of the antagonist. The several sections of evidence that indicate prejudice towards the murderers include Capotes tone and empathy throughout the resolution of the story, his structure and comparisons in telling the story , and his detailed imagery describing the

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.

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.

Although Capote highlights the unexpectedness of the murders of the Clutter family, his primary objective is to show Perry’s duplicitous nature, therefore, indicating that society needs to closely examine the character of criminals before determining innocence.

In the Truman Capote’s famous novel that is non-fictional, In Cold Blood, there is a lot of support of evidence that Cold Blood prove for injustice of the trial,death penalty. The outcome of this trial would of never to be different than death. It was the worst thing ever to have heard about the Clutter family was the last family to be killed.(Capote 85) It was known that it was two men who killed the Clutter family, their names were Perry Smith and Bill Hancock, they both planned the crime scene with full intent and thoughts. Although what was told was cruel and heartbreaking,did the crime scene really have to be so cruel where the childhood and environment and situation are bad. Truman Capote expresses the the effect that the childhood

Despite this, the inclusion of factual elements in the narrative is also a useful device in sympathy evocation. This is arguably a better way of doing so as readers are much more likely to have faith in a factual narration as opposed to a biased one. Despite this, Capote still manages to evoke more sympathy for Perry than Dick in In Cold Blood. This would seemingly be simply down to the sheer difference in pages spent discussing each convict in the novel. The amount spent on the psychiatric analysis of the two is a good example of this. Capote spends eight pages giving evidence for Perry and only three for