Reference Points In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

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 his novel In Cold Blood, Truman Capote uses several literary and rhetorical devices in order to achieve a multitude of goals. He uses them to describe the different characters in the story, but he focuses mainly on developing the character and background behind the killers. He also does this to create an atmosphere of sympathy. Capote’s extensive elaboration of the damaged mental capacities of the killers exemplifies this. He uses literary and rhetorical devices in order to create sympathy for Perry, including metaphorical comparisons and syntax, while developing both Perry and Dick’s characters in order to display the injustices shown towards them by the justice system of Kansas in the 1960’s.

In Cold Blood is a masterpiece of storytelling and visual representations that come from Truman Capote’s use of delicate details to his lucid language and even his imaginative imagery. Everything from the gruesome horrors to the magnificent beauties, Capote carefully crafts his novel into more than just another mystery plot, but into a piece of figurative language work of art that we will continue to study for many more years to come. He more than exceeds the definition of what it means to be an author, a revolutionary, because he makes certain connections in this novel that include spiritual implications that connect with the reader empathetically. In Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, the author’s purpose in using imagery is to evoke emotions that he creates to connect on an empathetic level with the reader and to convey his abstract ideas about spirituality and the concept of life and death.

Set in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, In Cold Blood recounts the real-life murder of the Clutter family, following the last moments of the four victims, investigation, court and trial, and the execution of the two convicted, Perry Edward Smith and Richard Eugene Hickock.

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.

1: What is the central argument the writer makes in your book? For example: “[Author name] argues that . . . because . . .”

In the first chapter of “In Cold Blood”, Truman Capote switches between stories of the Clutter family, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. This transition allows Capote to focus on multiple accounts at once, and to connect the lives of the Clutter family to their killers. Dick and Perry are two essential characters in the first chapter as the beginning is told from Perry’s view. Dick Hickock is an uneducated somewhat charming man who didn't regret killing the Clutters. His “friendship” with Perry is mostly based on the lie that Perry killed someone with a bicycle chain. Perry could be described as relaxed and mild in temperament. Although he isn't well educated, he wants to gain knowledge. Dick

Truman Capote was a literary genius and had quite the way with words. His book In Cold Blood was a true work of literary art that he created with various rhetorical strategies and the truthful stories told by Garden City’s people and the two murderers of The Clutter Family ,Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. Capote’s use of imagery, tone, and syntax when describing Perry the murderer of the Clutters is undeniably ingenious and brings out a more fiction feel to the story. In this essay I will provide you with a means to see Perry smith as I do and as I believe Truman Capote did.

If you ever had the chance to kill someone you hate, would you do it? Even if you would get caught, seems like it would be a bad idea. Well, two beings in this story thought otherwise. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, this book starts with the lives of the Clutters. Then it hits with the climax and reveals the deaths of the Clutter family, ending with review and ending of Dick and Perry. Truman Capote develops the theme what's done cannot be undone using suspense, conflict, and foreshadowing.

In his novel In Cold Blood, Truman Capote writes about the Clutter family murders, which took place in November 1959. Herbert Clutter, Bonnie Clutter, and two of their children (Nancy and Kenyon) are murdered in their Holcomb, Kansas home by Perry Smith and Richard “Dick” Hickock. Capote 's novel, though telling the tale of true events, took on fictional, literary elements, creating a genre of its own: the nonfiction novel. It is through these literary elements that Capote sought for his readers to relate with the two killers, or at least gain a greater understanding of how their minds worked. His characterization of both Perry and Dick is planned carefully throughout the book, and only towards the end does the reader truly get a grasp of their personalities. This withholding – perhaps even manipulation – of information and how Capote presents the information allows him to achieve his purpose for the novel.

Throughout Truman Capote’s narrative novel, In Cold Blood, Capote uses many different rhetorical strategies to illustrate an attitude that he has towards the character in his book. Specifically, amid the passage from pages 132 and 133, Capote writes about Perry’s life prior to committing the mass murder of the Clutter family. Capote, through his sympathetic tone, shows the readers that although Perry participated in a terrible act, the struggles during his early life should lessen the responsibility of Perry himself. Throughout this passage, Capote uses many different techniques and styles of rhetoric to show his elegiac and sympathetic attitude towards Perry Smith.

In the passage, In Cold Blood Truman Capote utilizes Syntax, Diction and Imagery to convey the mood of the novel and its setting. Capote’s sentence structure causes tension, hooking the reader to continue reading, “Unless you include, as one must, the Holcomb School, a good-looking establishment”. He creates a tone of extreme caution at the end of the opening passage with his diction, for example: somber, explosions, strangers, mistrust. Capote begins with a detailed description of the setting, “seventy miles east of Colorado border, the country side” allowing the reader to visualize the area in which he is describing.

In the final months of 1959, the Clutter family was brutally murdered in their Holcomb, Kansas, home. Reports of their murders made national news. One of these headlines captured the attention of Truman Capote who chose to pursue the story further; eventually, after years of research and thousands of pages of notes, he penned In Cold Blood. It was first published in 1966, and it found immediate success. Capote’s original storytelling methods combined with the sensationalism of the crime was instrumental in creating, at the very least, popularizing a new genre: creative nonfiction. Utilizing unique narrative structure and author-tainted character development, Capote weaves a tale that questions the authenticity, the intent, and the meaning of justice.

Imagine two people, both the same race, both the same gender, and they both committed the same crime. The two people are on trial for their crime, but instead of getting the same punishment, one gets the death penalty while the other gets 15 years. To think that the outcome should be the same, however there are more than one factors that play into a person receiving the death penalty and they are not always considered fair. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, displays a situation where Perry Smith commits a violent crime, and is charged with the death penalty instead of serving years in prison. Some might argue that his crime was vicious enough for him to receive death, but who gave them the power to decide whether to take someone’s life?

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.