Rhetorical Strategies In John Capote's In Cold Blood

Despite this claim of Mrs. Clutter, Capote gave the readers glimpses into the Clutter’s home their daily life and their last day alive; the book shows scenes of Mr. Clutter at the breakfast table, Kenyon working in the basement on his sister’s hope chest, and Nancy laying out her clothes for Sunday morning- the clothes she will be buried in. Simultaneously, Capote effortlessly weaves in illustrated scenes of the murders, Perry Smith and Dick Hickok, on their ominous journey to the Clutter’s family farm.

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.

In Truman Capote’s captivating nonfiction, In Cold Blood, Capote ventures through the journey and lives of both the killed and the killers all while analyzing the point in which they crossed paths. From the days before the four Clutters were murdered to the last moments of the two killers’ lives, Capote takes into account each and every aspect that creates the ‘famous’ Clutter Case with an in depth look of just how and why these strange and unforeseeable events occurred. What was originally supposed to only be an article in a newspaper turned into an entire book with Capote analyzing both how and why a murder comes to be through the use of pathos, juxtaposition, and foreshadowing.

In Truman Capote’s Novel, In Cold Blood, Capote synthesises the writing techniques of a reporter and an author to tell the horrific and true story of the Clutter family murders. Capote uses comparison, selection of detail, and understatement to pose his argument that capital punishment is not a correct practice.

Although in In Cold Blood, Truman Capote is illustrating the points of view of Holcomb, Dick, and Perry after the murder of the Clutter family, his prime motive is to exonerate Perry from blame for what he did; therefore he asserts that outside forces such as other people, the future, and the universe shape a person and their actions.

Capote's structure in In Cold Blood is a subject that deserves discussion. The book is told from two alternating perspectives, that of the Clutter family who are the victims, and that of the two murderers, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. The different perspectives allow the reader to relive both sides of the story; Capote presents them without bias. Capote masterfully utilizes the third person omniscient point of view to express the two perspectives. The non-chronological sequencing of some events emphasizes key scenes.

The most dominant strategy that Capote utilizes in order to achieve his purpose is pathos, as he plays on our emotions to get us to feel true sympathy for Perry Smith. This is strategy is overall the most effective one because it allows the viewers to perceive Perry differently. Capote mentions Perry’s abusive and neglectful childhood several times throughout the story’s course in order to make the readers feel empathic, and pitiful towards him. In one instance of the novel, Capote makes out Perry as a hero in a way. He sets up a picture of the killers at the beach, and he mentions how uncomfortable Perry is when he sees Dick talking to a young girl. He describes another instance like this when he says, “Hadn’t they almost got in a fight when quite recently he had prevented Dick from raping a terrified girl” (Capote 202). Perry is willing to stand up to his partner when he comes to situations like this. Readers can’t help but view Perry as a hero in his own way as he protects the young girls from Dick’s pedophilic mind. Capote plays on the assumption that everyone hates child predators, which is almost always true. In a way, Capote makes us feel admiration for Perry’s heroic effort in protecting the innocent, as he “prevented Dick” from doing something horrible. As Perry confesses his crime to Dewey and Duntz, he admits, “But I hoped we could do it without violence” (234). This is one of several moments where the readers get a sense of reluctance from Perry to commit the crime. Although Perry did eventually

Conflict, in the beginning of the book Capote starts sympathizing with the Clutter’s family last day alive. Capote used a strong sentence to give us a point of where we are in the book. In the book it says, “Then, touching the brim of his cap, he headed for home and the day’s work, unaware that it would be his last.”(15) He tells us who the family was murdered. In the beginning of the book it is easy to confuse that Mr. Clutter was the murderer. Then, In Cold Blood the author, Capote, uses many foreshadowing in his book. One in specific is a extremely strong foreshadowing. In the text, “Four shotgun blasts that, all told, ended six human lives.”(5) American Novelist, Capote, exploits foreshadowing in his book. He takes

As Truman Capote guides his readers through the thrilling story of the homicide of the Clutters family in his nonfiction novel, In Cold Blood, he gives the them a clear conception of the characters in his story. The characterization of Dick Hickock and Perry Smith, the two vicious killers, enhances the richness of the story by adding depth to the characters. Capote manipulates ethos and visual imagery to illustrate Dick’s corrupt nature, while he skillfully exploits assumption and pathos to characterize Perry as a sympathetic character.

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.

The book In Cold Blood is a nonfiction book about the murder of the Clutter family. Taking place back in the 1959s, Truman Capote writes about the events leading up to the murders, when the murders took place, and the aftermath. He tells the story in such a descriptive manner, that it feels like we were there when it happened. The purpose of writing like that is so we can know everyone’s side of the story, even people you wouldn’t ordinarily think of. He helps us feel like we were there when it happened by effectively and efficiently using the rhetorical strategies. The rhetorical strategies I feel were most important to the story were pathos, logos, and the tone. The way Capote uses these rhetorical strategies and literary devices is

Capote begins his novel with a conventional narrative structure choice: describing the setting. He spends several pages familiarizing the reader with the town of Holcomb, Kansas. This move is crucial, especially when contrasted with his unconventional choices for the traditional narrative timeline as the book progresses. As Capote introduces the reader to the Clutter family, with a particular focus on Herb, he sets the groundwork for the conflict. With necessary background information in mind, the reader first confronts the conflict with the words, “...he headed for home and the day’s work, unaware that it would be his last” (13). It is this moment, that the reader experiences the first sense of satisfaction. This is the

It was Capote's use of stylistic devices that the novel memorable to Swanson. Capote not only vividly recreated the events leading up to the murders, but he also described in "meticulous detail and diamondlike prose" the "dozens of lives destroyed or altered" in the process (33). Capote carefully chose each word he recorded, enabling his readers to encounter the same feelings of despair, grief, and fear the characters experience. But Capote's greatest gift was his "ability to listen" and then composing what he heard into a symphony of voices, sounds, and silences (33). Swanson heard the voices of the Clutter family pleading for their lives, the sounds from the "roar of a twelve-gauge shotgun", and the subsequent silence of "an upright, accomplished, and much-admired" family's removal "from a quiet community" (33).

Through his numerous short stories, fiction novels, and even nonfiction novels, Truman Capote has notably been considered one of America’s most prominent literary writers of the twentieth century. The numerous conflicts in which Capote dealt with in the earlier parts of his life led him to procure solace in writing (McMillan). Emerging as a prolific author who was commonly known for his excellent usage of prose, Capote came to publish the notorious nonfiction novel, In Cold Blood, in 1966. During Capote’s era, Southern Gothicism, a literary genre associated with dark and grotesque themes, increasingly prevailed (Bjerre). Capote’s novel became an atypical work in the genre, though, as he transformed a work of literary nonfiction into what seemed as though a “factional” piece-- a true novel in which incorporated fictional elements of Southern Gothicism (“Slouching Toward Popularity). Within the novel, Capote intricately details the Clutter family murder executed by Richard Hickock and Perry Smith. By doing so, he was able to successfully incorporate elements of Southern gothicism within the novel. Through the analysis of the damaged characters within the novel, the criminality involved in the Clutter murder, and the violence of the murder itself, Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood not only fit the Southern Gothic genre, but ultimately came to revolutionize the nonfiction novel, thus proving its deserved standing in the literary canon.