Truman Capote Analysis

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.

In the non-fiction novel In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, four horrific murders shock the small, innocent town of Holcomb, Kansas, the murders all occur on one night killing an entire family. Before the killings, the town felt like a family. The citizens of Holcomb were seen as good people, innocent and free of worry. However, after the Clutter murders take place, a community that seems so tightly knit quickly dissipates. The murder

First, Capote involves his reader. "This immediacy, this spellbinding 'you-are-there' effect, comes less from the sensational facts (which are underplayed) than from the 'fictive' techniques Capote employs" (Hollowell 82). Capote takes historical facts and brings in scenes, dialogue, and point of view to help draw the reader in (Hollowell 82).

Capote goes to great efforts to show the admiration which the community held for the Clutter family, one of the elements which made the murders so shocking. Everybody socialized with the Clutter family. For example, Mr. Clutter's friend Mrs. Ashida felt comfortable telling Mr. Clutter her conflict with her husband regarding the Ashida family's possible move, confiding that people like his family are the reason she wishes to stay in Holcomb.

As Capote states how the town is trivial to the state and its people it gives a sense that since the town is in the middle of nowhere it is cut off to the world around it. As well as creating the picture of the town being lonesome and the fact that other Kansans to think the town is in the middle of nowhere and nowhere near any other important towns in Kansas, Capote shows how peaceful the town was with no one around it to disrupt the peace or to cause any troubles for the town. By stating how far away the town was from everything else in the world the town gained a peaceful and innocent feel, that nothing could happen in the town without everyone knowing about it and the feel that everyone in the town knew and was connected to everyone else in some way.

Capote starts his novel describing the small town of Holcomb, setting the stage for how the murders will change the town. Capote wants to make the readers understand that the small town

In the non-fiction novel In Cold Blood, Truman Capote (1965) gives his own narrative of the Holcomb tragedy in which a family of four living out on a secluded farm were slaughtered with a shotgun by the collaboration of two individuals for a seemingly few dollars. In this novel, Capote gives a thorough character description of the two murderers, Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, as he recreates their experience (much as he sees it as it would be from

Many people say the documentation of the murder of the Clutter family is Truman Capote’s best work. It started out as an article for The New Yorker, and evolved into the non-fiction novel; the first of its kind. Capote traveled to Kansas with friend Harper Lee to research the killings. In the course of six years bringing this narrative together, Capote began taking drugs and drinking heavily due to the dark nature of the book. Truman Capote tells the true story of a family murdered in In Cold Blood, through character analysis and symbolism to prove nature is a stronger force than nature in shaping a person’s character.

Capote purposefully detaches himself from this section of the story, allowing the only sense of sympathy come from those who personally knew the Clutters. Because Capote is not able to form a personal relationship with any members of the Clutter family, he simply chooses to briefly explain the family’s murder and shift his attention to the murderers instead. The Clutters all-American image could not rescue them from tragedy and instead of portraying the family as victims, Capote focuses on attempting to encourage the audience to remain optimistic on their views regarding the family’s murderers.

Truman Capote's writing techniques are an essential component to the overall effect that his message gives to the readers. The use of rhetorical as well as literary devices work hand in hand to show the reader just exactly what Capote was trying to convey through his words. At first glance, it may be difficult to decipher the message, however once one digs deeper the message becomes much clearer. Capote wants the audience to understand the importance of living life to the fullest because it can change drastically in the matter of minutes. Although he explains very little that directly relates to his true purpose, his subtle use of stylistic devices work in cohesion to express his ideas, thus the importance of living life to the fullest at all times is greatly emphasized.

In In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, the author recreates the murders of the Clutter family. Capote starts this novel by describing the town of Holcomb which is very significant way to start, “The village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of western Kansas, a lonesome area that other Kansans call ‘out there’”(1). While reading this quote I imagined a very small town where everybody knows everything and there is no secrets. Small towns like this means that if you’re new in town people will notice. In knowing everybody because of the small town, you come to trust everybody and you will not feel the need to lock the doors. But after the murders of the Clutter family happened people did not know who to trust, “But afterward the townspeople, theretofore sufficiently unfearful of each other to seldom trouble to lock their doors...those somber explosions that stimulated fires of mistrust in the glare of which many old neighbors viewed each other strangely, and as strangers”(5). After the murders happened, the people of Holcomb saw each other as the enemy and started to not trust each other because they would have never expected this to happen. The Clutter family went on with their day as if it were normal, just like everybody else, they did not think any of this was ever going to happen in a small town like Holcomb. The Clutter family was always being described as a nice family and I found it very odd that Dick and Perry would choose that family to kill, “‘You were lovely,

Clutter as an involved person, and are most commonly used when describing his ability to be a leader of the Holcomb community. For example, Capote describes Mr. Clutter as, “an educated man successful in his profession” (34). In 1959, very few people were both well-educated and successful due to the existence of fewer opportunities for higher-quality post-secondary education; therefore, Mr. Clutter belonged to an elite class of people in Holcomb that likely led society. Furthermore, the inclusion of more elaborate words portrays Mr. Clutter as a powerful and distinguished figure rather than a common man. Throughout the duration of this passage, Capote’s use of descriptive phrases to accompany these statements explains to what extent Mr. Clutter volunteers in the community. He is described as an, “eminent Republican and church leader” (35). These two positions would make him known by other residents of Holcomb for two drastically different activities, politics and religion. Moreover, Mr. Clutter was a leader of a less popular church in Holcomb, further

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).

Truman Capote decided to write this story to relate to his own personal life and the struggles he encountered along the way. While reading, one is able to recognize that the little girl Miriam relates to Capote, in a sense that whenever the young girl arrives at Mrs. Miller’s home a second time and says “ The last place I lived was an old man; he was terribly poor and we never had good things to eat. But I think I’ll be happy here.”. This is showing how during his own childhood, he was moving place to place since