Truman Capote and Perry Essay

Truman Capote characterizes Holcomb as a innocent and peaceful farm town with a small population of people and a few rundown buildings. As he describes the town of Holcomb he paints a picture that not a lot happens in the town and that the surrounding towns do not pay attention to Holcomb or even know that the small town exists. Capote describes the town as being melancholy, lonesome and unknown he describes the town like this so that when a crime happens in this town it has a greater impact on the people. In order to convey these ideas Capote uses a great deal of imagery and has a good use of diction that is easy to understand so that his ideas come across clear and he is able to paint the picture he wants to paint.

Dick Hickock and Perry Smith grew up in different family situations, yet their childhoods were equally traumatic. Perry’s home life was far from normal. As a child his father was horrible to his mother, a raging alcoholic, so undoubtedly his home life situation was not ideal. This along with his parents’ divorce set the tone for his entire childhood. His mother gained

In Truman Capote’s book In Cold Blood, Capote takes readers to the town of Holcomb, Kansas. As someone who has always lived in large cities, such as New Orleans, Louisiana or New York City, Truman Capote was a complete outsider to this town. His interest in traveling to this town came as a surprise to his publishers, it was so tremendously unusually for his character. Capote’s depiction of Holcomb, Kansas from an outsider's point of view, was that of a small country town in the middle of nowhere, which Capote has characterized using rhetorical devices such as imagery, diction, and Syntax.

Soon after his second marriage Dick is arrested writing fraudulent checks. While in prison Dick meets Perry, and together the two men commit fraud and execute the horrific murders of four innocent people.

Dick began to act out, adopting uncharacteristic activities such as, “gambling and writing bad checks” (Capote 166). Capote quotes Dick’s father, “I never knew him to do those things before” (166). One of Hickock’s neighbors exclaimed to Harold Nye, “Dick Hickock! Don’t talk to me about Dick Hickock! If ever I met the devil!

He titles the opening section "The Last to See Them Alive," which when you see it, right away you know something terrible is going to happen. Another one of the ways Capote built suspense, at the beginning of the book, was to tell a little detail about somebody, then reference how they didn’t know it’d be the last day of their life, making you wonder what happened. He built the suspense by changing the settings between what the Clutter family was doing before the murdering and how Dick and Perry were preparing for their plan. When Capote first introduces the young men, it was really confusing because you couldn’t see how they were relating to the Clutter’s.

Capote continues to flashback to Perry’s childhood in several parts of the book. We mainly learn about his parents Tex and Flo, his siblings James, Joy, and Debora. His mother, Flo, became a drunk and did a poor job at attending to her children. His father, Tex, could not handle the uncooperation of his mother so he left. Perry’s siblings were heavily influenced by their mother on their view of their father. Perry was the only one who loved his father unconditionally.

Throughout the novel, Capote appoints several narrative voices. For example, in the first paragraph within lines 1-12, Capote is speaking himself with the use of third person narration. During this paragraph, he describes the setting of the novel and uses imagery to portray its scenery. Within his description of Holcomb, Kansas, the town is perceived as quiet and lonesome, where nothing out of the ordinary occurs. In this section he speaks in a calm tone, creating a calm setting, which is ironic due to all of the chaos that arises in it. Another narrative voice, on page 66, is spoken by Alfred Stoecklein, a man who lived close to the Clutter family. Within this passage, he is talking about how terrifying it was to assimilate to the trauma that

Although Capote uses section two to display Perry’s actual innocence, Capote’s true aspirations are to display that a seventh person- Holcomb- has too ‘died’; therefore, he contends that the repercussions of the murders’ actions are felt by all, and will permanently break and kill their spirits and morale even if the town itself appears untouched.

Capote’s usage of imagery makes the reader interested in the story. He does a great job of using vivid words to describe Holcomb. He describes all of the townspeople thoroughly by stating how they dress, their workplace, and that they do very well with their money with not just farming but with the exploitation of gas resources. By Capote using this imagery he portrays Holcomb as being an old, unknown, and boring town.

One day Gitl learns that some of the men are planning an escape. Gitl tells Hannah and they join the escape, but the plan goes south when the men are captured during their escape. The next day they line up all of the men captured during the escape, but before they

Capote’s Control Over Language By using vivid sentences with descriptive details and keen word choices, Capote is able to paint an image of Holcomb as a soft, easygoing town. When working on this novel, Truman Capote traveled to Holcomb, Kansas to gather information by conducting interviews with the residents and talking to the police, reading newspapers, and interrogating Hickock and Smith in their jail cells. His visits, as well as his writing career, give him the proper credibility to write about this famed town. Capote’s rendition of the tragedy of one night on a Kansas farm as he tells it in his unique literary genre adds to the authenticity of the piece.

His stepdad,mother and Oswald moved to New York to stay with his half brother who was now married. Soon after they moved in, Oswald threatened his brothers wife with a pocket knife in which the Oswalds were asked to leave. From there

In writing this excerpt, Capote paints you an extremely clear picture using imagery. From the beginning of the excerpt where he states, “on the high wheat plains of western Kansas, a lonesome area that other Kansans call ‘out there’”, you can already picture this town; a small town out in the middle of nowhere. Nothing in this town has much to give to its appearance. For example, most buildings in this town are small-scale, as Capote states, “the majority of Holcomb’s homes are one-story frame affairs, with front porches.” The majority of them are falling apart, or they had closed down years before. However, there is one building in the town of Holcomb that

“When I went on patrol, there was a criminal that set fire onto the house of a rival family.” Dick almost forgot Bruce went on patrol without him; he couldn't go because his ankle was twisted.