Truman Capote's Meaning Of Truman Pary And The Duality Of Mary

What the readers know of Dick’s past is very little, as Capote works to characterize him through flashbacks the readers know it was his plan to kill the Clutters and he does have some family “there were those Dick claimed to love: three sons, a mother, a father, a brother—persons he hadn’t dare confide his plan to(Capote 106).” But Capote characterizes Dick more so through descriptions of his habits than through his memories. “Inez was a prostitute…she was eighteen and Dick had promised to marry her. But he had also promised to marry Maria, a women of fifty who was a widow of a very rich banker(Capote 118-119)” Dick is shown throughout the book as someone who uses people to get what he wants, he calls on Perry to help him with his plan, he uses women for sex and money while making promises he never intends to keep. “If he knew Dick, and he did—now he did—would spend the money right away on vodka and women(Capote 119). Capote does not draw any sympathy from the readers, Dick is perceived as an emotionless man who pretends to believe in people and want the same

Besides using anecdotes and stories from his childhood, Capote also used analogies to invoke a sense of sympathy for Perry, thus further using the means of pathos. In specific, a constant ‘comparison’ or analogy coupled with Perry is typically his ‘childish’ like structure. Short legs, small feet. This analogy is used constantly, including the hanging scene, where it is said Dewey had “open his eyes [and] saw the same childish feet, tilted, dangling”(Capote 341). This comparison is seen often when describing Perry and seems to give the man a childlike presence, making him come across as more innocent and understandable. This connection to Perry takes away from the ‘severity’ of his actions and instead reminds readers of his childhood and how it has affected him all through life. Using pathos to soften the personality of a killer and bring to life his struggles helped Capote to better exemplify the ‘makings’ of a murderer. When creating this book, Capote wanted to analyze how a murder came to be and thus how a murderer came to exist - in particular, Perry. The use of pathos in correlation to one of the main characters helped break down the hostile killer into a damaged, young, sensible young man who simply had a tough go at life. The device allowed for connection and personalization.

Truman Capote includes finite details such as Perry’s middle name, and goes down to even the name of the county that Perry was born and grew up in to appeal to his audience’s logic. By giving more detail to Perry’s past life, the audience is able to better grasp the image of Perry, which humanizes the murderer, and is more likely to create an emotion of sympathy towards the criminal and alter the audience’s view on capital punishment. This information is irrelevant to the plot, however, is very strong in supporting Capote’s argument.

In order to paint an image of Dick as a controlling and condescending killer, Capote uses a simile to describe his stature. On page thirty-one capote describes Dick’s physique:“as though his head had been halved like an apple, then put together a fraction off center.” (Capote 31). Because Dick is described as abnormal it helps Capote achieve his purpose of demonstrating that Dick was a true monster who changed and molded Perry from a man into a killer. Capote describes Dick in this way to set Dick apart from a normal human being. A normal person could not have changed someone but because Dick was not normal he was able to change Perry. Because Dick is not normal he will be seen as the true

Following the emotionally ‘flat’ perspective by Dick, is Perry’s self-pity attitude during his own chapter. Perry knows the annoyance of his voice to Dick, but has no control over his actions. With only having one thought repeated indefinitely, “I think there must be something wrong with us” (capote 30), one would need to vent in some manner. To continue, Perry’s pity persona even has the author himself take pity on him: “Look at his family!” (Capote 30). Capote demands the reader to acknowledge Perry’s grim adolescence and suicidal family: “His mother, an alcoholic, had strangled to death on her own vomit...Fern...jumped out a window...Jimmy...had one day driven his wife to suicide and killed himself the next” (Capote 30). Capote pities Perry and portrays him as human, instead of the monster everyone believes him to be. Capote explains how Perry’s mental state and upcoming is the reason he is mentally unstable. Capote exposes not all criminals are monsters. Referring back to Dick’s passage, Dick claims “Perry could be “such a kid,” always wetting the bed and crying in his sleep” (Capote 29). Perry never matured from his depressing childhood, and he remained a in this state into adulthood. Returning to Perry’s

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.

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

Capote uses amplification to emphasize the maliciousness in Dicks character and how guilt does not affect his conscious. While Dick and Perry are in the car together Capote amplifies a situation by saying:

Throughout the passage told from Dick’s point of view, the syntax is surprisingly curt and choppy. As he is expressing his exasperation towards Perry, his sentences break off repeatedly. He states, “He was annoyed. Annoyed as hell”, which not only is comprised of two extremely short sentences, but also emits an aggressive tone (Capote 108). Dick’s attitude towards Perry becomes apparent quickly, as whenever Perry begins to speak Dick is filled with negative thoughts about his half-witted partner. The curtness and negative content of his thoughts show the annoyance and sheer contempt that Dick feels. Also, Capote uses the short and concise sentences when describing Dick to show his clear mindedness and his seemingly rational thought process. The simplicity of Dick’s thoughts make him seem more focused and reliable. He uses this contrast to emphasize the

Capote expresses his idea of nature vs. nurture in Dick Hickock and Perry Smith and whether killers are born or made. With this in mind, he writes, “Dick became convinced that Perry was a rarity, ‘a natural born killer,’— absolutely sane but conscienceless, and capable of dealing with or without motive, the coldest-blooded deathblows” (205). This makes apparent Perry’s instincts to kill and Dick’s desire to manipulate Perry’s instincts to do so. Dick uses Perry as an image of who he wants to be, even though Perry feels shame and embarrassment. Capote inspects their motivations for the killings based on their backgrounds.

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.

Diction supports Capote’s purpose because he uses it to vividly describe the murderers. His diction also shows readers how complex their minds really are and how Perry is really just an ordinary human. As readers meet the murderers, Capote describes Perry as such, “His tiny feet, encased in short black boots with steel buckles, would have neatly fitted into a delicate lady’s dancing slippers; when he stood up, he was no taller than a twelve-year-old child, and suddenly looked, strutting on stunted legs that seemed grotesquely inadequate to the grown-up bulk they supported, not like a well-built truck driver but like a retired jockey, overblown, and muscle bound,” (Capote 15). Capote describes Perry as “no taller than a twelve-year-old” which indicates how he is not some big, dangerous man who murders on the daily. His word choice of “grotesquely inadequate” also connotes how Perry is not strong and can barely support his weight. This makes readers feel sympathy for Perry, which therefore humanizes Perry as not a criminal. Capote also writes how he is more like a “retired jockey” which denotes how he is just a normal guy who has been through life just like anyone else. The word choice makes readers believe Perry is just like anyone else, a normal human being with faults. A second effect of diction is when Capote includes Dr. Jones’ diction to emphasize how Perry’s criminal mind thinks. As Dr. Jones is describing Perry’s mental state he says, “ More extensive evaluation would be necessary to make an exact psychiatric diagnosis, but his presence personality structure is very nearly that of a paranoid schizophrenic reaction,” (Capote 298). Capote

The second point of view comes from Perry, the criminal that readers connect with and support throughout the novel. This passage also starts with quote, “Mountains. Hawks wheeling in a white sky” (pg. 110). The specific quote begins both Dick and Perry’s point of view in order to illustrate the same mental image in the reader’s mind, and also exemplifies the use of juxtaposition. As the passage continued the narrator discusses Perry’s emotions when thinking about the murder:

These emotions could go one of two ways- the first would be to feel pity for his parents, while seeing Dick in a slightly more pitiful light, rather than not even seeing him as human. Or it go go the second way, you feel pity for his parents, and begin to hate Dick even more for, not only what he did to the Clutter family, but also what he did to his parents. He not only ruined the Clutter family’s lives, he also ruined his life, his parents’ life, and even Perry’s life, even though he willingly participated in the murder. Capote’s use of pathos really humanizes the Clutter family murders, but also makes them more pitiful. They had a chance at a good life, Dick’s father even said that he used to be a good kid, but they threw it all away, robbing and killing an innocent family. Capote does a very good job of depicting Dick and Perry, creating a good balance between despicable and pitiful, while sharing their side of the story in a very accurate, yet interesting, way.

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.