In Cold Blood Rhetorical Analysis

The nonfiction novel In Cold Blood, written by Truman Capote, is a story based on the murders of Clutter family members. The novel is set in the quaint town of Holcomb, Kansas at the turn of the 1960’s where the novel explains in details of the motives and actions done by Dick Hickock and Perry Smith, the culprits. The novel illustrates the journey that Dick and Perry went through from the planning of the murders,to committing the actual murders of the Clutter’s on November 19, 1959, to their own deaths merely 6 years later. Throughout the novel, Capote uses a variety of writing strategies to keep the audience on the edge of their seats, despite the fact that Capote reveals the outcome of the supposed mystery within the first few pages of
This technique keeps the reader aware of what happens with both parties at the same time while also emphasizing important events. This method also works towards the convergence of the two perspectives which then creates a suspenseful tension. As the reader continues reading, he/she becomes a juror, categorizing events between fact and fiction, understanding the motivations of both Dick and Perry, distinguishing the roles of each individual, and then confirming their assumptions throughout the book with the trial. For example, a section in “The Corner”, describes differing angles on Rohleder’s photographs as evidence to Susan Kidwell and Nancy Clutter’s testimony at court.”Then, Richard G. Rohleder takes the stand. Rohleder is chief Investigator of the Garden City Police Department. .. It was Rohleder who took the pictures that...revealed Hickock's dusty footprints in the clutter cellar...But Hickock's attorney objected: ‘The sole reason the pictures are being introduced is to prejudice and inflame the minds of the jurors’" (Capote 280,281). The waver in perspectives provides the reader with a life-like perspective. Particularly, this method of putting two different perspectives on the