Rhetorical Analysis Of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

In writing his novel, In Cold Blood, Capote’s primary purpose is to convey his opposition towards the death penalty. Through the stylistic elements of rhetorical appeals, a selection of detail, and imagery Capote reveals the attitude he holds against this unreasonable form of justice. Tying into the events of the trial, Capote uses the rhetorical appeal of pathos to highlight his viewpoint. Capote speaks on what the psychiatrist was not permitted to share in court: The state of Perry Smith’s paranoid schizophrenia composed of "poorly controlled rage” and how he “expects to be misunderstood or even betrayed” when hesitantly confiding in others regarding his feelings (189). In the same fashion, he recounts Dick’s “blackout spells, periods
Through the use of imagery, Capote paints a picture of the gallows that seems dark and gloomy, yet odd and peculiar. With its “ugly harness of leather straps” and its “two pale nooses attached to a crossbeam”, Capote creates an imposing image of the gallows, a place reminiscent of death and misery. However, he includes peculiar details making the reader picture the hangman as “reminiscent of a turkey buzzard huffing, then smoothing its neck feathers” wearing an old green cowboy hat “a weathered, sweat-stained oddity.” Perry’s corpse is described as a “dwarfish boy-man” with “his small booted” feet barely able to reach the floor. One thinks of the odd description to be a little humorous that such a child-sized man could commit four murders in cold blood. The illumination of these somewhat bizarre details, however, does not mask the darkness of the execution setting. It illuminates the darkness, contrasting ordinary details against the deaths of Perry and Dick making them feel more tragic and visible to the reader. Capote appeals to the audience with visual imagery to again, sympathize with the deaths of Perry and Dick. Would Capote’s purpose for the book be different if he had not formed a connection with these