In Cold Blood Analysis
Connor Rethman
Mrs. Franscell
English 3 AP/Dual
2 Dec. 2011
Nonfiction on a New Level Crime and glimpses into the heads of criminal masterminds has always been something that fascinates people. Although crime is a terrible thing, the complexity and intricacy of it is something that people love to hear about. One can turn on the news at any given time and almost certainly hear an account of some form of a crime within ten minutes. In the novel In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, an account to a perplexing crime is taken to a whole new level. The Clutter family was a charming family of four that lived in the little town of Holcomb, Kansas. They were brutally murdered with no apparent motive by Dick Hickock and Perry Smith, two men that had been inmates in jail. This story follows the authority’s attempt to unfold the mysteries of the unexpected murder, Dick and Perry’s journey across North America, and what eventually became of the criminals. Capote pieces the true story together in a way that created a whole new style of writing – the nonfiction novel. No one before Capote had ever attempted to tell the tale of a true story in a way that so effectively captivates the audience through unique use of various literary elements. Detail is an element that Capote uses quite effectively throughout the novel. Whenever a new character is introduced, he makes the reader feel as if they knew that person personally. When Nancy Clutter, the 16 year old daughter of the Clutter family, is first introduced, the author describes her as “…a pretty girl, lean and boyishly agile, and the prettiest thing about her were her short-bobbed, shining chestnut hair…and her soap-polished complexion, still faintly freckled and rose-brown from last summer’s sun” (Capote 19). The author deliberately gives details about Nancy that make the reader like her. He intends for readers to feel sorry for the Clutters, therefore provides positive details about each of the characters that cause the reader
Mrs. Franscell
English 3 AP/Dual
2 Dec. 2011
Nonfiction on a New Level Crime and glimpses into the heads of criminal masterminds has always been something that fascinates people. Although crime is a terrible thing, the complexity and intricacy of it is something that people love to hear about. One can turn on the news at any given time and almost certainly hear an account of some form of a crime within ten minutes. In the novel In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, an account to a perplexing crime is taken to a whole new level. The Clutter family was a charming family of four that lived in the little town of Holcomb, Kansas. They were brutally murdered with no apparent motive by Dick Hickock and Perry Smith, two men that had been inmates in jail. This story follows the authority’s attempt to unfold the mysteries of the unexpected murder, Dick and Perry’s journey across North America, and what eventually became of the criminals. Capote pieces the true story together in a way that created a whole new style of writing – the nonfiction novel. No one before Capote had ever attempted to tell the tale of a true story in a way that so effectively captivates the audience through unique use of various literary elements. Detail is an element that Capote uses quite effectively throughout the novel. Whenever a new character is introduced, he makes the reader feel as if they knew that person personally. When Nancy Clutter, the 16 year old daughter of the Clutter family, is first introduced, the author describes her as “…a pretty girl, lean and boyishly agile, and the prettiest thing about her were her short-bobbed, shining chestnut hair…and her soap-polished complexion, still faintly freckled and rose-brown from last summer’s sun” (Capote 19). The author deliberately gives details about Nancy that make the reader like her. He intends for readers to feel sorry for the Clutters, therefore provides positive details about each of the characters that cause the reader
Cited: Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood. New York: Vintage Books, 1965. Print. Hickman, Trenton. ""The Last to See Them Alive": Panopticism, the Supervisory Gaze, and Catharsis in Capote 's in Cold Blood." Studies in the Novel 37.4 (2005): 464+. Questia. Web. 25 Nov. 2011. <http://www.questiaschool.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5014218548>.