Murder In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood
Murder is considered by society and by law as the worst crime one can commit. Taking away a human life, and ending the chance for a person to fulfill their goals and their purpose in their lifetime, is an unspeakable and dreadful thing. However, in the novel In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, Capote offers multiple perspectives on the complex crime that is murder. The plot follows the events surrounding the murder of a family of four in Holcomb, Kansas, and the two murderers, Dick Hitchcock and Perry Smith. It seems impossible to understand the way a murderer thinks, let alone show compassion towards them; however, this is the purpose of Capote’s novel, and he does so with a masterful hand. Through the use of figurative language, pathos, and characterization,
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Both of the murderers backgrounds are brought up and explained with great care. Capote makes sure to point out that Dick had a perfectly normal house life with good parents, while Perry lived with the burden of a horrible family life. He lived with knowing that his father abandoned his family, his mother was “an alcoholic [who] had strangled to death in her own vomit”, and that both his brother Jimmy and beloved sister Fern had committed suicide (110-111). Perry’s outlook on life has been corrupted because of the unwelcoming environment that he grew up in, with an alcoholic mother and a mostly indifferent father. He was not given a clear moral compass growing up, which is very important for the development of any person who wants to function properly in our society. This, combined with the trauma of losing his brother and sister, have helped add to Perry’s mental instability. With this knowledge, the reader is able to not scrutinize Perry so harshly. Dick, however, grew up with two hardworking and loving parents, and his school years were “quite the same as most other boys…” (277). One cannot sympathize with Dick in the way that he sympathizes with Perry because of Dick’s lack of suffering growing up. Perry’s emotional trauma lead him to behave the way he did, whereas Dick acted based on his brute personality and his enjoyment of the suffering of others. Having the accounts of both of their lives at one point in the novel side by side proves the juxtaposition that Capote is going for, and that Capote used this to portray Perry in a better
Both of the murderers backgrounds are brought up and explained with great care. Capote makes sure to point out that Dick had a perfectly normal house life with good parents, while Perry lived with the burden of a horrible family life. He lived with knowing that his father abandoned his family, his mother was “an alcoholic [who] had strangled to death in her own vomit”, and that both his brother Jimmy and beloved sister Fern had committed suicide (110-111). Perry’s outlook on life has been corrupted because of the unwelcoming environment that he grew up in, with an alcoholic mother and a mostly indifferent father. He was not given a clear moral compass growing up, which is very important for the development of any person who wants to function properly in our society. This, combined with the trauma of losing his brother and sister, have helped add to Perry’s mental instability. With this knowledge, the reader is able to not scrutinize Perry so harshly. Dick, however, grew up with two hardworking and loving parents, and his school years were “quite the same as most other boys…” (277). One cannot sympathize with Dick in the way that he sympathizes with Perry because of Dick’s lack of suffering growing up. Perry’s emotional trauma lead him to behave the way he did, whereas Dick acted based on his brute personality and his enjoyment of the suffering of others. Having the accounts of both of their lives at one point in the novel side by side proves the juxtaposition that Capote is going for, and that Capote used this to portray Perry in a better