Son T. Chau Professor Hansen ENGWR 302 December 8, 2016 First Draft The Effects of Environment in In Cold Blood In a nonfiction book, In Cold Blood, the author, Truman Capote, tells the story of the murder case of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas, in 1959. The novel is based on real-life crime which was committed by two convicts: Perry Smith and Richard Hickock. The crime is mentioned early on a book before the story begins: "four shot gun blasts that, all told, ended six human lives" (Capote 5).…
Holcomb in western Kansas, where everything is humdrum. If you were ever to pass through Holcomb you wouldn’t stop and visit. The village of Holcomb has nothing that catches your interest like Capote said, “ The Land is flat, and the views are awesomely extensive.” In Cold Blood, Truman Capote uses tone to describe how uneventful town.…
In Cold Blood is one of the most famous and first true crime novel from the author, Truman Capote. Following the traumatic events of the Clutter family murder, Capote “…uses a number of different perspectives — the killers themselves and also neighbors and investigators — to weave his story together” (Wiener). By including multiple perspectives from the murderers to the residents, the novel contains many themes; one of those themes I easily saw was the community’s loss of innocence following murder of the Clutter family. Holcomb, Kansas (town population of 270) was a tight-knit community where every residents knew the other and the center of it were the Clutters.…
In the novel, In Cold Blood are many conflicts. The book mainly centers on external conflicts, although there are some internal conflicts. One external conflict is the murder of the Clutter family. Agent Alvin Dewey is assigned this case to try to solve it. He doesn’t have any leads on who could have committed the crime except that, two people could have been a part of the murder and two items are missing.…
“Manipulation is all about reading between the lines and recognizing the lies for what they are” (No Author), Truman Capote wanted to gain the the reader's pity and remorse for Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. At first, capote just wanted to tell the facts of the case to the world but he became attached to Smith. In the novel, In Cold Blood, written in 1965, Truman Capote, a well-known author, asserts that the Clutter family was murdered and that Perry Smith should have the reader's’ pity by using first hand accounts, the murder, and the murderer's story. In “The Last to See Them Alive” section, Capote sets the scene and gives the eyewitness statements of the day leading up to the murder.…
In 1959, the savage murder of the Clutter family attracted thousands of journalists to the remote town of Holcomb, Kansas. One of them was author Truman Capote, who had recorded the details and consequences of the murder in his best-selling novel: In Cold Blood. Debated hotly regarding its credibility and writing style, the novel remains a controversial and unique work. In Cold Blood is important to be read by high school students since it exposes students to a renowned work of a unique genre of novels, exhibits Capote’s mastery in characterization and provides a vast amount of information about a significant event in criminal justice history.…
Throughout Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, there is a reoccurring theme of good and evil. The readers are constantly wondering if the murderers were evil. The quote, “Inside of us, there is the speed of both good and evil. It is a constant struggle as to which one will win. And one cannot exist without the other” relates to the texts main characters (Burdon).…
Contrary to the title of the book, “In Cold Blood”, Capote substantiates the reasons of murdering the Clutter family as being tied to the bleak histories of the two murderers and, through their characterization, allows the readers to sympathize with the antagonists in a unique way. Furthermore, he does so with equality, providing the backgrounds of the two criminals with the same intricacy and understanding…
It is no coincidence that Capote ends his account of this captivating mystery with Dewey. Of all of the surviving characters of In Cold Blood, Dewey is arguably the most affected by the case. Capote reveals that Dewey’s dream of living on a farm were ultimately not realized, due to Marie’s uneasiness to live “in that sort of isolation” as a result of the Clutter murders, a case with which she had become all too familiar (341). Dewey himself was unable to bring himself to watch the death of Perry Smith, and “shut his eyes” when he was ultimately hung (340). A man who had worked four years to catch these murders, was still unable to stomach the sight of killing them.…
What drives people to the edge? So far gone that they commit heinous crimes, and become compulsive liars for only their benefit. That’s the question Truman Capote tries to answer in his novel, “In Cold Blood”. Capote analyzes the two killers of the Clutter family, Dick Hickock, and Perry Smith, to inform the audience on who they were and not just what they were. First off, the Clutter’s were a family who lived in the small town of Holcomb Kansas.…
The book goes from the murderer’s point of view to the investigator 's. Truman Capote wrote In Cold Blood because of the prominence the Clutter family murder had in the media, the…
In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote, is a nonfiction novel about the mass murder of an innocent family. Though highly acclaimed, the book ends up falling short of its nonfiction description, as the article, “Critical Essay on In Cold Blood”, argues that there is great bias in In Cold Blood in the form of sympathy towards the main character, Perry Smith, which is certainly true. Instead of following the conventional format of a nonfiction mystery novel, Capote uses In Cold Blood as an outlet to express his sympathy towards Perry Smith, the man who ruthlessly murdered four innocent members of the Clutter family. This evident bias hampers Capote’s attempt at an impartial account of the Clutter family mass homicide.…
Through the use of rhetorical strategies, Truman Capote manipulates the reader’s emotions by portraying Perry Smith in In Cold Blood as a sympathetic character. Perry Smith, along with his partner Dick Hickock, murder the Clutters, a well loved family in the town of Holcomb, Kansas. This small town consists of people, who immediately outkast the murders because they only understand their own lives, and nothing outside of Holcomb. Although there are two murderers, this rhetorical analysis will solely focus on Perry’s traumatic childhood. To share an outsider’s point of view of the situation, Capote uses simile, alliteration, and theme to influence the reader to sympathize with Perry, rather than to condemn him.…
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, we learn about the horrific murder of the Herbert Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas. Capote uses a lot of detail to help illustrate the insanity of the murderers and the effect the murder had on the small farming community. The suspense that is a result of minimal facts and descriptive settings was an elaborate stylistic technique that gave effective results throughout the book. Capote writing the story in more than one perspective allows Capote to not have a bias towards either side. In one section in particular, Capote uses juxtaposition to emphasize the differences between the two murderers.…
In his novel In Cold Blood, Truman Capote explores a significant controversy in the American justice system: the death penalty. He carefully describes a dramatic incident in Holcomb, Kansas when four members of the respected Clutter family are killed. When the murderers, Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, are finally caught after an extensive investigation, they are given the death sentence. Through a historically accurate and compelling novel, Capote criticizes capital punishment by humanizing Perry and Dick, suggesting their sentence to be unnecessary, and exposing its brutal nature. Capote paints the death penalty in a negative light by presenting the criminals’ more humane characteristics to create sympathy for them.…