In Cold Blood Imagery

In the opening of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, Capote describes a small desolate ghost-town that doesn’t even register on the map by the name of Holcomb, Kansas. This sounds like a place I would not want to visit. Capote conveys his thoughts about Holcomb through the use of imagery and selection of detail. In the text, “hard blue skies and desert-clear air” describes to the reader an image of what the countryside appeared as. “The streets, unnamed, unshaded, unpaved, turn from the thickest dust to the direst mud,” tells us what kind of unrest precipitation causes when combined with the streets. “The depot, itself, with its peeling sulphur-colored paint, is equally melancholy,” lets the reader know that the depot is old, rundown, and not receiving much attention along with most of the town. “Unless you include, as one must, the Holcomb School, a good-looking establishment,” demonstrates that the …show more content…
“At one end of the town stands a stark old stucco structure, the roof of which supports an electric sign--Dance--” and “Nearby is another building with an irrelevant sign, this one in flaking gold on a dirty window-- HOLCOMB BANK,” both bring details about the town because they describe the placement of key buildings. “A gaunt woman who wears a rawhide jacket and denims and cowboy boots,” gives supporting details about someone who used to work in one of the many old and rundown building in Holcomb. “The grades go from kindergarten through senior high, and a fleet of buses transport the students, of which there are usually around three hundred and sixty, from as far as sixteen miles away,” details the district that the Holcomb school, a “modern and ably staffed ‘consolidated’ school”