Sympathy In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

Decent Essays
After the much anticipated interview with the killers of the Clutter family, Truman Capote, the writer of their story, In Cold Blood, alters the perception of those around him by exhibiting the sympathy of the man who had the reason to hate the killers the most, yet didn’t. This man was the detective in charge of their manhunt, Alvin Dewey. Even though it was expected that all he ought to have felt was anger towards these brutal killers, he simply felt “a measure of sympathy”. We understand the true purpose of the detective, to understand. After his goal was completed, that was all that was there, an understanding. The quote almost defers the blame from the killers and places the incidence in the fault of it being “psychological” and “an impersonal

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    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.…

    • 190 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    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.…

    • 194 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    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.…

    • 177 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Capote’s perspective leads readers to grow fond of the killers and to then question their own morals. Capote shares the elaborate back stories of the…

    • 454 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    What would drive someone to kill four innocent people in cold blood? In Cold Blood is a very famous book that focuses on a controversial case where four innocent people get brutally murdered. Although the parts of sporadic violence are entertaining, suspense and mystery are intertwined within this novel. Along with the action, suspense, and mystery involved in this book, Truman Capote has included many enriching themes that add to the books superior rating. One of those amazing themes is this: family and friends are an important part of life.…

    • 553 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    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).…

    • 2008 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    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.…

    • 846 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    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…

    • 1253 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In Cold Blood Essay

    • 1285 Words
    • 6 Pages

    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.…

    • 1285 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    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).…

    • 728 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    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.…

    • 1113 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    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…

    • 1303 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    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.…

    • 1110 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Responding to the resolution of the Clutter family murder case and questioning the humanity of using the death penalty, Truman Capote, the father of true crime itself and a well-known journalist from the 1960s, wrote with elaborate style and vivid details the first nonfiction novel, In Cold Blood, in which he developed and differentiated the dynamic characters Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. Portraying Perry as a man one could possibly sympathize with and demonizing Dick as a nefarious criminal, Capote, using dialogue, description, and character actions, informatively revealed defining characteristics of both Dick and Perry to a nationwide audience in order to assert that the two not only had many differences, but also that these differences…

    • 1180 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “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.…

    • 740 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays