The American Dream is a promise for liberty, opportunities, and social mobility. It is a set of ideals which attempts to form a society with few barriers where anyone can reach their ambitions regardless of their wealth or family. Throughout In Cold Blood, Truman Capote narrates the story of various individuals attempting to capture their share of the American Dream. One of Capote’s purposes in this nonfiction novel is to elucidate that those who have accomplished their dreams live with high contentment, but the American Dream allowing people to reach this state is noninclusive, ineffective, and fragile.
Capote conveys the benefits of reaching one’s goals by employing a comparison of those who have succeeded with those who have fallen short. …show more content…
Despite portraying the Clutters as the most perfect family in Holcomb, the author reveals that Bonnie Clutter “suffered ‘little spells,’” expounding that “she had been an on-and-off psychiatric patient” (23). Capote highlights the flaws in the family to prove that even those who have attained the American Dream cannot create truly quintessential situations and are nevertheless burdened with unexpected, grievous issues. This detail assists Capote in underscoring that in reality, the American Dream is not consummate and therefore the ideals do not perform as envisioned. Furthermore, Capote draws parallels between the Clutter murder and an incident where “the family cat had attacked the cocker spaniel” who’s “eyes might [now] be seriously damaged” (247). Cats are known to be fearful of dogs, but the author presents an ironical situation where the cats are able to overpower their enemy. In the case of the murder, Hickock and Smith were portrayed as these cats--the bottom of society unexpected to interfere with the happiness of the well-respected Clutters. The fact that they were able to perform this murder illustrates that, due to animosity infused in certain individuals threatening the security of communities as a whole, the American Dream is fragile and cannot preserve its promise for
Capote conveys the benefits of reaching one’s goals by employing a comparison of those who have succeeded with those who have fallen short. …show more content…
Despite portraying the Clutters as the most perfect family in Holcomb, the author reveals that Bonnie Clutter “suffered ‘little spells,’” expounding that “she had been an on-and-off psychiatric patient” (23). Capote highlights the flaws in the family to prove that even those who have attained the American Dream cannot create truly quintessential situations and are nevertheless burdened with unexpected, grievous issues. This detail assists Capote in underscoring that in reality, the American Dream is not consummate and therefore the ideals do not perform as envisioned. Furthermore, Capote draws parallels between the Clutter murder and an incident where “the family cat had attacked the cocker spaniel” who’s “eyes might [now] be seriously damaged” (247). Cats are known to be fearful of dogs, but the author presents an ironical situation where the cats are able to overpower their enemy. In the case of the murder, Hickock and Smith were portrayed as these cats--the bottom of society unexpected to interfere with the happiness of the well-respected Clutters. The fact that they were able to perform this murder illustrates that, due to animosity infused in certain individuals threatening the security of communities as a whole, the American Dream is fragile and cannot preserve its promise for