In Cold Blood Literary Analysis

Although the infamous murder of the Clutter family happened in November of 1959, Capote’s story was not published by Random House until late September of 1965. It was a long process for Capote to gather all the information needed to pull off this story. He traveled to Holcomb shortly after the murder and then he spent the next six years writing and researching the background behind the town, the family, and the two killers. While the book was considered a success by many “In Cold Blood is the work of art, the work of an artist" (Garrett 80), critics believe it was Truman’s last great work. He never published another book after In Cold Blood, and he even felt that the writing of the story took too much out of him: “ ‘it scraped me right down …show more content…
There have been several cases of In Cold Blood being brought to teacher and officials’ attention after parents discover what their children are responsible for reading. This was the case in one high school in Savannah, Georgia. In 1999 community protests began at Windsor Forest High School, when a parent complained about various aspects of In Cold Blood, especially the violence. The parent’s child was part of an Advanced Placement English class. Upset guardians and parents argued that the book was too violent for the young audience (Doyle 76). That high school in Georgia was not the only one to have members against the story. Farther west in California, Glendale Unified School District’s 2010-2011 school year began with “officials and parents seeking to block a request by a high school English teacher to add the text to the district 's advanced English curriculum". It was another case of potential readers feeling the story deserved to be banned from their school district because of its violent content. The end result was not in favor of Capote’s book. Despite the book establishing unanimous support from that particular district’s English Curriculum Study Committee, which was made up of high school teachers, the Secondary Education Council composed of high school principals was not as supportive. The local PTA also agreed the book contained too many graphic details and violent scenes, and the book was taken off the list. (Censorship 204). There have been instances in colleges and high schools across America where specific books have been questioned by parents due to their content. Some of those and additional novels have also been challenged, or banned by organizations. In Cold Blood has found its way onto America’s frequently banned or challenged book lists because of the content it