In Cold Blood

Although in Truman Capote’s book In Cold Blood, the author is illustrating the points of view of Holcomb, Dick, and Perry after the murder of the Clutter family, his prime motive is to exploit the devastation felt by the community; therefore, he accomplishes this by emphasizing the agony, confusion, and panic experienced by a loss. Capote uses tricolon to help convey the dark blanket of emotions that overcame Holcomb after the murders, which one can see from the perspective of Agent Alvin…

Novelist, Truman Capote, in his nonfiction book, “In Cold Blood,” recounts the village of Holcomb, Kansas in his perspective. Capote’s purpose is to convey the idea that an ordinary town can be altered by a single event. Although Holcomb, Kansas is a tedious town, a single event can change a community and its members perceptions of reality; therefore, Capote's distinct characterization of Holcomb before the crime emphasizes the impact the murders have on this once innocent community. Because…

up their talents that have been sleeping for a long time and those talents could lead them into either a positive or a negative way. But this is not always a case. Truman Capote, an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright, and actor, wrote In Cold Blood after the murder of Clutter family in Kansas City on November 15, 1959. In the book, he described every character’s character and their past stories. According to this book, one is qualified to the idea that adversity has the effect of…

In Truman Capote’s novel In Cold Blood, Capote follows the stories of both a murdered family, the Clutters, and their murderers, Richard “Dick” Hickock and Perry Smith. Over the course of the novel, Capote reveals that Hickock and Smith met in prison and reconnected once they were both released (161). The pair’s target in invading the Clutter household was money in an alleged safe; murdering the Clutters would just ensure no witnesses could identify them as the killers (Capote 161). Eventually…

Both Truman Capote’s nonfiction novel In Cold Blood and Peter Weir’s film The Truman Show illustrate society as a primary influence on one’s self-identity. Based on environmental influences and personal backgrounds, one can tell that people’s actions depend greatly on society’s impact. External forces and pressures placed on a person from society during childhood shape each protagonist’s personal beliefs and perspectives on the outside world, causing them to hold manipulated standpoints. Dick…

crime novel In Cold Blood tells the story of the murder of a prominent family in Kansas. The Clutters- Herb, Bonnie, Nancy and Kenyon were mercilessly murdered by Dick Hickock and Perry Smith on November 15, 1959. The murder of the Clutter family left the towns of Holcomb and Garden City, Kansas in shock and fear. Capote examines all aspects of the Clutter case throughout the novel. In 1967, director Richard Brooks brought Capote’s text to life in the film adaptation of In Cold Blood. Brooks…

The rigid traditional views of the Bible Belt in the 50’s are challenged in the 1965 nonfiction novel In Cold Blood. When two petty thieves murder a prominent family and devastate the countryside town of Holcomb, Kansas the ideal family environment is tainted. At first, there is no clear motive, but as the novel progresses, the reader gets a taste of the convicts’ warped American Dreams. At that time in history, Americans were enjoying the post WWII prosperity and families like the Clutters were…

Compassion for the Killer Throughout In Cold Blood, Truman Capote writes with bias and embellishes much of the story of the 1959 Clutter Family mass murder. As Capote researched further into the murders, he developed a personal attachment to one of the killers. Even Capote’s most significant claims surrounding the Clutter Family mass murder are unreliable, as he is strongly biased towards one of the killers. Capote’s portrayals of the two murderers, Richard “Dick” Hickock and Perry Smith, vary,…

the author of In Cold Blood, had an intense and meaningful relationship with both murderers of the Clutter family, Perry Smith and Dick Hickock. Readers of In Cold Blood do not have a full, unbiased view of the crime because of Capote’s relationship with Perry and Dick. In order to create a more sympathetic view of both Perry and Dick, but mostly Perry, Capote manipulated the story and information through examples and backstory to show the killers as sympathetic people instead of cold blooded…

Although it appears Capote is only cautiously sitting back on the impending arrests of Dick and Perry he is truly stressing the complexity of Perry’s unstable mental state; therefore, questioning the potential change of fate if one’s psychiatric health is addressed. Society is quick to place blame upon the shoulders of the guilty without looking past their actions. Yet, Capote creates this spine tingling moment which forces one to believe in the inside battles rather than the actions that play…