Exigence/Relevance Many murder reports and atrocities pervade the news today, but rarely do writers go into as much detail as Capote did with In Cold Blood. Although it was just about four of the countless murders that have occurred in history, In Cold Blood is still relevant today because of the way Capote wrote it. Its detail and descriptive nature allows the readers to familiarize themselves with the murderers in an unprecedented fashion.
Audience
The entire United States was meant to read In Cold Blood. It was written for those people who were curious about the crime and for those who wondered about why Smith and Hickock did what they did. This book was also written for those who analyze the actions and thought processes of the mentally unstable.
Purpose
No other author had
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He simply relates the real events back to the readers and does not include any fabricated lies. Capote also refers to professional opinions when writing about the two killers’ mental stability.
Pathos
The details that Capote included allowed the reader to become intimately familiar with all of the characters, and to seem almost like friends with the Clutters. This familiarity thus caused sorrow and concern when any of them died, including Hickock and Smith. Capote also appealed to pathos when he described Smith’s childhood and thoughts, and by focusing on the virtues in him, even as he was hanged for murder.
Ethos
Simply already being a respected writer granted Capote automatic ethos, but he further established his credibility with the immense amount of detail that he cascaded into the book. All of the details assist in validating that Capote is an expert on the subject and that he knows the Clutter case exceptionally well. Capote also attempts to keep his personal opinion out of the account, making In Cold Blood more reliable and accurate.
Richard Brooks brings to life Truman Capote’s non-fiction novel “In Cold Blood”, in which he tries to open the murder case with an absolute honesty. Crime, which occurred in the heart of America shocked entire nation and it is still remains as a subject of discussion in fields of psychology and sociology. The story is based on a true facts, which makes it very powerful and best of its kind. Murder took place in a small town Holcomb, Kansas on november 15th, 1959, where four members of Clutter family were brutally murdered. Perry Smith and Dick Hickock planned the robbery based on the information they received from Dick’s friend about 10000 dollars being locked in a hidden safe in Clutter family’s house.
In the book, “In Cold Blood,” Truman Capote takes us through the lives of the murderers and the murdered in the 1959 Clutter family homicide, which transpires in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas. The first chapter, “The Last to See Them Alive,” vividly illustrates the daily activities of the Clutter family—Herbert, Bonnie, Nancy, and Kenyon—and the scheming plot of Dick Hickock and Perry Smith up to point where the family is found tied up, and brutally murdered. In doing so, he depicts the picture-perfect town of Holcomb with “blue skies and desert clear air”(3) whose safety is threatened when “four shotgun blasts that, all told, ended six human lives”(5). Through the eyes of a picture perfect family and criminals with social aspirations, Capote describes the American Dream and introduces his audience to the idea that this ideal was no more than an illusion. Herbert Clutter: the character Capote describes as the epitome of the American Dream.
In Cold Blood, written by Truman Capote in 1966 tells the story of the murder of a prominent family in 60’s Kansas. Capote traveled to the small town of Holcomb, and befriended many of the townsfolk and the detectives involved in the trial to tell the story of a violent event that shaped this community for the decade until the eventual conviction and execution of the killers. Because of information being told, Capote makes the choice of writing his novel as if it were a news report. This journalistic structure and word choice helps to establish the serious and dark tone of the novel.
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote was a crime novel that shock many people in the world because of how a small town family is kill out of nowhere by deformed murders and also how a community would be affected by this conflict. Also, Capote is successful of bringing the murders Dick and Perry back to live. Capote makes them too sympathetic because of how he expresses their mental health, their harsh backstories and the trial that take place in part 4. These three reasons make Capote successful of bringing the murders back to life. Capote is successful of describing the mental illnesses of the murders before they were evaluated by Dr, Jones.
Truman Capote’s nonfiction novel, In Cold Blood, effectively explores the effects of the Clutter family’s unexpected murder on the small community of Holcomb, Kansas. This unexpected murder had lasting and detrimental effects on the people of the town. Having been in Kansas during the time the trials and court cases had been executed, Capote observed that the murder had destroyed the community’s sense of trust, shattered their image of the American Dream, and prompted them to reevaluate their stance on the death penalty. The sudden murder of the Clutter family played a huge role in shaking the foundation of trust that had been built up throughout the years in the small town of Holcomb.
Truman Capote’s novel, In Cold Blood epitomizes the shifting sentiments related to the murder of the Clutter family which range from terror, to sorrow, to pride, and all mixed emotions in between. Yet through Capote’s particular descriptions about each character, the connection between their feelings and their actions become further clarified. In effect, the readers experience feelings of sympathy for the victims, their friends and family, the investigators, and even the brutal murders of the innocent family. In order to craft this association, Capote employs a pathos appeal to amplify the audience’s ability to sympathize with each and every character.
Throughout In Cold Blood, Truman Capote hints at his own opinion of the death penalty, yet lets the readers decide for themselves what they believe Hickock and Smith's punishment should have been. When the murderers are being hanged, a conversation occurs between a reporter and an investigator about what it might feel like to be hanged: "'They don't feel nothing. Drop, snap, and that's it. They don't feel nothing.' ' Are you sure?
In In Cold Blood, the issue over the death penalty is prominent. Did Perry and Dick deserve to die? Should the severity of one’s crime determine one’s fate? Although Truman Capote writes the novel in a straightforward, “from a distance” way, he conveys, through his characters, theme, and plot development, that the death penalty is an issue that should be looked at from all sides and that the legal system itself is the real issue at hand, and that the death penalty is used as a means to suppress the distress and indignation of the citizens surrounding the case, instead of suppressing the victim himself.
Option Three: Bias Truman Capote’s final book In Cold Blood, was an instant hit with readers when it came out in 1966. Capote himself hailed it as a new genre of literature, a nonfiction true crime thriller. However, upon reading the book, it seems as though Capote shifted the truth to make it fit his own personal narrative, and put in his own personal bias toward the criminals, and seeks to have the reader sympathize with the criminals and seeks to challenge their attitudes towards the criminals.
How crazy would it be to interview criminals who murdered 4 people in cold blood? Well that’s exactly what Truman Capote did in this chilling book. In the novel In Cold Blood, Truman Capote used different rhetorical strategies to create sympathy and influence the idea that there are always two sides to every story. Some of the mainly used rhetorical strategies throughout the novel were imagery, diction, tone, and pathos. Furthermore, Capote also illustrated sympathetical emotion towards both types of characters, the protagonists and antagonists.
Facts and Fiction: A Manipulation of Language in Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood English is a fascinating and riveting language. Subtle nuances and adjustments can easily change the understanding of a literary work—a technique many authors employ in order to evoke a desired response from their readers. This method is used especially in In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, a literary work which details a true event about the murders of four members of the Clutter family in the small community of Holcomb, Kansas, in 1959. Although Capote’s 1966 book was a bestseller nonfiction and had successfully garnered acclaim for its author, there is still a great deal of confusion about the distinction between the factual and fictional aspects in the book.
Authors often alter the account to make the story more compelling as explained in the article “If Truman Capote fibbed, does ‘In Cold Blood’ belong in the trash?” by Tuck Shaw of the Denver Post. Shaw suggests that a note from the publisher in forthcoming editions of Capote’s book should be included. This way the writer makes the account more captivating while the reader and the people portrayed in the book will know that the book isn’t meant completely factual. Regardless, writers should never lie in their account without acknowledging it. All in all, writers should always be truthful when writing a creative journalism novel.
Whether that connection be positive or negative. It is done and cannot be avoided. Capote emphasizes the human side of these characters. He shows readers how the murderers who could commit such a crime are actual people. Not everyone is untouchable.
No matter how we try to change our situation or better ourselves in society, variables will obstruct the path we choose. One cannot take control of everything that surrounds us as fate decides what happens to us. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote explains the murder of the Clutter family in the quiet town of Holcomb, Kansas. The murderers, Richard (Dick) Hickock and Perry Smith, try to escape the consequences of their actions, believing that they can get away with what they did. The story tells what the murderers were thinking after and before they committed the crime and their various interactions.
The novel, In Cold Blood, is an anomaly in the literary paradigm. The author, Truman Capote, designed his novel in a way that made it unique when compared to others. His fundamental purpose was to present the problem of American violence and the fragility of the American Dream and how it can be so easily shattered. In order to portray his purpose, he used many rhetorical devices including syntax, diction, tone, ethos, logos and pathos. These devices allowed Capote’s novel to be different from the spectrum of other non-fiction novels and to support his purpose.