A Rhetorical Analysis Of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

Truman Capote, who was born Truman Streckfus Persons on September 30, 1924, in New Orleans, Louisiana, was one of the most well-known American writer of his time. His ability to say clever and amusing things and his overt homosexuality kept him on television and in magazines as a major personality. He worked for The New Yorker magazine where he wrote articles and short stories. Many of his stories were about bizarre incidents and were adapted for stage and film. Later, he started to write nonfiction novels in which he combined fact and fiction. In Cold Blood, which describes the mysterious murder of four members of a Kansas family, The Clutters, was the most known and best seller nonfiction novel. At the beginning, it started out as an article for The New Yorker, then it was published in January 1966 in book form.

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.

From the beginning of the novel, Capote showcases Perry Smith a likable character. Although he ended up being one of the murderers of the Clutter family, the readers often felt sorry for him. In the beginning of the novel the reader finds out that Perry was actually very nervous about committing the crime, he and Dick were on the road to do. Capote made it seem like Perry

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. Additionally, Capote expressed the idea of there being two sides to every story for both the protagonist and antagonist. By doing so, he used a unique writing style to help develop the story. In Cold

When Perry was a child, he grew up around an abusive father that drove Perry and his mother and siblings away. Eventually, His mother started drinking so that meant that Perry had to bounce from orphanages and foster homes where he got beaten by the nuns there. Due to his emotional and physical abuse, he often imagines a bird coming in to rescue him from any harm that comes his way. After going into the Army and being discharged, He has a serious motorcycle accident that damages his legs. Eventually, he gets picked up hitchhiking by a guy who thinks that it would be a good idea to rob a store which, in turn, pushes Perry into having a criminal lifestyle. This of course led to the killings of the Clutter family. So when referring to Perry,Capote uses light imagery and a sympathetic tone like “prophesied” but as the story goes on, it turns into a more aggressive tone towards Perry like when he begins to state more of Perry’s issues like his “already dangerous anti-social instincts.”

Children are very impressionable people. Almost everything around them changes them in some way. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the main characters, Scout and Jem, start out as little kids who spend their days making up stories and playing sill games. Then their dad, who is a lawyer, takes on a case defending a black man who has been charged with rape. Since they live in Alabama, The whole family has to absorb some pretty ugly things, which forces Scout and Jem to grow up quickly, and it gives them a different and more mature view of the world. In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, she uses characterization to show how different events and people shape children as they grow up and ultimately determine what kind of adults they will turn out to be.

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.

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. Much

How does Harper Lee vividly capture the effects of racism and social inequality on the citizens of Maycomb county in ‘To kill a mockingbird’?

Truman Capote uses variety of language devices to vividly develop Perry Smith in his novel In Cold Blood. These language devices include, diction, similes and symbolism.

In the novel In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, he uses pathos, diction and tone to characterize the killers. He characterizes Dick Hickock as the main character and Perry Smith as a tag-along. Capote mainly shows sympathy towards Perry because of Perry’s messed up past and his mental instability. Capote creates this sympathy through syntax and his elaborate sentence structure with the use of specific punctuation. He also has a very unique writing style with an interesting character development. The author characterizes the two characters by using flashbacks although he sympathize Perry more than Dick, which can be seen through the long descriptions of Perry’s past compared to the few sentences given to Dick’s.

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.

In the novel In Cold Blood, Truman Capote explores aspects of Perry Smiths and Richard Hickocks childhoods that may have affected their psychology and lead to the 1959 Clutter family murder. The fact that Truman Capote included these memories and old letters from their past was to show that he thought it played a part in the greater problem although he does not directly say that. He gives the reader the choice to decide for themselves, whether they think the awful childhoods of the main characters were the reasons they thought it was acceptable to murder a family in their own home in cold blood, or weather it was completely and fully their choice to commit this crime.

Capote includes the composition by Perry’s father to show compassion for Perry. His situation coerces the reader to pity Perry and sympathize with him. The letter helps explain more of Perry’s background. In it, his father emphasizes that Perry was a "normal" child, and that he is "goodhearted" if he is treated right.(128) The letter, especially the way it leaves out certain details and is mostly haughty, gives Perry conflicted emotions such as self-indulgence, love, and animosity. Perry’s life story could be seen as one unsuccessful circumstance after another. He chases one dream after the next, augmented by the highest hopes, only to have his dreams dashed. These experiences, described in Tex’s letter, have caused much confusion in Perry’s

The non-fiction novel ‘In Cold Blood’ interestingly begins as a fiction novel would-with the author setting up the scene of the gruesome quadruple murder about to take place, unbeknownst to the victims. Capote describes the isolated flatlands of rural Kansas, and introduces the victims and their killers as if they were the main characters of a fictional murder mystery.