Creative Writing: Mr. Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

In the novel, In Cold Blood author Truman Capote utilizes dark imagery and depressing diction to set the novel’s tone. Capote shows the reader a desolate town with scarce residents. Holcomb, Kansas features flat land, cattle, and grain, making a feeling of barren emptiness. Capote’s choice of words and descriptions loom over the main characters and create an uneasiness for the reader. Capote describes Holcomb as, “A lonesome area the other Kansans call ‘out there.’”

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.

The opening of In Cold Blood written by Truman Capote, describes a small, quaint town called Holcomb, Kansas that appears forgotten. Capote states that there is “not much to see” in Holcomb, and that it very dull and boring. He believes that Holcomb is dull and bland; nothing that makes it out of the ordinary. Throughout the opening, Capote utilizes many different stylistic elements to describe Holcomb, some of which are diction and imagery. These elements are key to the opening; they provoke the reader to read more and make the novel more interesting.

Imagery is prevalent throughout In Cold Blood, a novel written by Truman Capote about a rather wealthy family, The Clutters, that were suddenly murdered in Holcomb, Kansas in 1959. Capote used imagery in In Cold Blood to describe the surroundings that every scene is taking place in and how people can be shaped by them. In the beginning of the novel, Capote uses imagery to describe the Kansas town of Holcomb and uses that description to contrast with the brutal murders of the Clutter family. He says that “the land is flat” and that Holcomb is a “lonesome area” to emphasize the isolation and relative quietness of Holcomb.

In Cold Blood Rhetorical Analysis Typically upon hearing about a murder, especially a brutal and unwarranted one, we find ourselves feeling a great sense of disgust for the murderer or murderers who committed these crimes; however, in Truman Capote’s novel In Cold Blood, the lives and experiences of the murderers, particularly Perry Smith, are displayed in a way the makes you feel pity for him as well as the victims. When comparing Capote’s Novel to a typical news article on a similar topic it is easy to see the that Capote's style varies from typical journalism. An article written by Frances Robles and Nikita Stewart titled “Dylan Roof’s Past Reveals Trouble at Home and School,” discusses the childhood and background of Dylann Roof, a twenty-one

Helen Garson, while reflecting deep understanding of plot points consecutively, induces her beliefs on what Truman Capote intended when writing In Cold Blood. She reveals both flaws and hidden gems that may have not been noticed easily by the reader. With this criticism being made in 1980, after the first publication of In Cold Blood in 1965, Garson acknowledges accounts when Capote’s nonfiction novel ignited controversy due to the fact that he merely took notes after his encounters with the criminals based on memory. In addition, including Capote’s emotions while writing each part of the book.

In the fourth section of In Cold Blood, Capote argues that Perry is a cold blooded killer and Dick is just as guilty. Capote describes Perry as “very high” on the night of the murder. By the time he was in jail, Capote referred to him as “unusually troubled” and “lost”. When Perry admitted to the murder of the four Clutter’s, his reasoning was to spare Mrs. Hickock’s feelings, not to tell the truth. Perry’s background makes him seem damaged and “changed”, as he experienced various problems in adolescence; his “psychotic” ways are even thought to be true by a psychiatrist in court.

Located in a “lonesome area,” the town did not have much to see. All of the local buildings were falling apart; with their chipping paint and “dirty windows” and “irrelevant signs.” The citizens of the dreary town were nice people, everyone knew everyone, and they spoke to each other in an accent "barbed with prairie twang.” The description of this town makes it sound very dull and boring, doesn’t it? Yes.

The aspects that create a personality are built up upon two main guidances: family influence at a young age and inner conflicts. Balancing on a thin thread of neuro-normality and insanity, a personality is subjected to treatment that affects the individual’s view of life and the people around them. In the case of In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, there were two main characters that displayed these aspects with much adversity: Perry Smith and Dick Hickock. Both beginning from contrasting backgrounds and family homes, they miraculously ended up in equal situations: being caught committing a heinous murder that has been declared as one of the worst serial killings in Kansas history during the early 1960s. Therefore, Perry and Dick’s similar situations must be due to their innate psychological

An author can write in two different perspectives, objectively showing no opinion or emotion, and subjectively showing opinion and emotion. In the novel In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, Capote narrates with a subjective perspective. When talking about the murderers, especially Perry, sympathy shows towards them. For instance, When describing the Clutters, he did not know the family, he explained them strictly on the words of their neighbors, friends, and family. Capote writes “She was “nervous,” she suffered “little spells”--such were the sheltering expressions used by those close to her....

The Oxford English Dictionary defines ‘perspective’ as “The relation or proportion in which the parts of a subject are viewed by the mind; as perceived from a particular mental point of view”. This indicates that perspective is subjective, and therefore that all agents possess a sense of perspective. We might also infer that as perspective is defined as being from ‘a particular mental point of view’, that each of our perspectives are unique and personal, and surely have been formed as a result of our experiences up to the present moment. Perspective is crucial in allowing us to work with factual information. As human beings we are capable of not only learning and recalling a fact, but also of deriving our own opinions on it; on its validity,