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In Cold Blood Quotes And Analysis

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Although Capote seems to be explaining the progression of the ongoing investigation regarding Clutter family murder, his words delve deeper to explain the resounding effects that a senseless crime has had on the residents of Holcomb. Therefore, Capote depicts the shattering loss of innocence that these murders have caused to interrupt this small, tranquil community. Through structure, the author transforms the simple town of Holcomb into a dreary community. Capote introduces the second section of the book with a depiction of the leisurely activities of days past; “...Andy Erhart had spent long pheasant-hunting afternoons at River Valley Farm, the home of his good friend Herb Clutter, and often, on these sporting expeditions, he’d been accompanied …show more content…

When the men are looking through the Clutter house in search of objects to burn, it was described that “...they acquired additional fuel for the impending fire - blood-soiled bedclothes, mattresses, a bedside rug, a Teddy-bear doll” (Capote 78). Not only does the absence of conjunctions create a flow, but it also lists the objects in a meaningful order. It starts with the blood-soiled bedclothes, something very difficult for the reader to digest. Then, he moves on to something more universal, mattresses. Then, Capote lists a bedside rug, something more specific to the Clutters. Finally, it ends with the Teddy-bear doll. The progression of this list leaves the reader with a realization that this murder was a loss of human lives, lives that have done things everyone else has done. The tragedy is that these young lives will never be able to experience the future like everyone else. A Teddy-bear doll is something a young, innocent child clings to for comfort. The same doll is sentenced to be burned, destroyed, much like the Clutters were. The doll represents lives lost too soon, children who never got to grow up. In this way, the reader knows that the town of Holcomb has lost the virtue they didn’t realize they had before. With the innocence of the Clutters taken from them and murderers on the loose, how would they ever return to

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