Analysis Of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

Any events that occur as a child can either have a good impact or a bad impact. Children often learn to cope with certain circumstances differently than adults. The insecurities of Truman Capote’s childhood are psychologically conveyed through the tragic events of In Cold Blood. According to William L. Nance, an associate professor of English, “Some knowledge of Capote’s early life is essential to an understanding of his work, for that work, even through In Cold Blood, bears the clear marks of his childhood” (133). Capote’s parents divorced when he was very young. All throughout his childhood, he moved from relative to relative who each lived in small southern towns. Capote himself even said that it was “the most insecure childhood I know of” (133). He often performed poorly in school although “ . . .Psychological tests proved that his Intelligence Quotient (IQ) was above genius level” (n.p.).

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote begins by describing a wonderfully organized, and well put together family named the Clutters. Mr. Herbert Clutter is going about his daily business providing for the ranch and planning the family’s activities for the day. On the opposite side of Kansas, the reader learns of two men named Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. As Capote describes the two men and the business that they are attending to, it seems as if they are preparing their car for a long trip. On the next morning, Susan Kidwell, Nancy Herbert’s friend, finds Nancy and the rest of her family have been brutally murdered. The police are clueless as to who could have possibly committed such a crime in such as peaceful community as Holcomb, Kansas. With only a bloody shoe print as evidence, Alvin Dewey, the KBI agent in charge of th...

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... one: In Cold Blood retains deep traces of the earliest stories, and the intellectual toughness so evident in the nonfiction novel was really there all the time” (133). Capote places himself into these characters’ shoes. Although, not only does he place himself into their shoes and portray his own view point and his own history through them, but he also builds their stories off of himself. By him doing this, he can easily relate to the characters and write about them. Capote was able to use his flamboyant personality to his advantage. Even though it was his shield to cover his loneliness as a child, it helped him for when he became an adult and in his celebrity life. He turned his tragic background into a story that is an amazing read. Not many authors can put so much of their life into a story like In Cold Blood, and not actually be in it themselves.