Journalism In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

Truman Capote is a well-known American novelist and journalist who followed and investigated the murder case of the Clutter family to produce a book that was later termed to be a “non-fiction novel”. Though Capote has factual evidence to support the novel he also includes reconstructed dialogue and thoughts that cannot be proven to be accurate or in any case to have occurred at all in the murder investigation. In Cold Blood is a fictional novel because of the fabricated dialogues and thoughts that could be realistically plausible. However, the book also has journalism components because of the evidence and support gained from witnesses and actions that are vividly described and researched thoroughly as well as the meticulous details used to

One of the journalistic devices Capote used was observation to help build his story. For example, “Some seventy miles east of the Colorado border, the countryside, with its hard blue skies and desert- clear air…Greek temples are visible long before a traveler reaches them” (3). He went to Holcomb instead of looking it up or seeing images of it to paint his readers a realistic image that was accurately depicted. The use of observation and creating a visual aspect is an important aspect in journalism because there is visual concrete evidence that can support the accuracy of the event. The main components of journalism that Capote enhances is the amount of evidence that was gathered and researched to make sure his story was precisely factual and then how he successfully presents this evidence to his readers. For instance, Dr. Jones is used as a testimony in court stating, “Had Dr. Jones been permitted to discourse on the cause of his indecision, he would have testified: Perry Smith shows definite signs of severe mental illness…A study in Personality Disorganization” (294-298). Capote uses evidence from the court session to vividly describe the case in depth and to portray everything that took place in court. Dr. Jones is an important witness that introduces lots of facts and evidence for Perry and his condition that is then noted and used by Capote. The use of witnesses and interviews gives the story much more accuracy and support that it has enough information to stand on its own. To get details of the murder first hand, Capote interviews the perpetrators. For example, Perry describes the crime scene to Dewey, “At the foot of the stairs, Mr. Clutter switched on the lights that lighted the hall above...I know goddam well you got a safe”