Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

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The most important books to a person are the ones that leave a lasting impact. Books that people can reflect back on and cite as a defining influence in their life. Truman Capote's In Cold Blood confirms the importance of reading a story with its own lifelong message, the consequences that result from one’s actions and their effect on a population. Readers learn of the magnitude their decisions hold and how their choices affect those around them. CONCLUDING SENTENCE. The emphasis Capote places on decisions begins early with the introduction of Dick Hickcock. Dick Hickock has a loving family and a bright future as he himself writes, “I had a lot of toys when I was little. My dad was a hard worker....” before continuing, “I got offers from

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    In the novel In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, the author skillfully orders information and articulates his word choice in order to successfully tell the story. Capote chooses to include certain events before others to show the reader the development of the case caused a change in the overall feelings of characters such as Alvin Dewey. Alvin, the detective who desperately searched for the Clutter killers reads, “on the first page of the Kansas City Star, a headline he had long awaited: Die On Rope For Bloody Crime,” which portrays to the reader that he was relieved after months to know that they were sentenced to death. (337) By including the word choice “he had long awaited” the reader may assume that he is pleased by this outcome. (337) However,

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    Truman Capote establishes respect and trust in what he writes from with audience, ethos, through the use of an extensive variety of facts and statistics, logos. Capote uses so many dates, times, and other facts about the crime committed in the book and the subsequent investigation that the reader has to believe what the author is writing. The use of all these facts shows that Capote did his research and he interviewed, questioned, and obtained the opinions of every person that even slightly important to crime itself and the investigation/trial. The author is obviously very meticulous when it comes to dates and times; every important event in the book has a date and sometimes even a time of day to go with it. Some examples of dates included were the day of the murders (November 15th, 1959), dates of when Perry and Dick were here or there (December 31th, 1959- a small restaurant in Texas or noon on December 25th, 1959- beach in Miami Florida), date when the two criminals were apprehended (January 1st, 1960), dates when they were brought from this prison to that one and finally when they were brought to death’s row (April, 1960). Other small facts are also used by the author, like facts about the criminal’s early lives or experiences that they had, which could only have been obtained through extensive interviews with Perry and Dick. The use of all these logos by Capote establishes strong ethos, showing the reader that the author did more than enough research to show that he has the knowledge to write a whole book on the subject.

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  • Brief Analysis of Some Parts of Truman Capote´s In Cold Blood

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    This passage when Capote begins to introduce Perry more in depth. From his childhood to later on in his life. Perry’s way of life as a child was a tough one, in which his mother put him in a “catholic orphanage. The one where the Black Widows were always at me. Hitting me. Because of wetting the bed…They hated me, too.” Capote’s use of short sentence syntax creates the effect of emphasizing the horrible and dramatic conditions Perry had to live with. Also, the nuns of the orphanage are described as “Black Widows,” a metaphor, to make it seem like it was truly terrible. The color black associates with death and when metaphorically used to describe a nun, it creates sympathy for Perry. Later in the passage, capote creates a short narrative of Perry’s experience in war. “Perry, one balmy evening in wartime 1945…” The storytelling helps understand more about Perry in the way he thinks and acts. The atmosphere of this passage is a sad mood. It talks about the terrible childhood and early life of Perry. It is clear that no one ever cared for Perry and it affected him dramatically.

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    However, as the storyline moves forth, Capote alters his use of “meanwhile, back at the ranch” technique (in which two stories go in parallel, when one reaches peak interest, storyline switches to the other, and vise versa) to a good section of a book dedicated to Perry. In Perry’s time in the limelight, readers start to feel sympathetic towards the person they hated moments ago. There are numerous ways readers could interpret Capote’s intent. I believe Capote wrote In Cold Blood in such a way to convey that people are often misled into firm assumptions on situations they do not remotely apprehend, the vulnerability in the liability of men and women. It isn’t in Capote’s literary techniques this is displayed, but in the conversion of his

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