Gender Stereotypes In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

While reading the descriptions of people within "In Cold Blood," one could see how those people fall into their respective conventional gender norms and stereotypes. Some examples of these stereotypes include the physical characterizations of the people, as well as some of the interests that those people have. For example, Bonnie is described as a "timid, pious, delicate girl" (Capote 6). With these descriptions, Bonnie falls into the conventional female stereotype of being submissive and weak. Also, when Nancy and Kenyon are introduced, their interests fall into the stereotypes for their respective genders. Nancy cooks all of the family meals and loves to bake, while Kenyon likes to create new inventions and go hunting with his friends. Based

on these descriptions, it is evident that Nancy enjoys doing stereotypically "girl" things, while Kenyon enjoys doing stereotypically "boy" things. "In Cold Blood" occurs during a time when gender norms were heavily enforced, and any deviation from these norms would likely ostracize a person and leave them subject to ridicule and torment.

In addition to the stereotypical gender roles and norms, Bonnie's mental health issues are extremely downplayed and almost ignored altogether. Early on in the novel, it is revealed that Bonnie is "nervous," and she suffers from "little spells" (Capote 7). Although she was taken to a hospital in Wichita, her problem continued to be ignored. While at the hospital, the doctors told her that "[her illness] was not in her head but in her spine- it was physical, a matter of misplaced vertebrae" (Capote 7). Instead of receiving help for her mental health problems, she is told that an operation on her spine would bring her back to her "old self" again. This pattern of women's mental health issues being ignored has continued throughout decades of history, with most the solutions to fixing their problems either range from going outside and receiving sunlight, to potentially dangerous operations that would most likely not help them in the end. If someone asks for help multiple times and is continually ignored or told that their problem will go away with time, it can start to make that person feel like they do not

matter. This feeling of inferiority then leads to the idea that a person or a group of people are better than them because their problems are recognized and addressed. As a result of this, many women felt like they did not matter, which then lead to the societal stereotype that men are superior to women.