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

build up the story. In the end, Capote achieved his goal of making a non-fictional novel by including aspects of fiction and journalism.
Since the novel was published long after the case was solved and the verdict was answered, Capote found it necessary to include fictional qualities that would make someone who already knew the case, still have interest in reading it. The Clutters were already long gone when Capote starts investigating so he could not have known what the Clutters were thinking about. For instance, “As Mr. Clutter contemplated this superior specimen of the season…” (11). Capote could not have known what Mr. Clutter was thinking because all of Mr. Clutter’s thoughts were silenced when he passed away. Thoughts like these cannot be manifested as proof because there is no witness that these things were said or thought of. However, adding this component did not make the book entirely false. Many farmers wake up in the morning and contemplate about the weather because their crops depend all on the outcome of the weather. Capote made a realistic presumption that although may be false, adds more creative aspects to the book so the readers can not only read the facts, but can vividly imagine what it what like for the Clutters. Capote adds these thoughts to combine facts with literature and give journalism a novelistic feel. Capote also could not record the interactions between the Clutter Family because there was no one present to support the conversations as accurate, let alone to have actually been said. For instance, “As usual, the devil was in Kenyon. His shouts kept coming up the stairs: Nancy! Telephone!” (17). The dialogue between the family can be plausible but was used as a fictional strategy to put a creative twist on the accuracy of the novel. It is likely that no one would remember or yet less memorize what they had said or mentioned to one another. To add a creative and fictional aspect to the novel and to make the facts more appalling, Capote reconstructs dialogues that can be realistically used in the novel but not fictional enough to make the entire story inaccurate.
In Cold Blood was like journalism because of the substantial amount of evidence included from witnesses such as the perpetrators and almost all of Holcomb community as well as how the details and facts were portrayed and shown.

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”

(238). The whole murder scene was meticulously detailed and intricately recorded by Capote to make sure his story was precise. Interviewing the perpetrators gave Capote an inside look to the entire murder scene where he would jot down everything that was said and present it accurately in his book. In Cold Blood is like journalism because of the research and details that went into making an accurate and concise novel.
Capote achieved his goal in making a non-fictional novel. He included both accurate details and plausible dialogues to have a combination of both journalism and fiction. He wanted to create a novel where it would be interesting enough to make people want to read about murder but also include important facts and details about what happened. Capote wanted to combine literature and journalism to produce a work of art that is appreciated by the modern world. He also achieved his goal of writing in a creative way combined with realism and novelistic imagination. In the end, Capote invented a new style of writing which included novelistic writing combined with factual evidence and research known as journalism. In Cold Blood is like a fiction novel because of reconstructed dialogues and thoughts that although may have been true, have a sense of creative and artistic values behind them. It is also like journalism because of the meticulous amounts of details, research, and investigation that are used to portray how the events happened and took place. Capote achieved his goal of writing both creatively and realistically to appeal to his audience so they can have the best of both sides.