A required reading list should consist of books that present readers with new insights and knowledge while encouraging them to analyze the context of the book and identify major themes. Truman Capote 's In Cold Blood should be kept on high school required reading lists because it appropriately covers each of these criteria. The non-fiction novel introduces readers to a world of criminal psychology, raising questions about the cause and manner of American crime. Additionally, the book 's author is steeped in controversy regarding his faithfulness to the truth, providing an excellent opportunity for high school readers to research and discuss the role biases play in the writing of a novel. Meeting the final criterion, In Cold Blood contains
Two that stand out as major themes are the loss of innocence and mental illness. Several people in In Cold Blood experienced rapid maturation from childhood to adulthood at too young an age. Nancy and Kenyon Clutter, two of the four children in the Clutter family, certainly lost their innocent view of the world the day two men broke into their home and murdered them along with their parents. However, the novel centers more on the loss of innocence of the two criminals, especially Perry Smith. Smith 's childhood was undeniably nightmarish, as the young boy was moved from an alcoholic mother to various orphanages and Salvation Army homes where he experienced heavy abuse (pg 132). His father eventually pulled him out and dragged him throughout the country with little opportunity for education. Smith 's innocence was undoubtedly drowned out by abuse and lack of love at a very early
Each man survived an automobile accident in his past and subsequently suffered from traumatic brain injury (TBI). TBI impacts a person 's social judgment, temperance, and impulse control (Stone). Both Smith and Hickock displayed these symptoms, meaning that mental illness played a significant role in the murder of the Clutter family. This theme and the many others found in In Cold Blood guide the storyline and reflect the points Capote was intending to make through his work. Therefore, it is critical for students to spend time analyzing required books to identify such themes in order to gain understanding about the purpose of the book as a whole. In Cold Blood offers many such opportunities for high school students to develop their analytical skills. In Cold Blood should be kept on high school required reading lists because it presents readers with a myriad of new information, encourages them to analyze the context of an author 's opinions and experiences, and challenges them to identify and discuss themes from the book. Each of these skills is useful for students to master before entering college, as they will be frequently required to absorb, examine, and draw conclusions from various passages. By reading In Cold Blood in high school, students will be well equipped to enter college and life beyond college as mature analysts of the
In Cold Blood is the true story of a multiple murder that rocked the small town of Holcomb, Kansas and neighboring communities in 1959. It begins by introducing the reader to an ideal, all-American family, the Clutters; Herb (the father), Bonnie (the mother), Nancy (the teenage daughter), and Kenyon (the teenage son). The Clutters were prominent members of their community who gained admiration and respect for their neighborly demeanors.
Throughout the first part of In Cold Blood, “The Last to See Them Alive,” the reader can find extensive descriptions of the characters and setting. Much of the first forty pages is Capote giving elaborate descriptions of the Clutters and of the Holcomb area. For example, Capote gives us insight on Nancy’s personality when one of the
Capote in his book In Cold Blood set out to create an image of the murders and their motives with the use of rhetorical devices. He uses certain devices, such as diction and syntax to give each character their own distinct personality and also develops their characteristic and tendencies as a person as well. Capote also brings the characters to life with the switching of tone between them and with the things they say about themselves and events going on in the story. Another way Capote develops the reader's perception of the murderers was by the use of imagery to draw the reader a picture in their minds to what the character would look like face to face. With all of these combined he gave each murderer their own personality and views, ultimately
In Cold Blood might have been a nonstarter if not for Lee 's ability to convince the locals to take her friend seriously. Truman Capote did not make a great first impression on the conservative Kansan townsfolk. The prosecutor from the Clutter case, Duane West, remembers him as an 'oddball ' who was 'hard to take. ' Capote cut an eccentric figure, with his high-pitched voice and flamboyant clothes. He was openly homosexual, a lifestyle that was not tolerated in such a conservative Midwestern town.
Richard Mulcaster, a British instructor of English, once wrote, “Nature makes the boy toward, nurture sees him forward.” Mulcaster recognizes that both genetic and environmental factors determine the type of a person one becomes. Truman Capote’s nonfiction novel, In Cold Blood gives the reader an opportunity to see prime examples of how nature and nurture influence one’s character. Capote’s novel, In Cold Blood introduces the reader to two men; Richard Eugene Hickock known as Dick throughout the novel, and Perry Edward Smith whose lives of crime are almost identical; although both Perry and Richard come from very humble backgrounds, their childhood particularly their family life, has very little in common. It is not until later in their lives that we begin to see similarities between the two men. Despite their differences, Perry’s upbringing and Dick’s genetic disposition allow both men to share a disregard for life, which becomes apparent on the night they gruesomely burglarized and murdered four innocent members of the Clutter family.
In this day and age the term “murder” is coined as a word used in everyday language, albeit fifty years ago in the [rural] heartland of America, that word evoked emotion out of the entire town’s population. Prior to writing In Cold Blood, Truman Capote had written several pieces that lead him to writing a piece of literature that would infuse fiction and nonfiction, thus In Cold Blood was created, albeit after six years of research (“Truman” 84). "Truman Capote is one of the more fascinating figures on the American literary landscape, being one of the country's few writers to cross the border between celebrity and literary acclaim…He contributed both to fiction and nonfiction literary genres and redefined what it meant to join the otherwise separate realms of reporting and literature." ___ In Cold Blood takes place in the rural heartland in America, capturing the lives of the Clutter family in the days preceding their murder. The story shifts to the murderers, Dick Hickock, Perry Smith, and the lives of the men prior to the events that ultimately unfold in the murder of the Clutters, although the actual events of the murder are not revealed until later in the story through Perry’s flashbacks. At this point of the story the narration switches between the fugitives and the investigation lead by Detective Alvin Dewey of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. Truman Capote's novel In Cold Blood delineates justice in order to depict the disruption of an all-American society.
In the book “In Cold Blood” we meet Perry Edward Smith one of the men accused of killing the Clutter family. Perry is a unique man for how he see the world and how the world sees him. Although the townspeople and those who had heard of the murder only saw Parry as a murder. There is however one man who sees Perry more than he appeared to be and that man was Truman Capote. Perry had an interesting life from how he was raised, becoming friends with Richard Eugene Hickock, to the murder of the Clutter family, all the way to Capote writing about him and the trail he and Dick must face. It was Capote who brought the idea that Perry was not a bad person persa but rather he made a mistake that has caused him to spend the rest of his life behind the bars of a jail.
Truman Capote showcases his very distinct style of writing in his true crime novel, In Cold Blood. Capote intentionally frames ruthless murderer Perry Smith as a relatable, well-intentioned human throughout the whole novel, and employs various rhetorical devices to show us that Perry is not just a stone cold killer. Specifically, Capote uses diction comprised of complex words, interviews conducted by Capote personally in which he interacted with the suspects and their loved ones, and sentence structure that came off as very to the point, in order to illustrate Perry’s dynamic and unique personality, opposed to the one dimensional heartless murderer many made him out to be.
Capote uses recurring themes in In Cold Blood to emphasize the role of family and egotism in criminals. “On their way, and never coming back - without regret, as far as he was concerned, for he was leaving nothing behind, and no one who might deeply wonder into what thin air he 'd spiraled. The same could not be said of Dick. There were those Dick claimed to love: three sons, a mother, a father, a brother,” (Capote 66). This quote is important because it shows the background of both Perry and Dick. Perry came from a “broken home” where no one had ever truly loved him, not even his father. Dick, on the other hand, came from a loving family, and the fact that he loved them back was a sign that he didn’t have a mental illness and he was rather committing these crimes for other reasons. The role of families is highlighted in a way that shows that while families can be a source of protection and love (such as the Clutters), a lack of one (Perry Smith) can make you a social misfit. Perry Smith had nothing to lose. On the other hand, Dick actually had a family who loved him. Both of these aspects give deeper insight into the characters and their minds. Egotism is also a motif within the novel. "Why should that sonofabitch have everything, while he had nothing? Why should that
The detailed account of the killers’ childhoods makes the reader sympathize with the Clutter family’s killers Smith and Hickock. Should they reserve the death penalty? Did Truman Capote take a stand on the death penalty? By giving the reader a detailed account of Perry Smith’s and Dick Hickock’s childhood, Capote sets up the reader for a nurture vs. nature debate on the death penalty. The question then becomes, do the effects (if any) caused by environment in childhood make for a trained killer or a natural born one?
The main purpose of In Cold Blood by Truman Capote is to offer insight into the minds of the murderers of the Clutter family, Dick and Perry. However, asking an audience to be open-minded about men who have committed such heinous crimes is no easy task. Capote instead methodically and rather artfully combines imagery, parallel structure, and perspective in two separate passages found between pages 107-113 to contribute to his characterization of Perry and Dick where the former is deserving of sympathy and the latter, disgust.
Truman Capote finds different ways to humanize the killers throughout his novel In Cold Blood. He begins this novel by explaining the town of Holcomb and the Clutter family. He makes them an honest, loving, wholesome family that play a central role in the town. They play a prominent role in everyone’s lives to create better well-being and opportunity. Capote ends his beginning explanation of the plot by saying, “The suffering. The horror. They were dead. A whole family. Gentle, kindly people, people I knew --- murdered. You had to believe it, because it was really true” (Capote 66). Despite their kindness to the town, someone had the mental drive to murder them. Only a monster could do such a thing --- a mindless beast. However,
In Truman Capote’s non-fiction novel In Cold Blood, the Clutter family’s murderers, Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, are exposed like never before. The novel allows the reader to experience an intimate understanding of the murderer’s pasts, thoughts, and feelings. It goes into great detail of Smith and Hickock’s pasts which helps to explain the path of life they were walking leading up to the murder’s, as well as the thought’s that were running through their minds after the killings.
In the nonfiction novel, “In Cold Blood” by Truman Capote, the author tells a story of the murderers and victims of a slaughter case in Holcomb, Kansas. Instead of writing a book on the murder case as a crime report, the author decides to write about the people. The people we learn about are the killers, Dick and Perry, and the murdered family, the Clutters. The author describes how each family was and makes the portrayals of Dick and Perry’s family different from the Clutters.The portrayal of the Clutters and of Dick and Perry’s families, was used to describe what the American Dream was for each character. In the beginning we learn about what type of family the Clutters were and how they represented the American Dream for the people of Holcomb.
Capote's structure in In Cold Blood is a subject that deserves discussion. The book is told from two alternating perspectives, that of the Clutter family who are the victims, and that of the two murderers, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. The different perspectives allow the reader to relive both sides of the story; Capote presents them without bias. Capote masterfully utilizes the third person omniscient point of view to express the two perspectives. The non-chronological sequencing of some events emphasizes key scenes.