Literature—the dictionary defines it being the art of written works that is designed to entertain, educate and instruct; writers use literature in an attempt to transfer their ideas from paper to the reader; for some, this task means bringing their story to a different place and time that is entirely separate from what the reader could perceive as ordinary, on order to serve the writer’s intent. With this the impossible, becomes the probable, and the worst fear possibly imagined becomes the breathed reality; with no stated separation between the living, and the dying. The word literature in itself cannot be accurately defined, and by attempting to do so limits, the word is instantaneously limited in its usage and effect. Literature just is, just as much as it is not. With literature, the characters in what we read, become our closest friends and our most feared enemies; we see ourselves within the characters and struggle to imagine if we would act in the same way as the characters, or if we would struggle to handle a situation differently. Easily, their faults become our own, and whatever tragedy befalls them we could, with no difficulty, conceive happening to us. Literature, in all of its genres, has sought to compel us, entertained us, educated us, and drove us to madness. It has served as life instruction, by using the characters as the lesson plan, and we-- the students. It is sometimes blunt, sometimes ugly, and in Truman Capote’s case, is sometimes so gruesome that we do not dare forget it. With the novels publication in the 1960s, a new genre called ‘New Journalism’ had begun to surface; it sought to combine the elements of journalism with the elements of fiction and in doing so it sought to challenge the readers mo... ... middle of paper ... ...e who speaks not on their own but with a collective voice, that is completely omnipresent. What makes Capote’s novel literature, is the way that Capote uses the blurred line between the fantastical; he does not seek to write the grotesque and gory details, which might attract some bibliophiles, instead his writing functions to preserve the memory of the Clutter family, and in equal light the memory of what Holcomb, as a town once was, a place where doors stayed unlocked, and strangers were not feared. and the wrote the falling action that really makes it key; he, the author, knew the end of the story and the outcome. However, in writing his work he did not give away to the reader every small point in the beginning of the novel; but instead used foreshadowing to suggest with almost every event and detail that was taken from actual evidence used in the court. `
Capote’s structure throughout the entire book created an excellent backbone to tell the two alternating perspectives of the book that is of the victims; the clutter family and the murders; Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. This allowed Capote to not have a bias towards the accounts being told. The pattern of victims then the murderers causes an attractive puzzle where the reader collects an amount of information leading to the climax of the actual slaughter. He actually contin...
In the novel, In Cold Blood, Truman Capote sculpts a plot that leaves the reader with a dark, tingling sensation of suspense despite the reader’s foreknowledge of events. He electrifies the passage using precise imagery, selective perspective/point of view, and cold-blooded foreshadowing.
Capote uses different voices to tell the story, creating an intimacy between the readers and the murders, the readers and the victims, and all the other players in this event—townspeople, investigators, friends of the family. This intimacy lead...
7. In the opening passage, Capote describes the town of Holcomb where four murders take place. In at least two paragraphs, analyze how Capote uses at least two rhetorical strategies to convey the tone of the novel and its setting.
Capote transitions next into a reflective and somewhat didactic tone in the second chapter. The author begins to give the reader a more in-depth understanding of every character's situation and opinion. This chapter has a sequence of interviews with the townspeople which better illustrates the public ...
The film Capote, based on the how the writer of “In Cold Blood” did his research to write his book, a masterpiece of literature, has portrayed Capote’s behavior during his research vividly. Capote’s behavior during the years Perry waits on death row in order to get personal testimony of the night of killings is a controversial topic. Some argue that what Capote did was absolutely necessary for an ambitious writer to create such a master piece while other argue that human ethics is more important than the creation of an ideal “non-fiction noble” and the paths he took to get there are morally ambiguous. Even though he gave the world a milestone in literature, his behaviors seem unethical because he lied, pretended to be a friend of an accused murderer who was in a death row, and did not have any empathy to him.
Almost two decades after his initial exposure to Capote's novel, Swanson discovered it was still a "brilliant study of crime and punishment" being more "haunting than ever" (32). When Swanson first read the novel, he was more impressed with Capote's "audacity" and stylistic techniques than with story (32).
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.
Any events that occur as a child can either have a good impact or a bad impact. Children often learn to cope with certain circumstances differently than adults. The insecurities of Truman Capote’s childhood are psychologically conveyed through the tragic events of In Cold Blood. According to William L. Nance, an associate professor of English, “Some knowledge of Capote’s early life is essential to an understanding of his work, for that work, even through In Cold Blood, bears the clear marks of his childhood” (133). Capote’s parents divorced when he was very young. All throughout his childhood, he moved from relative to relative who each lived in small southern towns. Capote himself even said that it was “the most insecure childhood I know of” (133). He often performed poorly in school although “ . . .Psychological tests proved that his Intelligence Quotient (IQ) was above genius level” (n.p.).
Throughout his nonfiction novel In Cold Blood, Truman Capote continuously contrasts the kindheartedness and innocence of the Clutters to the malicious, manipulative demeanor of Dick Hickock and Perry Smith to emphasize the cold, cruel nature of their crime. By harshly interrupting peaceful, endearing images of Nancy Clutter baking a pie with descriptions of Dick and Perry planning the town darling’s very murder, Capote consistently juxtaposes good and evil. His tactic descriptions of the seemingly discordant yet parallel occurrences in different settings and employment of strong imagery and pathos throughout the novel prove effective in not only developing characterization and appealing to the reader’s emotions but building the contrast between good and evil that
Capote strays back and forth from present day Holcomb in 1959, to the day-to-day life on the road from Perry and Dicks point of view. The way Capote goes back and forth in his novel gives an insight into the lives of not only the Clutter family but the true behind the scenes of the murders of Perry and Dick, who in themselves have issues of abandonment and mental illness in their pasts. The novel is nonfictional, but “In Cold Blood”’s credibility is not what it is said to be. The famed author “didn’t tell the truth,” KBI detective Harold Nye told George Plimpton. Thus his truthful non-fiction story doesn’t hold a hundred percent truth.
Although society struggles to see past brutality, Capote use of juxtaposition between the actions of Dick and Perry allows him to justifies Perry’s actions over those of his counterpart, therefore he asserts how good can even be found in people who have committed horrible crimes.
In the late sixties a young journalist and free-lance novelist named Hunter S. Thompson (HST) emerged with a new, crazed and exaggerated brand of reporting. It was sooner or later referred to as “Gonzo”. HST’s own definition of gonzo has varied over the years, but he still maintains that a good gonzo journalist “needs the talent of a master journalist, the eye of an artist/photographer and the heavy balls of an actor” and that gonzo is a “style of reporting based on William Faulkner’s idea that the best fiction is far more true than any kind of journalism”(Carroll, page 192). Gonzo journalism has also been referred to as outlaw journalism, new journalism, alternative journalism, literary cubism, and other words better not repeated here. With such high profile stages for his writings in Rolling Stone Magazine, The San Francisco Chronicle, Esquire and Vanity Fair, HST has proven that his exaggerated gonzo journalism is as relevant (or even more so) than that of conventional journalists. In this essay, the concept and development of gonzo journalism and its relevance to media and reporting will be thoroughly explored.
Literature is creative writing of recognized artistic value. Literature represents the very best of human expression. We read and celebrate Literature for many reasons. A few of these reasons are,- to be inspired, to be delighted, to embark on incredible ventures and others.
Subject: This narrative novel retold the murders of the Clutter family conducted by Richard “Dick” Hickock and Perry Smith. The author retold these events as a non-fiction novel as new and creative way of expressing journalism. Throughout the first chapter, Capote kept mentioning the irony of the Clutter family not knowing that they were going to be killed despite how obvious it is. Later on, the novel