Serial Killers In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

552 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The psychology behind serial killers

Has anyone ever realized how much Americans obsess over serial killers? Most Americans have a certain fascination with the minds of a serial killer, and the drive that one can possess to kill a human being. Americans are surrounded by the mention of serial killers through television and also throughout their daily social media feed. Wanting to know how a “normal” American, living in a neighborhood with other people could kill someone can trigger an obsession that nobody can stop. The people that obsess over these killers like to dig deep into murderers minds to find how one can kill, but maybe they take this obsession a little too far.
There are plenty of American authors that are completely infatuated with the idea of writing a nonfiction story about solved and unsolved murder cases. “In Cold Blood” by Truman Capote would be a great example of a nonfiction murder story. Did one ever wonder how a person can conjure up such a extravagant idea? Truman Capote stumbled on a short article in The New York Times about a gruesome quadruple murder at a Kansas farm. He soon realized that it was the story he had been waiting to write for 20 years (The New York Times). Capote knew from the moment he read the small article, that this murder was one he had to tell the world about through the minds of the killers. …show more content…

The public always sees the police and/or the authorities keeping the safe at all times, and never think that anything bad can happen to them in particular. With the illusion of safety on their minds, numerous people get totally entranced in the idea and the thought of the serial killers themselves. They want to see the murderers, know their story, see where they did their killing, and overall seeing the killer in flesh and

Show More
Related

  • Summary of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

    919 Words  | 2 Pages

    shocked by the randomness and brutality of the act, in much the same way it was

    Read More

  • Analysis of In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

    1333 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Clutter Death In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

    1413 Words  | 3 Pages

    The book, In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote, was a very interesting book to read. In Cold Blood is about two men who brutally murdered the Clutter family in their own home. The crime took place on November 15, 1959 in the small town by the name of Holcomb. According to investigators, there was no motive to the crime at all. Throughout the book, the murder takes place, the investigation goes on, the trail was held and then the execution of the killers is described. The two murderers of the Clutter family were Richard Hickock, who went by the name of Dick, and Perry Smith. Throughout the book, Perry Smith was a very held back character, his upbringing wasn’t the greatest which may have played a role in the murder. Analyzing Perry Smith on his personality, his childhood and how he grew up, and what he was like before the murder will hopefully help to better understand why Perry did what he did to the Clutter family. Perry Smith was one of the cold blood killers of the Clutter family, why did it come to such a brutal ending?

    Read More

  • Irony And Confusion In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

    65 Words  | 1 Pages

    Truman Capote, and his book In Cold Blood has a tone of tragic and mellow on pages 134-135. These pages we read carefully and analyzed, the two pages have these two sentences that pop out and things make sense. The pages are injected with irony and confusion. Completely contradicting himself, Capote writes about the crime that has happened and the loveable moments in the café.

    Read More

  • Sympathy for Murderer in Truman Capote´s In Cold Blood

    520 Words  | 2 Pages

    Most people believe that everyone gets what they deserve. That all bad actions deserve consequences. To many, that is what the so-called “justice” system is for. Criminals are supposed to be punished by the law, but is it always fair to the criminals? What if one of those criminals had an awful life growing up and just was unable to stay out of trouble? It is just this question that Truman Capote addresses in his book, In Cold Blood. Throughout the book, Capote creates sympathy for Perry Smith while claiming the justice system is flawed in the way it punishes the wrong people.

    Read More

  • Vengeance in Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

    2070 Words  | 5 Pages

    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.

    Read More

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

    749 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Different Ways To Humanize The Killers In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

    1485 Words  | 3 Pages

    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,

    Read More

  • The Clutter Family In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

    1117 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Cold Blood, a nonfiction novel by Truman Capote, follows the 1959 case of the Clutter family homicide. The Clutters are introduced as, what seems to be, the perfect American family in a close knit town that were believed to be the least likely of families to be murdered. As the case proceeds with the findings of the Clutters’ corpses, Dick and Perry, the murderers, soon flee to Mexico. There aren’t any leads for the case until Floyd Wells tells the police of Dick, who told Floyd that he would murder the family with Perry while Floyd and Dick shared a cell. By the time Floyd tells the police, Dick and Perry have returned back to the States and are quickly caught by the police when they

    Read More

  • Narrative Style of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

    662 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Serial Killers: H. H. Holmes

    2489 Words  | 5 Pages

    Serial killers are everywhere! Well, perhaps not in our neighborhood, but on our television screens, at the movie theaters, and in rows and rows of books at our local Borders or Barnes and Nobles Booksellers” (Brown). When people think of serial killers, names such as Dahmer, Gacy, Bundy, and Gein are cited. During the time Jack the Ripper was executing his victims in London, Holmes began his gruesome career in Chicago (America’s Serial Killers). “Despite being America’s first serial killer, Holmes is hardly a familiar name and until now we haven’t had any popular visual record of his crimes: (Spikol). Why is it that people only think of the more popular killers with higher known profiles? They are all very similar to one another because they share characteristics. H.H. Holmes was a successful serial killer because he was well educated, cunning and charming. Those are just a few traits Holmes ...

    Read More

  • Studies on The Childhood of Serial Killers

    1453 Words  | 3 Pages

    Even though through research we have found the traits, and reasons why serial killers like to kill there is still much to be learned about them. As years go on so will the research on serial killers and hopefully we as a society will fully understand them and one day be able cure whatever inside that makes them have the urge to kill.

    Read More

  • The Mind of Serial Killers

    722 Words  | 2 Pages

    The idea of getting into the mind of a serial killer can either be frightening or fascinating, or both. Everyone is affected by the senseless killings of these serial killers. I can’t imagine a person that was not affected in some way or another by the Charles Manson murders or the Timothy McVeigh bombing. Although you may not know somebody that was killed by a serial killer, you have been affected.

    Read More

  • A Literary Analysis Of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

    633 Words  | 2 Pages

    The novel, In Cold Blood, is a beautifully written piece of literature telling about the unexpected death of the Clutter family that took place in the small town of Holcomb. The author, Truman Capote, does a fantastic job explaining the tragedy, but more importantly the thoughts and feelings of the characters directly involved, including the beloved friends and family of the Clutters. By revealing the true killers, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith, Capote takes away the mysterious aspect of the novel, but quickly replaces it with inspiring arguments between the characters concerning capital punishment and what ways to proceed, for a crime such as this one. This is exactly the kind of literature William Faulkner, winner of the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature, called

    Read More

  • The Five Basic Characteristics Of Serial Killers

    2509 Words  | 6 Pages

    Why do we enjoy watching shows like NCIS and CSI when someone is constantly being killed, whether it be multiple murders or a single murder. But it is those grueling multiple murders that attract not only my interest but millions around the world. NCIS is the second most watched show in the United States, this show frequently involves serial killers in their plots. Jeffrey Dahmer one of the most famous serial killers ever known not only killed his victims but also ate them. He did not kill anyone famous but because he did something so taboo he had intrigued people across the entire country. I believe it is the significant difference in their thought process and what they believe is right and wrong is what causes curiosity among the world. This

    Read More

More about Serial Killers In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

Open Document