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A Rhetorical Analysis Of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

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In Cold Blood Rhetorical Analysis Typically upon hearing about a murder, especially a brutal and unwarranted one, we find ourselves feeling a great sense of disgust for the murderer or murderers who committed these crimes; however, in Truman Capote’s novel In Cold Blood, the lives and experiences of the murderers, particularly Perry Smith, are displayed in a way the makes you feel pity for him as well as the victims. When comparing Capote’s Novel to a typical news article on a similar topic it is easy to see the that Capote's style varies from typical journalism. An article written by Frances Robles and Nikita Stewart titled “Dylan Roof’s Past Reveals Trouble at Home and School,” discusses the childhood and background of Dylann Roof, a twenty-one …show more content…

Although the article Dylan Roof’s Past Reveals Trouble at Home and School gives light into Dylan Roof’s life, it does not go into the depth of emotions that Capote uses to show Perry’s troubled past. Capote uses tone to enhance Perry’s emotions in order to make him seem more relatable to the audience despite being a brutal murderer. In the passage on page 131, Capote reveals dark parts of Perry’s childhood through the perspective of Perry himself: “It was not long afterward my mother put me to stay in a Catholic orphanage. The one where the black widows were always at me. Hitting me” (Capote 131). Capote forces the reader to feel remorse towards Perry by describing a horrific childhood experience of his. In the news article, the authors are unable to create a pitiful tone for Dylan Roof because they do not provide the details and insight on his life that Capote does for Perry. Instead Robles and Stewart mainly rely on others who were a part of Dylan’s life to recall pieces of his life; “Several of Mr. Roof’s friends said he often complained that his father put him to work landscaping” (Robles and Stewart). This quote displays a fact about Dylan Roof’s life but it doesn’t express any emotion or perspective on how he felt about the topic. The tone of this quote is purely fact- based with no emotional input from Dylan or the

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Evaluative Essay To perpend a certain book as an award deserving book with high qualify, the book would have to leave many critics in shock and awe. These certain award worthy books would have to connect to society and give a whole new viewpoint to the readers to gain recognition. In the story of In Cold Blood, Capote replaces the simplistic views of criminals lowered to an inhuman status with a new perspective considering these criminals as equal human beings. Although the book didn’t get the Pulitzer Prize, an award given to high quality journalistic writings, Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood deserves the Pulitzer Prize because the author gave an unique shock by giving a voice to vilifying figures in society.

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Throughout, In Cold Blood, a nonfiction novel written by Truman Capote displays many examples of rhetorical devices. Capote utilizes rhetorical devices to make his audience understand the urgency, seriousness, and setting in this text and dialogue. The two murderers, Perry and Dick drive long and far to Holcomb. Along the drive Dick says, “The bank, that must be the bank, now we turn west—see the trees? This is it, this has to be it.”

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In the novel In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, he uses pathos, diction and tone to characterize the killers. He characterizes Dick Hickock as the main character and Perry Smith as a tag-along. Capote mainly shows sympathy towards Perry because of Perry’s messed up past and his mental instability. Capote creates this sympathy through syntax and his elaborate sentence structure with the use of specific punctuation. He also has a very unique writing style with an interesting character development.

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Capote includes the composition by Perry’s father to show compassion for Perry. His situation coerces the reader to pity Perry and sympathize with him. The letter helps explain more of Perry’s background. In it, his father emphasizes that Perry was a "normal" child, and that he is "goodhearted" if he is treated right.(128) The letter, especially the way it leaves out certain details and is mostly haughty, gives Perry conflicted emotions such as self-indulgence, love, and animosity.

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The first passage in Truman Capote’s book, In Cold Blood, may just be seen as a measly description of the small town of Holcomb but is more to this than what the reader may see. This description of the town uses vivid words to portray the town, comparisons of the buildings in Holcomb with other well-known structures, and subtly tells the audience what will happen without directly saying it. Through these uses, Capote is able to give the audience a clear picture of what the small town of Holcomb is like and how the people act. This is laying the foundation of why this case was such had such a large impact on the people.

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‘In Cold Blood’ demonstrates that compassion must be extended to both victims and their killers’ Discuss Truman Capote, through his celebrated nonfiction work ‘In Cold Blood’ depicts the events preceding and following the brutal murder of the prominent Clutter family of Holcomb, Kansas, 1959. The text clearly emphasizes that compassion must be extended to all victims of the violent crime. The term ‘victim’ is not exclusively reserved for the murdered but is extended to the family, friends and the entire community of Holcomb. To a lesser extent, Capote demonstrates that compassion should be shown to one of the killers. Capote challenges the reader to become compassionate towards Perry Edward Smith, despite knowing he murdered four innocent

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In Cold Blood, written by Truman Capote in 1966 tells the story of the murder of a prominent family in 60’s Kansas. Capote traveled to the small town of Holcomb, and befriended many of the townsfolk and the detectives involved in the trial to tell the story of a violent event that shaped this community for the decade until the eventual conviction and execution of the killers. Because of information being told, Capote makes the choice of writing his novel as if it were a news report. This journalistic structure and word choice helps to establish the serious and dark tone of the novel.

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In the novel In Cold Blood, Truman Capote explores aspects of Perry Smiths and Richard Hickocks childhoods that may have affected their psychology and lead to the 1959 Clutter family murder. The fact that Truman Capote included these memories and old letters from their past was to show that he thought it played a part in the greater problem although he does not directly say that. He gives the reader the choice to decide for themselves, whether they think the awful childhoods of the main characters were the reasons they thought it was acceptable to murder a family in their own home in cold blood, or weather it was completely and fully their choice to commit this crime. From the way the writer describes Smiths past, it gives the reader the

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How crazy would it be to interview criminals who murdered 4 people in cold blood? Well that’s exactly what Truman Capote did in this chilling book. In the novel In Cold Blood, Truman Capote used different rhetorical strategies to create sympathy and influence the idea that there are always two sides to every story. Some of the mainly used rhetorical strategies throughout the novel were imagery, diction, tone, and pathos. Furthermore, Capote also illustrated sympathetical emotion towards both types of characters, the protagonists and antagonists.

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In the book, “In Cold Blood,” Truman Capote takes us through the lives of the murderers and the murdered in the 1959 Clutter family homicide, which transpires in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas. The first chapter, “The Last to See Them Alive,” vividly illustrates the daily activities of the Clutter family—Herbert, Bonnie, Nancy, and Kenyon—and the scheming plot of Dick Hickock and Perry Smith up to point where the family is found tied up, and brutally murdered. In doing so, he depicts the picture-perfect town of Holcomb with “blue skies and desert clear air”(3) whose safety is threatened when “four shotgun blasts that, all told, ended six human lives”(5). Through the eyes of a picture perfect family and criminals with social aspirations, Capote describes the American Dream and introduces his audience to the idea that this ideal was no more than an illusion. Herbert Clutter: the character Capote describes as the epitome of the American Dream.

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Facts and Fiction: A Manipulation of Language in Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood English is a fascinating and riveting language. Subtle nuances and adjustments can easily change the understanding of a literary work—a technique many authors employ in order to evoke a desired response from their readers. This method is used especially in In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, a literary work which details a true event about the murders of four members of the Clutter family in the small community of Holcomb, Kansas, in 1959. Although Capote’s 1966 book was a bestseller nonfiction and had successfully garnered acclaim for its author, there is still a great deal of confusion about the distinction between the factual and fictional aspects in the book.

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