Dialectical Journal For In Cold Blood

Griffin Imelio
Mrs. Morrison
AP English Language and Composition
3 September 2014

In Cold Blood
Truman Capote
1. ‘’The village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of western Kansas, a lonesome area that other Kansans call “out there.” Some 70 miles east of the country side, with its hard blue skies and desert-clear air, has an atmosphere that is rather more Far West than Middle West....The land is flat and the views are awesomely extensive: herds of cattle, a white cluster of grain elevators rising as gracefully as Greek temples are visible long before a traveler reaches them.’’ (3). Being the first sentence of the novel, this quote explains and gives a good description of the town of Holcomb. This piece of information about Holcomb

Just this quote alone describes how twisted his mind was. The imagery used drew me in because it described how calm he was yet right on the edge of crazy. It makes you wonder how the killer can be so sensitive one moment and then so violent then next. The author used a lot of descriptive words throughout the book especially when the victims dead bodies were described how they were found. Things get carried away during the robbery when he realizes there is no money in the house. Instead of breaking a few things in the house or yelling and screaming, out of frustration, he and Dick kill the family! They were so angry and full of rage when they realized there was no safe full of money. So why not just get out of there and find another person or place to rob? It seems to me there was so much adrenaline between the two of them that they took their anger out on the family. They went into the house wanting to intimidate the family and take all the money but when things didn’t work out as planned, both of the murderers went crazy. If there was a safe full of money, I think the Clutters would still be

Now and then, however, there were times of panic, when they squealed or wanted to squeal but couldn’t, when they twitched and made moaning sounds and covered their heads and said Dear Jesus and flopped around on the earth and fired their weapons blindly and cringed and sobbed and begged for the noise to stop and went wild and made stupid promises to themselves and to God and to their mothers and fathers, hoping not to die.”
The title of the book, The Things They Carried, has so many meanings after reading the book. In the beginning, O’Brien goes into such detail as to what the soldiers carried in their ruck sacks going as far to say how much each thing weighed. You got a really good sense of how hard it had to be to be marching with all that equipment. But as I continued to read, I think the mental baggage that they carried with them weighed so much more! This baggage doesn’t get any lighter either as the war goes on and even years after the war is over. That weight is still with them. I have always respected our military but now even more after reading this book. I understand a little bit more of the mental anguish they go through. I think this quote sums up the soldier’s thoughts and feelings. It’s normal to be afraid of things and to express your fears but it seems like in war you can’t. Other people are counting on you and looking to you for your strength and courage