Foreshadowing In Cold Blood

Title:
In Cold Blood

Author:
Truman Capote

Genre (include original copyright date):
True crime (1965)

Setting (remember setting is not just time and place):
1959
Holcomb, Kansas- small, rural town where the people feel safe; the conservative, church-going members of the community all know each other and trust one another
“Good neighbors, people who care about each other” (33)
“Theretofore sufficiently unfearful of each other to seldom trouble to lock their doors” (5)
The Corner- Kansas State Penitentiary; Dick and Perry are on death row; no escaping

Characters and Brief Description:
Perry Smith- Responsible for the murder of the Clutter family; injured in a motorcycle accident and his “chunky, dwarfish legs…. still pained him so severely”

When Mr. Clutter is talking to Mrs. Ashida about the speech, she tells him “Just nothing scares you...I can’t imagine you afraid. No matter what happened, you’d talk your way out of it.” (36). It is both foreshadowing and ironic that Mr. Clutter is unable to escape his fate and talk his way out of the situation. The bookmark that is in Mrs. Clutter’s bible is also an example of foreshadowing. The bookmark says “‘Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.” on it (30). It is foreshadowing considering that Mrs. Clutter is found tied in a praying position, and that she is unprepared for her death.

Similes and metaphors- Perry is discussing the murder with Dick, and addresses how anger is a bacteria that “does not kill a man but leaves in its wake the hulk of a creature torn and twisted; there is still fire within his being but is kept alive by casting upon it faggots of scorn and hate…” which is a metaphor for how destructive anger and guilt can be. (44)
When the bodies of the Clutter family are discussed, the simile “ the head of each was completely encased in cotton, a swollen cocoon twice the size of an ordinary blown-up balloon, and the cotton, because it had been sprayed with a glossy substance, twinkled like a Christmas-tree snow” (95) was used to describe how the blank, white color of the bandages on the bodies mirrored the cold, white snow of deep

Truman Capote’s novel, “In Cold Blood” exemplifies how contrasting social classes can create order within a community, their stark differences may also cause tension between the members of each.

In the book, “In Cold Blood,” author Truman Capote conveys the idea that despite a common belief that good should triumph over evil, evil can sometimes prevail.

Significant Quotes:
“Situated at the end of a long, lanelike driveway shaded by rows of Chinese elms, the handsome white house, standing on an ample lawn of groomed Bermuda grass, impressed Holcomb” (9)
“All equal, regardless of wealth, color, or creed. Everything the way it ought to be in a democracy” (34)
“Jolene K. came over and I showed her how to make a cherry pie. Practiced with Roxie. Bobby here and we watched TV. Left at eleven" (37)
“And the sense of guilt she in consequence developed ultimately outweighed the experiment's therapeutic value” (17)
“The three men under sentence of death had shallow emotions regarding their own fate and that of their victims. Guilt, depression, and remorse were strikingly absent”