In Cold Blood Sparknotes

In Cold Blood is a nonfiction novel based on a tragic murder case of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas, in 1959. In Cold Blood is originally published in The New Yorker magazine as a four-part series in 1965, then in book form in 1966. It is a story of the Clutter’s murder. Truman Capote turns this real crime case into an artistic literary work while remaining factual and objective. The murderers’ personalities, the story about the family members of Clutter, the interactions between the townspeople, and the history of the two murderers help the readers to unfold the truth behind this horrific case. In Cold Blood is Capote’s masterpiece, his realistic and detailed writing allows readers to dive into the story and capture every character’s

Capote starts the novel by introducing Holcomb where the murder happens. It is a small rural farming town in Kansas, consisting of 270 people. There are a lot of descriptive details in the first few pages of the novel to show the peacefulness of the town; everyone knows each other, no one ever locks the door, and everyone is trustworthy. Moreover, the people of Holcomb have a peaceful and happy life, and “drama, in the shape of exceptional happenings, had never stopped there” (Capote 5). The stableness and peacefulness create a huge contrast between the evil and chaotic incident that is going to happen in the village. The balance of this small town will be destroyed by the two cold-blooded

At the beginning of the book, Capote already foreshadows the ending of the murderers. Richard Eugene Hickock, known as Dick Hickock, first appears in the novel when “he was driving a black 2949 Chevrolet sedan” (Capote 25). Dick is impulsive and acts on his instinct; he does not consider the consequences of his actions, and he gets what he wants whatever it takes. Dick likes easy stuff; when he is broke, he steals or robs. Therefore, when he knows about the safe at the Clutter’s house, he decides to rob them. After the murder, he shows no sign of remorse or guilt because he only cares about money and women. “Aw, come on, baby. Get the bubbles out of your blood. We scored. It was perfect” (Capote 104). If Perry does not stop him from raping Nancy on the night of the murder, he would be a murderer and a rapist. Unlike Dick's lack of emotion, Perry is sinking in guilt after realizing what he has done. Perry even says that “there’s got to be something wrong with somebody who’d do a thing like that” (Capote 125). Perry has a terrible childhood: his dad is abusive, his mother is an alcoholic, and two of his siblings commit suicide. Not only that, when he is in the orphanage, the nun tortures him and tries to drown him. In his life “he seems to have grown up without direction, without love, and without ever having absorbed any fixed sense of moral values” (Capote 342) which causes him irreversible psychological