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In Cold Blood Truman Capote Analysis

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The Protagonist Versus Me Although it’s often times difficult to catch my attention with a book, In Cold Blood, written by Truman Capote was able to do that. This non-fiction crime bestseller begins with immediate action, which, in my opinion, is the best way to intrigue the reader. Two men, Dick and Perry, are both ex-con men. During their jail sentence, Dick spent time talking to a cellmate, Willie-Jay. They discussed how Willie used to work for a well-known family referred to as the Clutters. They were the typical wealthy and friendly family that the whole neighborhood knew. Money hungry, Dick knew his game plan as soon as he was let out on probation. Perry told Dick a fictional story about how he killed a man which made Dick think he’d be perfect for his master plan. They both proceeded to Holcomb, Kansas to murder the family and collect the expected currency, supposedly hidden in Mr. Clutter’s safe. After killing …show more content…

I would have felt the need to eliminate all witnesses to reassure myself that I would only be caught through faults of my own. However, I feel that Dick Hickock and Perry made the smart decision by not killing each other because it seems to be the least morbid way to approach their situation. When it comes to their position on returning to Kansas City to pass bad checks so they can have money before leaving the country or just proceeding to Mexico, I completely disagree with going back. This is because returning to a place where you have just committed a crime seems foolish to me. In order to earn money, I would have rather robbed someone who was around me in the new area I have migrated to rather than risking it all to pass fraud

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Meanwhile, Dick and Perry know that they have to get out of the small town of Holcomb, so that they are not found and accused of the slaying of the Clutters. They continue to run from place to place including Mexico, Colorado, Las Vegas, and Iowa. Floyd Wells, a former friend of Dick Hickock, whom Dick had told his plans for killing the Clutters, hears the news of the Clutter familiy’s murder on the radio and reported it. Dewey and 3 other KBI agents, recieve information from the Las Vegas police that Perry Smith’s license plate has been spotted, and arrest Dick and Perry. The book goes on to detail Dick and Perry’s time in prison, right up to their

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Dick did not have any second thoughts about the murder. He had firmly wanted to walk-in and kill the Clutter family despite their innocence. Dick viewed the Clutters’ as an opportunity that was going to make him rich. There was not any

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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

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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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Truman Capote expressed the events that occurred in real life in a haunting and horrifying way illustrating how scary the world really is. The book discusses two people who were both sane but hated the world with such a fiery passion that they murdered the Clutter family for pure joy. They hated the world so much that they wanted everyone else to hate it as well and consequently committed a crime so evil and full of hate. In the book In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, the author expresses how inhuman some people in the world are and how someone's ego drastically changes the way they view the world.

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After most people hear what Perry has gone through you immediately give him a get out of jail free card right? You think that since he had a difficult upbringing he should be exempt from receiving the death penalty? Although you may think this, this is certainly not an excuse for such a violent act. Throughout In Cold Blood, Capote attempts to portray to the reader that Smith in a way should be exempt from the crime he commited and how one should not blame it on Smith himself, but his psychological background. Specifically when Al Dewey, the head of the Clutter murder investigation, states how the crime was not in fact Smiths fault.

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In Cold Blood begins with a description of the

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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.

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In Cold Blood One of the most debated subjects in history is nurture vs. nature. Many people claim nature because of our lineage leading back to the monkey. Others argue nurture, claiming it doesn’t matter where you come from it is how you are raised. In cold blood is a non-fictional book, for the most part, and it is about how two men, Dick and Perry, kill the Clutter family.

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In Cold Blood by Truman Capote takes a brave deviation from the mainstream of murder or crime novels in that it takes the perspective of the perpetrators of the crime in question. Dick Hickock and Perry Smith were two particularly perverse individuals who were hung for the murder of the Clutter family. The two lack virtually any relatability to the casual reader, however, Capote manages to evaluate the six weeks following November 14th, 1959 in such an analytical depth that the reader may even begin to sympathize with the duo. The men are portrayed by Capote through a journalistic and impartial description that enhances the reader's understanding of the two by going into trivial details. Dick and Perry are two individuals from conflicting

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Through similar tactics Capote allows the reader to feel sorry for Dewey, even though he is the man who catches the killing pair. Detective Dewey is first introduced in part two of In Cold Blood, where the readers learn that this would not be an easy case and the Dewey would be the head detective, even though he had personal ties with the Clutter family. The reader would automatically feel sorry for Detective Dewey because he was going to do heavy investigating on a murder of a family he knew and there was very little time to mourn the deaths. Detective Dewey spent countless hours trying to chase down every lead that popped up, taking family time away, which wears on all family members. The reader feels sympathy for Dewey as he loses time with his family around the holiday time because he has become so involved in the case.

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Throughout In Cold Blood, Truman Capote hints at his own opinion of the death penalty, yet lets the readers decide for themselves what they believe Hickock and Smith's punishment should have been. When the murderers are being hanged, a conversation occurs between a reporter and an investigator about what it might feel like to be hanged: "'They don't feel nothing. Drop, snap, and that's it. They don't feel nothing.' ' Are you sure?

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539 Words | 3 Pages

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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Perry Smith and Dick Hickock have both committed some horrible crimes. With very little commitment or love in Perry's childhood, this could make a child grow up cold, brittle, and rough. It could make a man tough as steel, yet as malleable as putty. With Dick it is a little different, He had loving parents and was a great student, yet as he grew so did his problems with money, alcohol, and women. Back in the city of Holcomb, Kansas before the murders made nationwide news, no one really heard of the town.

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He is portrayed as a mastermind in the cold-blooded killing of the Clutters family, a man with little respect for the lives of others, which can be seen through Dick’s expression before the murder of the Clutters when he converses Perry, “We’re gonna go in there and splatter those walls with hair” (Capote 234). This sudden tone shift enables Capote to depict Dick as a cruel and immoral character. Dick’s lack of empathy and concern for other people beside himself allow him to commit crimes without remorse, which is in contrast to Perry’s moral contemplation after each bad actions they committed. Moreover, Dick is represented as the true criminal with evident motives in murdering the Clutters, while Perry is seen as a vulnerable victim who depends on Dick for validation and acceptance, something in which Dick happily provides in order to manipulate Perry, as Capote writes, “Dick became convinced that Perry was that rarity, ‘a natural born killer,’—absolutely sane but conscienceless, and capable of dealing with or without motive, the coldest-blooded deathblows. It was Dick's theory that such a gift could, under his supervision, be profitably exploited” (Capote 205).

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