Rhetorical Devices In Cold Blood

Pierre Deacon

Professor Erin Flaherty

AP Language

12 January 2023

In Cold Blood Rhetorical Analysis Truman Capote, the infamous author of “In Cold Blood,” makes use of various rhetorical devices throughout his nonfictional works in an effort to effectively influence the audiences’ perception and comprehension of an underlying central message. Within the brief excerpt, Capote’s meticulous adoption of rhetoric is an attempt to embark readers on an elaborate literary journey until they thoroughly understand the complexities of the Clutter family homicide. He employs tone, symbolism, and imagery in order to persuasively enable the audience to question the morality of the death penalty considering the extensive heartfelt trauma recently brought

Primarily, copious instances of symbolism are apparent across the passage. Capote manipulates these metaphoric emblems to represent the perpetual tragedy and how it still evokes significant somber today surrounding the subject of death. A notable symbol in the book is the ambulance’s reckless blemishing of the dead family’s front lawn following the slaughter and the tire tracks still subsisting long after, “When the Sheriff summoned ambulances… the ambulances had driven across the grass straight to the front door, and the tire tracks were still visible” (Capote 206). The unheeding destruction of the grass by the ambulance symbolizes the initial collapse of the Clutter family, and the late existence of the lingering tracks is an endless reminder of the sorrow that the town of Holcomb experienced after losing one of their own. The intuitive rhetorical decision to allow the tire tracks to persist thereafter amplifies the negative connotation on death; implying that further death, in the proposed form of the

The author craftily frames Babe as an old, labrous figure. Nonetheless, the horse is linked to Nancy who, adversely, is a young, vibrant character. This polar opposite relationship paints a critical picture for the audience, especially during Mrs. Kidwell’s visions, because it augments the painstaking reality of loss of life. The expiring Babe illustrates a constant reminder of whom unjustly died beforehand, and visualizing Nancy riding Babe is a joyous, juvenile image that reinforces the melancholy associated with unfair death. The citizens of Holcomb know death better than anyone else, and Capote’s stimulating imagery suggests that death, by means of punishment for a crime, is not a solution to prior death. Fighting fire with fire will never put out the flame of indefinite angst within the people of Holcomb. Moreover, Capote applies efficacious imagery in the form of the crumbling Clutter home to enhance the readers’ visual perception of just how fundamental the matter of dying is and its long-term effects on the environment around it. He accomplishes this by providing detailed, imaginative rhetoric to the general scenery of the house that was “deprived of the late owner’s dedicated attention, the first threads of decay’s cobweb were being spun” (Capote 207). This unsettling image, or rather the putrescence embedded within it, inspires a powerful illusion in