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Should In Cold Blood Be Banned

2161 Words9 Pages

Censorship is inhibition of public communication which is considered sensitive, politically harmful and incorrect, which is determined by the government. “In Cold Blood” written very well by Truman Capote. The book was written, to express the true facts on a murder of the Clutter family, late 1959 in Holcomb, Kansas. The nonfiction was banned based off of the explicit use of sexual content, profanity, and violence. In cold blood should not be in the libraries of middle schools or should be read by any other age below the high school level. The book reveals excessive use of profanity, has sexual content and violence, children aren’t mature enough to read this book. And for that reason In Cold Blood, should not be banned because, many may consider …show more content…

In cold blood, have countless occasions where foreshadowing, symbolism, irony and other devices are used. In the beginning of the book, Capote draws the readers into the unimaginable life-style Herb Clutter created. Truman Capote sets up symbolism by presenting the American dream. The image created, where he’s eating an apple in the early day light, cultivated by capote. The journalist use of irony weighs heavy through tout the book. That does a lot to extract empathy for the Clutters from the reader. Where Ashida, Mr. Clutters friend tells how she can't see him unable or afraid to talk himself out of any tense situation. Truman uses foreshadowing the death of the Clutter family was soon to come. Which also was used mostly at the of his last chapter. When Truman describes Mr. Clutters last days, he says “Then touching the brim of his cap, he headed for home and the days’ work, unaware that it would be his last”(Capote13). Stating, after a hard day at work, Mr. Clutter would be extremely tired. Instead of telling the reader that Dick and Perry was about to take place. Truman also moves back and forth between Dick, Perry and the Clutters. The Tone used throughout the book in a very dark way. A relentless disturbing feeling as we get closer to the murder situation and murderers. Truman Capote isn't pleased to portray the killers as purely evil. What's fascinating is the how Truman Capote conversed multiple themes, while the delicateness of the ideal American dream family quickly brought to an

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In Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood,” Dick and Perry have murdered the Clutter family and are on their way to Mexico. In this passage, Dick makes an astounding statement. In the passage, Dick claims that he’s “a normal” but that is far from the truth. He is a conniving, manipulative son of a bitch who thinks he’s normal in comparison to Perry.

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Contrastingly, the opposite opinion is revealed through the character Alvin Dewey in the book. Capote writes about Dewey’s beliefs on the case: “[The Clutter family] had experienced prolonged terror, they had suffered. And Dewey

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In doing so Capote invents a new genre of literature by telling the story through a new perspective. Capote as a writer chooses to put most of the focus of the book on the criminals, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith, particularly Smith. He follows Smith’s life story, and explains that Smith was abused as a child, and the reader is to infer that as a result he seeks approval from others. This approval is what leads him to kill, and invent stories about killing, as he wants Dick to think of him as macho. Capote provides a plethora of evidence to support this reasoning, “He was seven years old, a hated, hating half-breed child living in a California orphanage run by nuns- shrouded disciplinarians who whipped him for wetting his bed,” (93).

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Truman Capote uses variety of language devices such as diction, similes and symbolism to vividly develop Perry Smith in his novel In Cold Blood and reveal aspects of the murder. Perry Smith is a sensitive, somewhat frightening and psychologically unstable character, but then again

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In the book, “In Cold Blood,” Truman Capote takes us through the lives of the murderers and the murdered in the 1959 Clutter family homicide, which transpires in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas. The first chapter, “The Last to See Them Alive,” vividly illustrates the daily activities of the Clutter family—Herbert, Bonnie, Nancy, and Kenyon—and the scheming plot of Dick Hickock and Perry Smith up to point where the family is found tied up, and brutally murdered. In doing so, he depicts the picture-perfect town of Holcomb with “blue skies and desert clear air”(3) whose safety is threatened when “four shotgun blasts that, all told, ended six human lives”(5). Through the eyes of a picture perfect family and criminals with social aspirations, Capote describes the American Dream and introduces his audience to the idea that this ideal was no more than an illusion. Herbert Clutter: the character Capote describes as the epitome of the American Dream.

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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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