Second, in Capote’s writing style, he uses logos, which appeal to logic and reason, to serve a specific purpose in discussing Kansas’ history of the death penalty. Logos involves presenting factual information into a given material like text, commonly displayed in records, logistics, and catalogs, engaging the reader’s logical sense. By including these details, Capote delivers statements, such as historical facts, to challenge the rationality of state punishment. Later in the story, when Perry and his companion, Dick, are detained for their crimes they each are placed on death row. Following the charges, Capote comments in a new passage, stating “Kansas abolished capital punishment in 1907; in 1953 due to a sudden prevalence.of rampaging criminals.the …show more content…
Families do not receive closure after a criminal’s death because, rationally, another lost life doesn’t return the lives taken. Capote included logos to demonstrate the reinstatement of capital punishment was not a rational choice and questions the ideals behind the death sentence. Furthermore, the necessity of capital punishment is challenged further as Capote also reveals the welfare of inmates. For instance, after being charged and sentenced to death Perry spends the remainder of his days in confinement where he is isolated and fights against the wardens. Capote explains that he refuses to eat his meals, thus damaging his health here: “attempts were made to force-feed him.over the next nine weeks his weight fell from 168 to 115 pounds” (318). Perry’s health declines after spending the rest of his days in a cell, in a prison that neglects him. State prisoners are not well cared for, especially when they are charged with capital punishment. To his final days, Perry is treated like an animal while waiting in anticipation of his public