The Small Town Of Holcomb In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

The first passage in Truman Capote’s book, In Cold Blood, may just be seen as a measly description of the small town of Holcomb but is more to this than what the reader may see. This description of the town uses vivid words to portray the town, comparisons of the buildings in Holcomb with other well-known structures, and subtly tells the audience what will happen without directly saying it. Through these uses, Capote is able to give the audience a clear picture of what the small town of Holcomb is like and how the people act. This is laying the foundation of why this case was such had such a large impact on the people. In just this short section alone, Capote uses many different comparisons to show similarities between the town of Holcomb and well-known places. An example of this comparison is at the end of the first paragraph. Here Capote says “a white cluster of grain elevators rising as gracefully as Greek temples are visible long before a traveler reaches them” (Capote, ) Capote is comparing the movement of the grain elevators to the gracefulness of Greek Temples. The entire passage is

These factors give the book more of a shock factor when the murders are committed. People of small towns such as the one described don’t expect crimes as big as murder to happen. This is used to describe different aspects of the town, such as: the skies, weather, accents, clothes, land, animals, roads, buildings, hobbies, and sounds. All of these factors come together to portray Holcomb in the perfection that the people see it as; this gives a look as to why this had such a long-lasting impact on the residents. When Capote is describing the sounds that can be heard in the town one he uses is “four shotgun blasts that, all told, ended six human lives” (Capote, 3) This description of the sounds is giving the readers a look at what will be happening later in the