Truman Capote Rhetorical Analysis

Although Truman Capote attempts to illustrate the humanity in the murderers, Mr. Capote’s primary goal is to separate the two murderers’ characters; therefore, he claims, not all murders are equally as guilty.

Mr. Capote humanizes the murderers, creating a sympathetic tone towards the killers. When the crime of murdering the Clutter family was committed, it did not just end the lives of the family, rather, Capote says that, “...four shotgun blasts that, all told, ended six human lives” (Capote 5). Through the use of a paradox, Capote demonstrates how the murderers are not shown as monsters, but rather humans. When investigated of finding out that six people end up dying, sympathy arouses. Capote purposefully says the crime “ended six human

After murdering the Clutter family, Capote’s use of juxtaposition shows the contrast between how Dick and Perry respond to the previous crime committed. Perry goes to his home and grives about what he and Dick did: “… in a hotel room where window shades darkened the midday sun, Perry lay sleeping, with a gray portable radio murmuring beside him… He had merely fallen face down across the bed, as though sleep were a weapon that had struck him from behind…” (Capote 73). On the other hand, Dick acts as if nothing had happened and goes about his daily routine: “Dick was consuming a Sunday dinner… He had arrived home at noon, kissed his mother, readily replied to questions that his father put concerning his supposed overnight trip to Fort Scott, and sat down to eat…” (Capote 73). Through the structure of the text, Capote reveals Dick’s true self, by first showing Perry being ashamed of what he did to the family, then transitioning into Dick being unaware of the effects of his actions. Dick is a psychopath, that he can go about his day, unphased by his actions. Capote goes on about Dick’s day, which seems to be a laundry list, and enhances the fact that Dick is more blameworthy for the situation. Perry is perceived as an instrument in the hands of Dick. Perry is being used by Dick to commit the crime, even though Perry did not have the intention of killing the family; Mr. Capote makes this evident in the fact that each of killers responds to murdering the family in unlike ways. Truman Capote exemplifies the fact that Dick is more guilty than Perry by separating the murderers, and all in all, not all murderers are comparably