Unusual Narrative In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

An Unusual Narrative

In Cold Blood, a novel written by Truman Capote, is a very interesting novel that I have enjoyed up to this point. It’s very well written: Capote is a master of the use of suspense and spine-tingling language. The narrative draws you in and is very compelling, and it’s sometimes hard to believe that the plot is based on real events and real people. It’s very impressive to me how Capote went to great lengths to describe two murderers, Dick and Perry, as seemingly ordinarily people, who are extremely complex and extremely psychologically damaged. He establishes their insanity with quotes such as, “‘Boy! We sure splattered him!’” (Capote, 113), him referring to the man they had murdered. My only criticism of the book is that the narrative, although captivating, drags on for a long time without any real action. The speaker, Truman Capote, is an author who seems to

Ethos is used to convey the power and importance of the Clutter family, and how strongly repercussions of their death affected the town. Truman calls Mr. Clutter, the man of the family, “... the community’s most widely known citizen…” (10) which establishes that he is well-respected and loved by the community, thereby establishing that he has good ethos. Logos is used to portray the eeriness of the crime through very cut and dry factual details. These details are very gruesome, such as when Capote described the corpses of the family after they had been killed. Capote describes that Clutter “[had] been shot… his throat had been cut, too. He was wearing striped pajamas… his ankles were tied together… he was sprawled in front of the furnace…” (64-65). The imagery is very disturbing and creates a creepy atmosphere. The usage of logos proves that factual details can be used to add excitement to the novel, and that a non-fiction novel can still be an interesting