Villains In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

Encouragement, development, cultivation, foster, promote: all words that describe how a person is brought into a life of crime as portrayed in Truman Capote’s novel, In Cold Blood. For decades, people have been studying human motives for becoming villains. There have been two theories to explain a person’s behavior; people are either nurtured to become criminals or they are naturally born to behave the way they do. People who are nurtured into a life of crime are raised that way whether it is how the family raised them or the atmosphere that influenced them as they grew up. Those that have it in their nature to live a cruel life are born with the motive and behavior. In Capote’s book, he focuses and highlights Perry the most out of any other

The town of Holcomb consisted of just 270 people where “drama, in the shape of exceptional things, had never stopped there” (Capote 15). Holcomb was a community where everyone knew each other and the people were accepting and friendly to new-comers. The people were nurtured into this way of life, thinking that everything is peachy, along with everything in the outside world. The problem is that no one would’ve been prepared for the crime that abruptly occurred in the city. An outside source trespassed into the community of Holcomb, disrupting the peace of the city and the people’s daily lives. The nature of the corrupt society spread into the secluded, nurtured community of Holcomb. Capote uses different settings to portray how the nurtured people of Holcomb were in shock due to the nature of the corrupt world around them. Not only does setting have an effect on nature versus nurture, but the character’s in the story validate Capote’s viewpoints as

Whether someone is nurtured or it is in their nature to live as a criminal is a hot topic and many studies are being conducted to conclude that theory. In Truman Capote’s novel, In Cold Blood, he illustrates his point that people are nurtured to become delinquents. Perry is the main character that the author uses to confirm his opinion. This can be seen throughout Perry’s unfortunate childhood, where he was beaten, neglected, and injured. Some characters, such as Dick, also had an impact on the decisions he made. Not only did the rhetor highlight Perry to prove his point, but he also utilized the delightful citizens of Holcomb to prove that nurtured people are blind to the corruptness of the outside world. Capote uses plot, setting, and characters to show the complexity of criminals, and show the reader how they are nurtured into the life they