All About IN COLD BLOOD

All About IN COLD BLOOD

Rayna Epstein, Jacob Fleisher, Natalie Koch

Language/Style

Capote uses extremely descriptive language to describe the many scenes.

“It was Saturday, Christmas was near, and the traffic crept along Main Street. Dewey, caught in the traffic, looked up at the holy garlands that hung above the street-swags of gala greenery trimmed with scarlet paper bells-and was reminded that he had not yet bought a single gift for his wife or his sons” (148).

Situation & Story

Why it matters:

Hundred of thousands of murders occur throughout the world every year. The murder of the Clutter family is just one example of a "cold-blooded" murder that helps to prove Capote's argument against capital punishment.

Main Strategies

• Evidence/Ethos: direct quotes from the agents that were involved in the clutter case (Dewey, Nye, etc); descriptive writing about their experiences in solving the crime and interrogating Smith and Hickock; conversations with townspeople who knew the Clutters; pages and pages of letters, written by Perry and Hickock; letters from Perry’s family, interactions between Perry and his father; testimonies of the psychiatrists.

• Situation: On November 15th, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith savagely murder the Clutter family. After this catastrophe, Truman Capote reveals the journey that Dick and Perry took until they were caught, exploring their complex personalities and pasts. Capote also exposes the Investigating agents’ fight to capture the murderers, and highlights the reactions of the town of Holcomb to the murder.
• Story: In the beginning of the book, the reader is shocked by the murder of a perfect family in a quaint, quiet town. We have no sympathy for the killers. But, by the end, the backgrounds of Dick and Perry are completely revealed, so we feel sympathy for them. We ultimately wish that they will not be executed.

• Pathos: humanizing the murderers, especially Perry. By telling of Perry’s difficult upbringing-being neglected by his parents and sent to live with abusive nuns and having 2/3 of his siblings commit suicide, he shows the complexity of Perry due to his intense, traumatizing relationships.

Interesting...

There is a very interesting mix of primary source documents, for example, the letter from Perry’s sister, the letter from Willie Jay that analyzes the letter from his sister, the psychiatrist testimonies. This is an unusual combination for a nonfiction story.

Strengths

Weaknesses

Capote’s use of evidence strongly supports his case against capital punishment. All of the letters and testimonies highlights their human qualities and their rights to remain alive along with their level of mental saneness and complex personalities. The testimonies from the agents and townspeople help to show how the town of Holcomb was affected. The testimonies of the psychiatrists also help gain sympathy for Perry, by implying that if he had received the necessary tests and got the treatment he needed, he could have avoided his death and become the better person deep inside him. By revealing Perry’s difficult upbringing, he appeals to the emotions of the reader and calls for them to disagree with capital punishment against the boys.

Capote uses a “cherry picking” fallacy, meaning that he specifically mentions facts that solely support his argument. This “cherry picking” is especially prevalent in the recaps of the trial. Capote chooses to emphasize information, such as the impropriety of the jury viewing pictures of the murder scene and victims and how it could unfairly sway the juries opinion, however, he does not mention that the pictures could be an important part of the jury’s full understanding of how savage the murder was.

Bias?

Is it fair/biased/useful?

Capote’s bias comes across through his style, but not his tone. There is an implied bias that can be seen through the information and evidence he chooses to reveal, however, he never refers to himself or shares his personal opinions. He implies his bias against the death penalty very strongly in his epigraph, “frères humains qui après nous vivez, n’ayezles cuers contre nous enducris, car se pitié de nous povrez avez, Dieu en aura plus tost de vous mercis,” which implies Capote’s opinions about human nature and how capital punishment is not humane. His long letters and testimonies that appeal to pathos for Perry-speaking of his horrible, abusive upbringing, and his possible psychosis- may cause the reader to feel sympathy for Perry and agree with Capote about the injustice of capital punishment, despite Perry’s brutal murder of the Clutters.

Why In Cold Blood matters

Truman Capote

Argument

Although we personally are not complicit in the problems described in this book, it still holds great importance. The genre of In Cold Blood proved it a huge literary achievement. This was the first nonfiction novel, a book that tells the story of a real-life event. Moreover, Truman Capote himself was a tremendous character. He even had a movie made after him called Capote, following the journey of In Cold Blood’s creation.

In Cold Blood leaves the reader to evaluate capital punishment. Perhaps, it can completely persuade the reader to oppose the death penalty. The “cold-blooded” murder may be the killing of the Clutter family, but it is more so the government’s purposeful killing of humans.

The death penalty should not be a form of government’s punishment, even in the worst criminal cases.

The United States’ justice system is unfair, ignoring the humanity of the criminals.

• American born author and screenwriter
• Born on September 30, 1924 in New Orleans, Louisiana
• When he was four his parents got divorced and he got shipped over to Alabama to live with his mother's family
• Capote then taught himself to read and write before going to school. In high school, Capote wrote for his school newspaper. High school was his last formal education
• Capote first became an established writer by manuscripting short stories. He then got into novels, one being In Cold Blood. After reading a 300 word article about the death of the Clutter family in the New Tork Times, he decided to write a book on it.
• Died in 1984 at the age of 59 from liver cancer.

Evidence/Structure

Long, quoted passages from a variety of sources to establish ethos and support his argument. The soft side of Perry causes the reader to sympathize with him and feel sorrow when he is executed.

• “Now, that’s something I despise. Anybody that can’t control themselves sexually. Christ, I hate that kind of stuff. I told him straight, ‘Leave her alone. Else you’ve got a buzzsaw to fight’” (243).
• Perry admits that he killed all four Clutters because he knows that Dick has a family that loves him, and wouldn’t want them to think he was a murderer.