In Cold Blood quotes

Themes

- Nature vs. Nurture: “whatever was wrong was not your own fault but maybe a thing you were born with” (p. 101)

- Religion: “Though subscribed to several periodicals, […] none of these rested on her bedside table—only a Bible.” (p. 28)

- Mental illness: “The pattern of post natal depression repeated itself, and following the birth of her son, the

mood of misery that descended never altogether lifted.” (p. 25)

Main Characters

Characters

- Perry: “explosive emotional reaction out of all proportion to the occasion” (p. 41)

- Dick & Perry: “If we get caught, let’s get caught together” (p. 83)

Settings

- Kansas: “with its hard blue skies and desert-clear air, has an atmosphere that is rather Far West than Middle West. [...] The land is flat, and the views are awesomely extensive; horses, herds of cattle, a white cluster of grain elevators rising as gracefully as Greek temples are visible long before a traveler reaches them.” (p. 3)

- Holocomb: “The village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of Western Kansas, a lonesome area that other Kansans call "out there." (p. 3)

Plot Twist/Progression

Plot Twist

- “Nuts! You now what they pay? What the wages are? For an expert mechanic? Two bucks a day. Mexico! Honey, I’ve had it. We got to make it out of here. Back to the States” (p. 114)

- “I didn’t want to harm the man. I thought he was a very nice gentleman. Soft-spoken. I thought so right up to the moment I cut his throat.”

Narrative Styles

Narrative Style

- Foreshadowing: “At the time, not a soul in sleeping Holcomb heard them - four shotgun blasts that, all told, ended six human lives.” (p. 5)

- Flashback: “Perry feels guilty and remembers the voice begging for life, “oh no please no no no no don’t please don’t” (p. 101)

Powerful Imagery/Description

Imagery

- Tactile imagery: “Inside it were the recently purchased rubber gloves. They were glue-covered, sticky and thin, and as he inched them on, one tore—not a dangerous tear, just a split between the

fingers, but it seemed to him an omen.” (p. 50)

- “for the place, unlike his home, or the sheriff’s office, with its hullabaloo, was peaceful. The telephones, their wires still severed, were silent. The great quiet of the prairies surrounded him.” (p. 141)