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In Cold Blood Presentation
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Transcript
In Cold Blood -by Truman Capote
Presentation by Gabrielle Mize
In Cold Blood
Truman Capote based the novel, In Cold Blood, off of real murders that took place on November 15, 1959. It took him six years to research and write.
In Cold Blood
Literary Period
In Cold Blood was written in the Post Modern era when most authors had strayed away from crime novels for being too confining and vulgar.
Literary Period
Truman Capote
Born in New Orleans, Louisiana on September 30, 1924. He is the author of Other Voices, Other Rooms and Breakfast at Tiffany's. He was born Truman Streckfus Persons. His name changed to Truman Garcia Capote in 1935 after being adopted by his stepfather. In his youth he befriended Harper Lee. She later helped him in his research for In Cold Blood.
Other Voices, Other Rooms
Capote's first novel was published in 1948 to mixed reviews. Despite some criticized elements, such as its homosexual theme, the novel sold well.
Breakfast at Tiffany's
In 1958 his novel explored the life of a NYC party girl. Three years after the story was published the film version was released. Capote was not pleased with the film adaptation.
Setting
In Cold Blood takes place in Holcomb, Kansas following the real life murders of the Clutter family and the murderers lives while they are on the run.
(Clutters home on the River Valley Farm and different places for the killers)
Main Characters
Main Characters
- Herb Clutter
- Bonnie Clutter
- Nancy Clutter
- Kenyon Clutter
- Perry Smith
- Dick Hickcock
- Alvin Dewey
Herb Clutter
- Patriarch of the Clutter family
- Husband to Bonnie Clutter
- Father to four children: Eveanna, Beverly, Nancy and Kenyon
- Generous employer
- Active churchgoer
- He runs a disciplined household, and keeps himself to a strict day-to-day regimen
- His righteous lifestyle plays him into the hands of his killers, who make him first the target of their attempted robbery and, later, a scapegoat for their own resentments
Bonnie Clutter
- Herb’s wife
- Mother to Nancy and Kenyon
- A slight, nervous, apologetic woman
- Suffers from chronic postpartum depression, which leaves her bedridden on many days
- Lived a sheltered childhood, she gave up her training as a nurse to marry Herb
- Her depression has gradually isolated her from many of her close friends, and she spends her last afternoon locked away in her room, regretting her inability to socialize or be a stronger mother to her children.
Nancy Clutter
- Sixteen years old
- Model student
- President of her class
- Leader in a number of community activities, including the Young Methodists League and the local 4-H club
- Teaches younger girls music, sewing, and baking
- Tendency to over-commit herself to helping others
- She is dating – and claims to be in love with – Bobby Rupp, the star of the high school basketball team. Her father, wishes she would break off the relationship, since Bobby is Catholic, and the Clutters are Methodist
- Spends her last day baking a cherry pie with her young neighbor, instructing another girl in music, and caring for her horse, Babe
- During the attempted robbery she manages the situation by chatting with the intruders in a friendly fashion; Perry later claims to have liked her, in spite of what he later does to her
Kenyon Clutter
- Fifteen
- Uninterested in dating
- Preferred to spend his time in the Clutters’ basement workshop where he does carpentry and mechanical projects
- Hunts rabbits
- Spends time in his pickup truck with his best friend Bob Jones
Perry Smith
- Responsible for the deaths of all four members of the Clutter family
- He originally resists the idea of the robbery, but the charged atmosphere of the Clutter home prompts him to a frenzy of resentment, and the Clutters become the targets of his fury
- Prior to this revelation we learn that he is sensitive, thoughtful, creative, and highly intelligent. He comes from a troubled background, and he harbors escapist fantasies of grand adventures in exotic locales, and of being rescued from his woes by beautiful yellow parrots. His demure, reflective presence is a sharp contrast to Dick’s bombastic personality, and the pair spend much of their time at friendly odds with one another.
Dick Hickock
- Richard (goes by Dick) plans to rob the Clutters, but wavers when the time comes to carry out the murders, and instead becomes a bystander
- A self-assured, smooth-talking petty criminal, who is always scheming to make a quick buck
- According to Perry, a “real masculine type,”
- By the end of the book we become aware of some of Dick’s own insecurities: his failure to achieve financial security and support his first wife, Carol, and their three children, and his sexual interest in young girls, both of which he compensates for with bravado and reckless criminal actions.
Alvin Dewey
- Lead investigator on the Clutter case
- Former friend of Herb and Bonnie
- Develops an obsessive interest in tracking down the perpetrators
- Sacrifices his physical and mental health for the six weeks they are at large
- Lives in Garden City with his wife and two sons
- Through Dewey we experience many of the mixed emotions circulating in the town pertaining to the search, arrest, and trial of the two killers
The Clutters
The Clutters
The Killers
The Killers
The Plot
Plot
- Part One: The Last to See Them Alive
- Talks about the characters, except for Dewey who is introduced in part two, and what their lives were like before the muders
- In the middle of part one Susan Kidwell and Nancy Ewalt discover the Nancy Clutter's body which sparks the investigation into the house
- Mr. Ewalt, Larry Hendricks (Kenyon's teacher), Sheriff Robinson (Garden City sheriff), and an undersheriff find the rest of the bodies
Plot Part One Cont.
- Towards the end of part one word of the murders is starting to circulate around the town and the various reactions are described
- Many townspeople are shocked and some already start to speculate as to who the killer(s) is.
Plot
Plot Part Two
- Part Two: Persons Unknown
- Opens with a haunting scene in which four of Herb Clutter's close friends go to the Clutter home to clean up the mess left behind after the bodies had been removed
- Introduced to Alvin 'Al' Dewey, and his family, who works in the K.B.I and he holds a press conference
- Part Two switches between describing events happening to Dewey and the killers while they are on the run
Plot
- Part Three: Answer
- Floyd Wells, Perry Smith's former cellmate and a former employee of Mr. Clutter, reveals that Perry and Dick had planned to rob and murder the Clutters because they believed there was a safe full of cash in the house. This was the biggest break in a seemingly unsolvable case the investigators had
- Part Three continues to chronicle the escape of the murderers. To pay for their get-away Dick intended to "hang a lot of hot paper..."* in Kansas City but Perry didn't think it was a good idea (they steal a car to get there) which causes some tension
* write bad checks
Plot Part Three Cont.
- Perry and Dick are eventually captured in Las Vegas, Nevada
- While being interrogated Dick denies everything and Perry starts out the same way but gets nervous when he doesn't have answers to some of their questions
- Eventually Dick gives up Perry
- News of the confession spreads
- Perry tells the story of the murders in detail to Dewey who is taking him to prison, including an argument the killers had during the committing of the crime about whether or not Dick could sexually assault Nancy (Perry said "you'll have to kill me first")
Plot
- Part Four: The Corner
- Both Perry and Dick are in jail awaiting their trial
- We learn more about the background of the killers (Perry Smith had a rough childhood while Dick Hickock had a normal one)
- The trial begins and eventually Perry and Dick are both found guilty which sentenced them both to death. They were both hung
- The novel ends with Sue Kidwell and Alvin Dewey accidentally reunited at the Clutters' grave and they talk about how their lives are now
Mood
- The novel was very dark and the mood seemed sympathetic at times, like Capote was trying to make the readers understand the killers and why they did it
Mood
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