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In Cold Blood Character Analysis

Nancy Clutter: "The All-American Girl"

Seeing Through Her Eyes

Inside Her Mind

What memorable sight(s) affected her and how?

Philosophies?

Her "Invalid" Mother

  • Nancy desired a secondary education and wanted to attend Kansas State University, where she planned to study art.
  • Even though she disagreed with her father about her relationship with Bobby Rupp (her current boyfriend), Nancy was obedient to her father’s wishes as she emphasized herself that she just “want[s] to be his daughter and do as he wishes” (Last to See Them Alive" 21).
  • She felt it was her obligation “to be available when younger girls came to her wanting help"; she was an expert in “cooking, sewing, [and] music lessons” and she was more than happy to just talk with them about whatever they pleased (“The Last to See Them Alive” 18).
  • To be viewed as an 'All-american' girl, who openly served her community and practically “[ran] that big house”, Nancy was said to have “character” in all aspects because she “gave support to all the others” even if it took up her entire day (“The Last to See Them Alive” 18).
  • She envisioned a life full of success for herself and was not afraid to independently, work hard to achieve her goals.

  • One notable sight that may have affected Nancy was her mother. Bonnie Clutter, was categorized as an “invalid” (“Answer” 238) individual being sick with “postnatal depression” (“The Last to See Them Alive” 27), and she did not fulfill her role as a mother should have to her neighbors, children or husband for that matter.
  • Her mother, suffered “little spells” as the family defined it and was “nervous” most of the time; she explained that “it was physical”, her source of illness, in which it was a “misplaced vertebrae” that caused all the symptoms of “tension, pillow-muted sobbing” and the “withdrawals” (“The Last to See Them Alive” 7).
  • Mr. Clutter and Bonnie did not share a bedroom together and were distant due to the fact that she “always slept as late as possible” (“The Last to See Them Alive” 9).
  • Nancy may have been affected long-term with having to mature quickly and take on the responsibility of a mother and teenager at the same time as well as a wife at times. Her father and mother’s relationship put an awkward strain on the relationship with her father; therefore she may not have lived a normal life as she would have hoped for.

Visions?

Dreams?

Smelling Through Her

NOSE

Hear What She Hears

What does she notice and remember others saying to her?

What smells affected her and how?

The Smoke

Conversation with Her Father and Perry

  • Although Nancy and Bobby Rupp, who she loved very much, had a serious relationship at the time, she knew as well as Bobby that their future together could not possibly last because of their differences in religion; he, Roman Catholic, and Nancy, Methodist, for Mr. Clutter disapproved (“The Last to See Them Alive” 8). Whenever Nancy would mention her relationship with Bobby, Mr. Clutter would explain that “a parting must take place” between them and “to stop seeing him” because he would certainly not allow them to marry one day, for the present separation may “hurt [much] less” than in the future (“The Last to See Them Alive” 8).
  • The night of the killings, Perry and Nancy carried a conversation together in her bedroom. After he left Nancy alone, Perry “aimed the gun” towards Mr. Clutter’s head once he had cut his throat and the room “exploded”, then he did the same with Kenyon (“Answer” 244). At that time, Nancy already had heard what would be her own fate, the “murmur of muffled pleadings” from Kenyon, “boots [walking] up hardwood stairs” and the “creak of steps” as they came closer to her bedroom (“Answer” 245), she knew she was going to be the next victim.

In the first section of the book “The Last to See Them Alive”, Nancy smelled smoke inside her house as she talked on the phone with her good friend, Susan Kidwell. She asked herself “why [she kept] smelling smoke”, for every room she walked into smelled as though someone had “been there, smoking a cigarette” (“The Last to See Them Alive” 21). Ironically, she was unaware that Perry Smith, her future killer, was not far off in the distance smoking “Pall Mall cigarettes” in the “Little Jewel café” as he waited for his partner in crime, Dick Hickock (“The Last to See Them Alive” 14). This smell may not have affected her directly, but signaled an incongruity in the book as to what Nancy would be faced with the night of the murders.

Wings

Future

MOUTH

Nancy's Future

Where she could have gone:

  • Kansas State University
  • Enrolled as an "art student" ("The Last to See Them Alive" 20).
  • Would have broken up with Bobby Rupp
  • "Mr. Clutter secured from [Nancy] a promise to begin a gradual breaking off with Bobby" ("The Last to See Them Alive" 8).
  • Nancy would have began to do so as she "just want[s] to be his daughter and do as he wishes" ("The Last to See Them Alive" 21).

What her future actually had in store for her:

  • Murdered by two men, Perry Smith and Dick Hickock

Where she is going

Philosophies

Song that Describes her

Never Give Up

  • Leader of many clubs
  • always wanted to help the neighborhood kids
  • Sometimes felt lonely because her father did not approve of Bobby and her mother was sick so she has to be the "mother" of the house
  • Journey Dont Stop Believin'

LEGS

TORSO

ARMS

HAND

Dislikes

the struggles Nancy had to face during her short life

HEART

What Nancy does for fun:

  • "President of her class"
  • "Straight-A student"
  • "a leader in her 4-H program and the Young Methodists League"
  • "skilled rider"
  • "excellent musician (piano, clarinet)"
  • "annual winner at the county fair (pastry, preserves, needlework, flower arrangement)"
  • Keeps a role model status for younger kids
  • Bakes cherry pies

("The Last to See Them Alive" 18).

Teenage leader of the home:

  • Nancy had many struggles because not only did she help others and was very involved in the community, but because of her mother's sickness, she practically ran the house.
  • Mr. Clutter also did not see a future with Nancy and Bobby Rupp so he urged them to stop seeing each other and she did not want to disobey her father.

Instinctive Side

The Midnight Hours and Bobby Rupp

FEET

Relationship to Work/

Struggles and Challenges

Leader, Student, Daughter..etc

  • Midnight hours were her time to be "selfish and vain" and care for herself
  • Her boyfriend Bobby Rupp, she knew her father was correct in claiming they had no future even though she loved him now.

The Few things

Nancy Clutter Loved

Nancy's Torso:

Where Nancy has been:

-Literally

  • Holcomb
  • Garden City
  • "dates" with Bobby Rupp
  • "Holcomb School"
  • State Theatre
  • "Friday-the-thirteenth 'Spook Show'"

-Figuratively

  • Emotional road
  • had to grow up without a motherly figure and "run that big house"
  • Lack of communication with Mr. Clutter
  • will not argue with him because she "just wants to be his daughter" and not appear "as though [she] must not love him."

("The Last to See Them Alive" 7, 18, 21).

Did not have an actual job but she ran the local 4H club, a church Group, played instruments, got all A's, even made her sisters bridesmaid dresses.

  • Always helping others
  • hardly left time for herself

Instincts:

  • Smelled cigarette smoke
  • "It's so peculiar... But I keep smelling cigarette smoke" ("The Last to See Them Alive 19).
  • Dick is smoking "a chain of Pall Mall cigarettes" while "breakfasting in... the Little Jewel" cafe ("The Last to See Them Alive" 14).

Dislikes/Hidden Pain:

  • Responsibility to take on a motherly role
  • Family and father's dependency on her
  • She manages to "practically run that big house" ("The Last to See Them Alive" 20).

Hidden Pains

Works Cited

Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood. New York: Random House, 1965. Print.

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