On the first day of the trial, a psychologist is called in and brings light to Perry’s traumatic life events. The following day, witnesses are brought to the stand, the last being the most important- Alvin Dewey, who gives the public the first actual description of what occurred that night. Throughout the week, the trial continues and eventually the psychologist diagnoses Perry as possibly being a paranoid schizophrenic. Perry and Dick are sentenced to death, and after a two-year postponement, on April 15th, 1965, they meet their fate. Dick conveys no resentment towards the State; Perry feels that the death penalty is unwarranted. After five years, the case has finally come to an end, a pale vindication for the Clutter…
Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood documents the quadruple homicide of Herbert Clutter and his family in Holcomb, Kansas. It is not a true memoir, as Capote was not a part of the events that took place; he traveled to Kansas immediately following the murders to write about the ensuing investigation and fill in the blanks about the actual goings-on in Holcomb, 1959. His writing is a true account of the murder from the beginning; not only was he in Holcomb during the investigation, he spoke directly with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, Finney County citizens, lawyers involved in the case, and people directly involved in the crime. His narrative is vivid, emotional, and most of all, profound. His contention with crime and violence is apparent through his powerful account of the murder and the investigation.…
Truman Capote wrote the book, In Cold Blood, in order to inform the world about the true story of the Clutter family. However, no one expected the book to be extraordinarily written. Capote used a technique for his book that no other writer had thought of doing before. In the time the book was written, everyone was sure of Capote’s soon to be literary fame and success from this book. In Cold Blood is a unique, one of a kind, and first of a kind to be written how it is. Even though Truman Capote’s book, In Cold Blood, was later transformed into a movie, the book simply and completely tells the story of these savagely, murderous killings without a doubt better than…
Truman Capote kicked his book off by describing a lonesome yet plentiful area called Holcomb, Kansas. He used an assortment of imagery to describe the wilting bank, the lively fields of wheat and the well taken care of school. In Cold Blood the author wants to portray an old, quiet, humdrum town where the most interesting thing that happens is the school activities. He used imagery and specific tone to explain his purpose which was to illustrate how dreary the town seemed to be.…
Chapter four is very interesting because there is a lot of drama at the end of the chapter. There is a double homicide committed by Davy, when he kills Tommy Basca and Israel Finch. I don’t know if Reuben thinks his brother is a murderer. It is kind of confusing because he says, “Davy wiped his face, said, ’Well-’ then stepped over Tommy and out the door. And when did he know just what he’d done? We’ve wondered that, Swede and I” (Enger,50). In that sense, it is very hard to say if he thinks his brother was a murderer. Nevertheless, I believe he thinks his brother was trying to defend his family. He did not plan to kill Tommy and Israel, it was the moment of defending his brothers. I think Davy claim for justice. He suffered when the guys bullied his girlfriend, his family and his little sister, Swede. Justice was already served. As a reader, I was expecting that outcome. However, I never thought he was going to kill them without planning. I felt the author was very careful when he was going to describe the murder. Even though Davy was not a violent person, we can see the anger he was hiding deep in his heart. Since Davy is the oldest brother, he is the one who has more power. It is very important to be loyal with your family, to take care of them and to help them overcome obstacles. The novel explores the idea of loyalty by showing the readers how the family was…
In the book In Cold Blood, Perry Smith is the most complex and interesting character. What makes him interesting is that Capotes is able to portray Perry in such a way that the reader feels for Perry, he may have been a murderer but he still gains a lot of sympathy throughout the book. Capote shows the reader how complex Perry is, Perry is a person who was able to commit murder but is unable to confine in people and trust them. Another part of Perry’s complex personality is that even while murdering and when he was bounding up the Clutters, Perry is trying his best to make them comfortable. However, we first see that Perry is not normally prone to violence when early on in the book he tells Dick they should just get black stockings, that way…
In Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood” Dick and Perry are attempting to hitchhike to Nebraska but, less innocently, have made plans to murder the friendly soul who decides to help them out. Mr. Bell went out of his way to help these two strangers but even his sincere compassion didn’t deter Perry and his unusual readiness to strike.…
Speaker: In Cold Blood is written mostly from a third person perspective, even though it switches to a first person narrative occasionally. The author, Truman Capote had experiences of an unsettled family life, which made him more empathetic toward Perry. At the same time, he perfectly depicts what a bloody and horrid murder it was by delving into the characters’ mind and portraying their emotions flawlessly.…
Truman Capote wrote In Cold Blood to commemorate the Clutter family as honorable people; beginning by describing the family’s personality, he paints a picture in which the Clutter family is the protagonist. Although Capote is sometimes empathetic towards Dick and Perry, and it seems his true loyalties are questionable, he wouldn’t have written the book if he hadn’t felt a pull to memorialize the family. One of the most dreadful feelings for an author would be for their work to be disregarded or simply make no impact on the reader. Capote’s worst fear is for the Clutter murder to be “‘just one of many such cases people have read about and forgotten’” (Capote 272) because Capote personally knew so many affected by the murder, including the murderers…
Truman Capote, in his narrative “In Cold Blood”, characterizes Holcomb, Kansas as a dull and trivial town. Capote expresses his views of Holcomb through diction and contrast.…
Quiet enough to hear the birds chirp all day. Small enough to know every neighbor around. Rural enough to see every star in the midnight sky. Boring enough to get no attention from the outside world. This portrays the town of Holcomb in Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. This town consists of run down buildings and citizens who understand the importance of education. To help tell his story, Capote uses alliteration, imagery and his own selection of detail to bring his story to life.…
In section three the secondary character that stuck out to me the most is Mr. Bell whom Perry and Dick meet when they try hitchhiking. He stands out in my mind because we are given a glimpse at his life, and in the objective tone of Capote, we then learn of Dick & Perry’s intention to rob him of his life. He is only in the novel very briefly but I feel that because he helps accentuate Dick & Perry’s sense of desperation and the attitude of “do anything to survive”, that he is a very well written secondary character.…
In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote tells the story of when the poor Clutter family was slaughtered in Holcomb, Kansas in 1959. In Cold Blood took six years for Capote to investigate and write, and it put an incredible amount of pressure on Truman, so much so that he never published another book again. Even though in cold Blood doesn’t have a great ending, the book was worth reading because of the intriguing plot, dark tone, and the interesting characters.…
Judge Tate gave them the death penalty because he thinks it is the only way that Dick and Perry will never roam the town and cities of the land again. Jude Tate does not want Dick or Perry killing anybody else again. Judge Tate also has to think about the possibilities of Dick and Perry escaping from prison. To prevent all of that happening, the judge gave them the death penalty. When Judge Tate gave them the death penalty lawyers, friends, families, and witnesses started to bring up bible verses on how it was wrong to give capital punishment. Or how it was good to give capital punishment because the bible said "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed. " (304)…
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we are gathered here today not to assess whether these men, Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, are guilty of their crimes; they have confessed and there is overwhelming evidence against them. No, today we are here to determine how they will pay for taking the lives of four innocent people, the Clutter family. My role here is to argue that these men should pay for their crimes with their lives. This is not merely a matter of opinion; this is what should be done according to the law of the great state of Kansas. Using evidence that the criminals themselves have provided, I shall prove to you that these men deserve to get the death penalty as retribution for their sins.…