Foreshadowing In In Cold Blood, By Traciy Reyes
Murder. Senseless. Punishment. Truman Capote and Traciy Reyes both found ways to make their works story-like and suspenseful. Shifts in perspective and scenes with foreshadowing are the main ways in which these authors attempt to turn the events of a crime into a story with suspense. In the novel, In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote, the author uses alternating perspectives coupled with a lot of foreshadowing to reveal the story behind a crime; whereas, the author of the article Michelle Mason, Anthony Sowell, by Traciy Reyes, uses very subtle foreshadowing along with a different perspective in the case of the ‘Cleveland Strangler’.
The approach each author takes to reveal the essence of each crime is slightly different. Traciy Reyes utilizes one
of the most common forms of storytelling to enlighten the reader about the serial killings of the ‘Cleveland Strangler’. She simply narrates the story from a third person omniscient point-of-view. Capote on the other hand, constantly switches from the victims’ perspectives to the viewpoint of the murderers which gives the readers acuity regarding a possible motive for the killing of the Clutter Family. It is made evident through some interviews with Perry (one of the murderers) that he originally “didn’t want to harm the man” (Capote 244). A more plausible motive, is that the murders were a result of misdirected frustration and resentment embodied by the Clutter family.
Foreshadowing and timely paragraph / chapter breaks are the principal tactics used by each author to generate suspense in their stories. In nearly every chapter of In Cold Blood, Capote hints at something in the future. A great example of this is when Mr. Clutter finishes a conversation with some pheasant hunters and he heads home “unaware that it would be his last” (13). This specific example foreshadows the death of Mr. Clutter. The author of the article about the Cleveland Strangler also starts to foreshadow events from the second paragraph. She describes a TV series that will “take viewers back to the day in October, 2008, when [the mother of a missing victim] saw her daughter for the last time.” (Reyes 2).
The approach each author takes to reveal the essence of each crime is slightly different. Traciy Reyes utilizes one
of the most common forms of storytelling to enlighten the reader about the serial killings of the ‘Cleveland Strangler’. She simply narrates the story from a third person omniscient point-of-view. Capote on the other hand, constantly switches from the victims’ perspectives to the viewpoint of the murderers which gives the readers acuity regarding a possible motive for the killing of the Clutter Family. It is made evident through some interviews with Perry (one of the murderers) that he originally “didn’t want to harm the man” (Capote 244). A more plausible motive, is that the murders were a result of misdirected frustration and resentment embodied by the Clutter family.
Foreshadowing and timely paragraph / chapter breaks are the principal tactics used by each author to generate suspense in their stories. In nearly every chapter of In Cold Blood, Capote hints at something in the future. A great example of this is when Mr. Clutter finishes a conversation with some pheasant hunters and he heads home “unaware that it would be his last” (13). This specific example foreshadows the death of Mr. Clutter. The author of the article about the Cleveland Strangler also starts to foreshadow events from the second paragraph. She describes a TV series that will “take viewers back to the day in October, 2008, when [the mother of a missing victim] saw her daughter for the last time.” (Reyes 2).