Rhetorical Analysis of Beginning of In 
Allison Martin
Mrs. Bryan
AP English 11
29 October 2014
Title
Truman Capote, in his nonfiction novel In Cold Blood, tells of a multi person homicide in middleofnowhere smalltown Holcomb, Kansas. The beginning passage starts by describing the background of the town, citizens, and days of the characters leading up to the murder. In the first few pages of his gripping and true novel, Capote utilizes vivid images, vernacular diction, and specific details to portray a sense of familiarity to the reader. In doing so, Capote gracefully depicts Holcomb exactly as it was: plain and run down.
Capote certainly does not paint a pretty picture in the first pages of In Cold Blood.
Regardless, he does paint a picture of Holcomb and its people. He describes the town to the very last detail without embellishing. He tells of the abandoned buildings and the dust that collects. He hides no imperfection nor jewel from the reader.
"Not that there is much to see simply an aimless congregation of of buildings divided in the center by the mainline tracks of the Santa Fe Railroad, a haphazard hamlet bounded on the south by a brown stretch of the Arkansas (pronounced 'Arkansas')
River, on the north by a highway, Route 50, and on the east and west by prairie lands and wheat fields." (Capote 3)
There is nothing special about this description. It is very cut and dry. Nothing is able to feed your imagination and to let you dream up your own setting. Capote uses what there is in
Holcomb, and he does so indifferently. His desire is the reader becoming more familiar with
the setting and the people to explain why things happen and people react in the way they do later. In another attempt to make the reader feel as though they are in Holcomb, Capote takes advantage of the town's southern vernacular. By using phrases such as "out there"
(Capote 3), "down by the depot" (Capote 4), and "outdoor folk" (Capote 4), Capote manages to show the reader that he is familiar
Mrs. Bryan
AP English 11
29 October 2014
Title
Truman Capote, in his nonfiction novel In Cold Blood, tells of a multi person homicide in middleofnowhere smalltown Holcomb, Kansas. The beginning passage starts by describing the background of the town, citizens, and days of the characters leading up to the murder. In the first few pages of his gripping and true novel, Capote utilizes vivid images, vernacular diction, and specific details to portray a sense of familiarity to the reader. In doing so, Capote gracefully depicts Holcomb exactly as it was: plain and run down.
Capote certainly does not paint a pretty picture in the first pages of In Cold Blood.
Regardless, he does paint a picture of Holcomb and its people. He describes the town to the very last detail without embellishing. He tells of the abandoned buildings and the dust that collects. He hides no imperfection nor jewel from the reader.
"Not that there is much to see simply an aimless congregation of of buildings divided in the center by the mainline tracks of the Santa Fe Railroad, a haphazard hamlet bounded on the south by a brown stretch of the Arkansas (pronounced 'Arkansas')
River, on the north by a highway, Route 50, and on the east and west by prairie lands and wheat fields." (Capote 3)
There is nothing special about this description. It is very cut and dry. Nothing is able to feed your imagination and to let you dream up your own setting. Capote uses what there is in
Holcomb, and he does so indifferently. His desire is the reader becoming more familiar with
the setting and the people to explain why things happen and people react in the way they do later. In another attempt to make the reader feel as though they are in Holcomb, Capote takes advantage of the town's southern vernacular. By using phrases such as "out there"
(Capote 3), "down by the depot" (Capote 4), and "outdoor folk" (Capote 4), Capote manages to show the reader that he is familiar