Truman Capote Rhetorical Analysis
In his creative nonfiction novel, In Cold Blood, Truman Capote expresses his view of the people of Holcombe as being hard-working, harsh, and centered in one thing through the use of synesthesia, onomatopoeia, and allusion/ simile.
In the line “hard blue skies”, Capote is characterizing the people by describing the sky. Through the use of synesthesia, Capote illustrates how the “hard blue skies” are clear. By stating that the skies are hard blue, this further implies that there are no clouds in the sky. If the skies do not have any clouds, then the town of Holcombe does not or rarely gets any rain. Because they have to work the land harder that gets little to no rain under a hard sky, the reader knows the people must be hard-working.
In the countryside, people may sometimes have a strong country accent, like in the case of the people of Holcombe. Through the use of onomatopoeia, Capote describes the accent of the people as harsh by saying ‘twang”. The word twang when said does not easily come off one’s tongue and when it does it sounds forced and harsh. Therefore, the twang is a clear reflection of the people’s accent. He further describes their accent by saying “barbed”, which adds more to the idea that their accent is not a soft or easy. Thus, the way their accent is describe may be a reflection of how the people really are.
In the town of Holcombe, the people’s center of culture and their example of their wealth lies in the grain elevator. Capote communicates this by saying “as Greek temples”, an example of allusion and simile. In ancient Greece, the Greek temples was where the people showed their wealth and where their culture laid. Just as the Greeks, the people of Holcombe were also able to do the same by making their grain elevators rise “as gracefully as Greek temples”.
Truman Capote’s, being from a big city like New York, attention was grabbed by the appearance of the small town of Holcombe and its inhabitants. Capote paints a picture to his readers,
In the line “hard blue skies”, Capote is characterizing the people by describing the sky. Through the use of synesthesia, Capote illustrates how the “hard blue skies” are clear. By stating that the skies are hard blue, this further implies that there are no clouds in the sky. If the skies do not have any clouds, then the town of Holcombe does not or rarely gets any rain. Because they have to work the land harder that gets little to no rain under a hard sky, the reader knows the people must be hard-working.
In the countryside, people may sometimes have a strong country accent, like in the case of the people of Holcombe. Through the use of onomatopoeia, Capote describes the accent of the people as harsh by saying ‘twang”. The word twang when said does not easily come off one’s tongue and when it does it sounds forced and harsh. Therefore, the twang is a clear reflection of the people’s accent. He further describes their accent by saying “barbed”, which adds more to the idea that their accent is not a soft or easy. Thus, the way their accent is describe may be a reflection of how the people really are.
In the town of Holcombe, the people’s center of culture and their example of their wealth lies in the grain elevator. Capote communicates this by saying “as Greek temples”, an example of allusion and simile. In ancient Greece, the Greek temples was where the people showed their wealth and where their culture laid. Just as the Greeks, the people of Holcombe were also able to do the same by making their grain elevators rise “as gracefully as Greek temples”.
Truman Capote’s, being from a big city like New York, attention was grabbed by the appearance of the small town of Holcombe and its inhabitants. Capote paints a picture to his readers,