In Cold Blood Analysis Essay Example

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote is a riveting mystery novel about the tragic murder of a family. In it, Capote provides an extensive description about the town and it's residents. Capote views Holcomb, Kansas, as a small, dry town that many people have never heard of, until that devastating night, by using elements such as imagery and selection of detail to enforce his point. Truman Capote's usage of rhetorical devices strengthens his descriptions of Holcomb and the kinfolk in it. Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of western Kansas, a lonesome area other Kansans call “out there.” The local accent has a ranch-hand nasalness, with a prairie twang. Many of the men wear narrow frontier trousers, Stetsons, and high-heeled boots with pointed toes. Capote uses these details to give off the appearance of a small-town by showing the reader that Holcomb is in a secluded area. It also portrays that all the people that live there look and talk the same. When Capote mentions, a white cluster of grain elevators rising as gracefully as Greek temples are visible long before a traveler reaches them, he proves the importance of farming to these people. They are southern folk whose way of life is farming, farming, farming. The way Holcomb is placed, completely closed off, displays a tight-knit community of people who all know everything about each other. It's withdrawn because its surrounded by the Santa Fe railroad, Arkansas river, Route 50 and prairie lands and wheat fields all around. The postmistress, wears a rawhide jacket and denims and cowboy boots; even when at work people dress casually. Instead of an official uniform she dresses as anyone would in the town. By the highway there are two filling stations, one doubles as a supplied grocery store while the other as a cafe. The selection of detail proves the poverty and emptiness of the town. The filling stations can't stay open by just being a gas station because people usually don't stop to refill. They have to double