In Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood," the author uses various rhetorical devices including pathos, imagery, and ethos to elicit sympathy for the character of Perry Smith. All of these strategies create a sense of empathy for Perry, even though he is a murderer. Capte’s devices manipulate the reader's mind in having sympathetic feelings for this character. The first strategy Capote uses to create a sense of sympathy for Perry is pathos. Pathos is a technique that appeals to the reader's emotions and evokes feelings such as empathy, sorrow, and pity. The reader first notices this when the author acknowledges his broken home and child-like tendencies. Growing up, Perry's parents abused, neglected and abandoned him. Capote states, “Perry’s childhood experiences left him with deep emotional scars, he felt abandoned, rejected and worthless” (capote ). This evokes the reader's empathy for Smith's difficult upbringing, which may have contributed to his later actions. …show more content…
Capote paints a vivid picture of Smith's life and emotions, making the reader more invested in his story and more likely to sympathize with him. One of the most prominent examples of imagery used to evoke empathy for Smith is the use of the "death house." The "death house" is a symbol of the grim reality of the death penalty and the dehumanizing nature of the criminal justice system. The imagery of the cold, sterile, and oppressive environment creates a powerful emotional impact on the reader, increasing their proclivity to sympathize with Smith as a victim of circumstance. Another example of imagery used to evoke empathy for Smith is the use of the "cold blood" of the title. The "cold blood" symbolizes the inhumanity of the crime, and the imagery of the phrase creates a sense of detachment, making the reader more likely to see Smith as a victim rather than a
Another aspect of pathos was an appeal to patriotism. When he discussed American military personnel, “He starts talking about participating in attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq. He’s talking about building bombs” (Dillow 56). Of course, appealing to a reader’s patriotism, intense emotion is created. Creating pathos had a lasting impact on the
The Book In Cold Blood by Truman Capote is a captivating nonfiction novel retelling of the Clutter family murder. This book is split into four parts with parallel narratives which share an array of perspectives such as, Perry Smith and Dick Hickhock, the two murderers. The Author Truman Capote uses the characterization of Perry to force the audience to empathize with him to ultimately convey that the perception of evil is subjective. Perry is described as an arrogant man who was overly concerned with his looks, this is due to the fact of his motorcycle accident, his abuse through his childhood, and/or his time in prison.
In Cold Blood is Capote’s masterpiece, his realistic and detailed writing allows readers to dive into the story and capture every character’s
In Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood” the reader is presented with a central theme throughout the course of the book. The theme is nature vs. nurture, in comparison to Dick and Perry. Dick and Perry are the two men who commit murder on the Clutter family. Both were raised in similar environments, but they each have different genetic traits that contribute to their persona. Dick is characterized as more of a “natural born killer”, while Perry on the other hand is more of a “raised” killer.
“In Cold Blood,” written by Truman Capote, creates a tone of fear of their consequences and debriefing of their situation. The author creates these tones by presenting the characters state of mind to the readers and how they feel over their actions towards their situation. “Deep down, way, way rock bottom, I never thought I could do it. A thing like that.” Perry is explaining that they are astonished by what they had become.
In Cold Blood Rhetorical Analysis Essay The cunning nonfiction novel ‘In Cold Blood’ by Truman Capote is a whirl of emotions. He manipulates the reader into feeling pathos for the killers, because he wants you to feel guilty. Capote is trying to make a point that the Criminal Justice System is flawed, and that the death penalty was unfair and unjustly. In pages 107-109, Dick and Perry’s relationship is starting to show flaws.
Perry Smith, for instance, is shown as a sensitive and creative young man who adores music and literature, yet he is also capable of carrying out horrible acts of violence. Similar to the Clutter family, who are ultimately the victims of a senseless and terrible crime despite being hailed as models of respectability and decency for the middle class. Overall, "In Cold Blood" makes use of irony to highlight the random and frequently arbitrary nature of crime and bloodshed and to comment on the capacity of humans for both good and
In Cold Blood, written by Truman Capote in 1966 tells the story of the murder of a prominent family in 60’s Kansas. Capote traveled to the small town of Holcomb, and befriended many of the townsfolk and the detectives involved in the trial to tell the story of a violent event that shaped this community for the decade until the eventual conviction and execution of the killers. Because of information being told, Capote makes the choice of writing his novel as if it were a news report. This journalistic structure and word choice helps to establish the serious and dark tone of the novel.
Truman Capote, the author of In Cold Blood, creates sympathy for almost every character the reader comes across. Through the use of manipulating the reader's emotions and connecting them to each character, Capote successfully pulls it off. There are four main groups that Capote chooses to create sympathy for the murder victims, the murderers, the law officials involved, and the ordinary citizens of Holcomb, Kansas. Truman Capote created the most sympathy for two characters, Perry Smith and Detective Dewey. From the beginning of the novel, Capote showcases Perry Smith a likable character.
How crazy would it be to interview criminals who murdered 4 people in cold blood? Well that’s exactly what Truman Capote did in this chilling book. In the novel In Cold Blood, Truman Capote used different rhetorical strategies to create sympathy and influence the idea that there are always two sides to every story. Some of the mainly used rhetorical strategies throughout the novel were imagery, diction, tone, and pathos. Furthermore, Capote also illustrated sympathetical emotion towards both types of characters, the protagonists and antagonists.
Throughout, In Cold Blood, a nonfiction novel written by Truman Capote displays many examples of rhetorical devices. Capote utilizes rhetorical devices to make his audience understand the urgency, seriousness, and setting in this text and dialogue. The two murderers, Perry and Dick drive long and far to Holcomb. Along the drive Dick says, “The bank, that must be the bank, now we turn west—see the trees? This is it, this has to be it.”
In the novel In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, Dick and Perry are dynamically changing companions each with their own motives and background that defines their actions. These key descriptions and details are revealed through the tones and overarching atmospheres when focusing on the characters. Capote uses tones and themes to characterize the killers Dick and Perry as resenting and bitter as well as having opposing views. The killers derive their bitterness from the dark and helpless tone Capote uses.
In Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, there is no hero. The protagonist is not a hero, nor the law enforcement. Heroism becomes irrelevant when searching for justice following a tragedy such as the one seen on November 15th, 1959 in Holcomb, Kansas. Complexity, next to justice, is primary to put into account during the aftershocks . Perry Smith is the protagonist in the novel, not only due to author’s bias but also due to his sheer dynamic, a man disconnected from word to action.
Truman Capote uses variety of language devices such as diction, similes and symbolism to vividly develop Perry Smith in his novel In Cold Blood and reveal aspects of the murder. Perry Smith is a sensitive, somewhat frightening and psychologically unstable character, but then again
The novel, In Cold Blood, is an anomaly in the literary paradigm. The author, Truman Capote, designed his novel in a way that made it unique when compared to others. His fundamental purpose was to present the problem of American violence and the fragility of the American Dream and how it can be so easily shattered. In order to portray his purpose, he used many rhetorical devices including syntax, diction, tone, ethos, logos and pathos. These devices allowed Capote’s novel to be different from the spectrum of other non-fiction novels and to support his purpose.