Step 6: Unit 2.5 Portfolio: Outline your paper • Paper Topic: Clutter Family • Introduction: In Cold Blood was written by Truman Capote on the account of a true case of multiple murders in Holcomb, Kansa. It is famous for portraying how the story happened. But it is too opinionated and exaggerated, to what degree is so? • Possible ideas for introduction: o The subjectivity o The reason for the murders o How the community was affected • Thesis Statement: o We can express Capote’s intended audience, his person outlook of the suspects, and the many ways the actual event effected the community from the story of the Clutter Family murders. • Body: o Main point: Why did Capote put other information into the book to make the tragedy seem harsher than it was? o …show more content…
Many claims that capote added scenes and that his depiction of Bonne Clutter is untrue. Capote himself admitted that the book is a very opinionated account, and that non-fiction writers change the meaning of the story by choosing what to tell. o Main Point: The reputation of the suspects, prior to when In Cold Blood was written, was bias. o Examples/Details/Explanations: After the Clutter murders, the people of Kansas wanted justice and they wanted the monsters responsible to be caught. However, when Smith and Hickock are caught and extradited to Kansas, people are shocked that they have the appearance of normal people. Many of the townspeople feel no justice or understanding in the case when these two seemingly normal men, committed horrible crimes for the sake of forty dollars and a radio. o Main Point: The morality and other aspects of the community were greatly
The Clutter family were a well-respected farming family that had no enemies, and no disagreements. Although the Clutter were very wealthy, Mr. Clutter never stored his wealth in the house. The whole district and eventually the country was shocked by the unusual, random and brutality of the act. The two men, Dick Hickcock and Perry smith, in which didn't even know the Clutter family entered their house and murdered the family
Although Capote seems to be explaining the progression of the ongoing investigation regarding Clutter family murder, his words delve deeper to explain the resounding effects that a senseless crime has had on the residents of Holcomb. Therefore, Capote depicts the shattering loss of innocence that these murders have caused to interrupt this small, tranquil community. Through structure, the author transforms the simple town of Holcomb into a dreary community. Capote introduces the second section of the book with a depiction of the leisurely activities of days past; “...Andy Erhart had spent long pheasant-hunting afternoons at River Valley Farm, the home of his good friend Herb Clutter, and often, on these sporting expeditions, he’d been accompanied
Within the first few pages, it is clear that most of the novel switches between the Clutter family and the murderers: Perry and Dick. For example, there is one paragraph where a neighbor tells Mr. Clutter, “‘I can’t imagine you afraid,’” and the paragraph directly beneath that, Perry and Dick are on their way to murder him and his family. (Capote 36). This kind of structure, where the reader sees different perspectives, creates sympathy for the characters because it is known what is soon to happen. The narrative structure also allows for sympathy between the reader and those affected by the murders.
The concept of financial stability is central in Truman Capote non fiction text, In Cold Blood and is the chief motive for the murders of the clutter family. To begin with, Truman Capote empathizes that Mr. Clutter is a hard worker, takes care of his employees, a strict father, and a self-made man (6). By working very hard Mr. Clutter became the second richest person in Holcomb.
In the book, “In Cold Blood,” Truman Capote takes us through the lives of the murderers and the murdered in the 1959 Clutter family homicide, which transpires in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas. The first chapter, “The Last to See Them Alive,” vividly illustrates the daily activities of the Clutter family—Herbert, Bonnie, Nancy, and Kenyon—and the scheming plot of Dick Hickock and Perry Smith up to point where the family is found tied up, and brutally murdered. In doing so, he depicts the picture-perfect town of Holcomb with “blue skies and desert clear air”(3) whose safety is threatened when “four shotgun blasts that, all told, ended six human lives”(5). Through the eyes of a picture perfect family and criminals with social aspirations, Capote describes the American Dream and introduces his audience to the idea that this ideal was no more than an illusion. Herbert Clutter: the character Capote describes as the epitome of the American Dream.
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.
He presents all the events by way of an anonymous narrator who reveals all the events from a detached viewpoint. Through Part II the killers are presented more sympathetically. For instance, Capote tells the reader about the hard life Perry Smith has had throughout the book. Perry lived at different orphanages and Salvation Army homes. One nurse would even “fill a tub up of ice cold water, put [Perry] in it, and hold [him] under till [he] was blue.”(128).
Truman Capote’s novel, In Cold Blood epitomizes the shifting sentiments related to the murder of the Clutter family which range from terror, to sorrow, to pride, and all mixed emotions in between. Yet through Capote’s particular descriptions about each character, the connection between their feelings and their actions become further clarified. In effect, the readers experience feelings of sympathy for the victims, their friends and family, the investigators, and even the brutal murders of the innocent family. In order to craft this association, Capote employs a pathos appeal to amplify the audience’s ability to sympathize with each and every character.
In Cold Blood’s Effect on Journalism Outline Introduction Paragraph 1: By definition journalism is the activity of gathering, assessing, creating, and presenting news and information. (...) Journalism is where the writer gives out information to his audience (the reader). The purpose and principal of journalism is the function news plays in people's lives.
In In Cold Blood, the issue over the death penalty is prominent. Did Perry and Dick deserve to die? Should the severity of one’s crime determine one’s fate? Although Truman Capote writes the novel in a straightforward, “from a distance” way, he conveys, through his characters, theme, and plot development, that the death penalty is an issue that should be looked at from all sides and that the legal system itself is the real issue at hand, and that the death penalty is used as a means to suppress the distress and indignation of the citizens surrounding the case, instead of suppressing the victim himself.
Option Three: Bias Truman Capote’s final book In Cold Blood, was an instant hit with readers when it came out in 1966. Capote himself hailed it as a new genre of literature, a nonfiction true crime thriller. However, upon reading the book, it seems as though Capote shifted the truth to make it fit his own personal narrative, and put in his own personal bias toward the criminals, and seeks to have the reader sympathize with the criminals and seeks to challenge their attitudes towards the criminals.
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.
Facts and Fiction: A Manipulation of Language in Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood English is a fascinating and riveting language. Subtle nuances and adjustments can easily change the understanding of a literary work—a technique many authors employ in order to evoke a desired response from their readers. This method is used especially in In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, a literary work which details a true event about the murders of four members of the Clutter family in the small community of Holcomb, Kansas, in 1959. Although Capote’s 1966 book was a bestseller nonfiction and had successfully garnered acclaim for its author, there is still a great deal of confusion about the distinction between the factual and fictional aspects in the book.
No matter how we try to change our situation or better ourselves in society, variables will obstruct the path we choose. One cannot take control of everything that surrounds us as fate decides what happens to us. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote explains the murder of the Clutter family in the quiet town of Holcomb, Kansas. The murderers, Richard (Dick) Hickock and Perry Smith, try to escape the consequences of their actions, believing that they can get away with what they did. The story tells what the murderers were thinking after and before they committed the crime and their various interactions.
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.