...Truman Capote’s book, titled In Cold Blood, is about an unfortunate event that takes place in a small town called Holcomb. In his book, Capote describes Holcomb as a wore down, lonely little town in the middle of nowhere. There isn't much to do there and he really makes it sound like a depressing place. Capote does a very good job of including many different stylistic elements in his writing, such as imagery and tone to describe to us the dull town of Holcomb. Let's look first at the imagery in Capote's writing. When he describes Holcomb, he uses imagery to paint a clear picture about how the town looks and feels. He makes Holcomb sound like a dirty, forgotten town that nobody would ever want to visit by using sensory words that will tell us...
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...After completing an excerpt from Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, it intrigued me. As you read he gives description of a tiny area barely on the map. Wording the town as an “simply aimless congregation of buildings divided in the center by main-line tracks”. The use of his diction and imagery shows us the simple life, and that he feels even something so insignificant could rock this little railway stop. While reading the mind automatically paints a picture. It’s crucial for the author to paint your mind in their own image. How could they do this? Using imagery accomplishes this task. In Cold Blood has so many examples of vivid imagery. He doesn’t use words like overcrowded or glamorous because he wants you to imagine a little town, with men...
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...In Cold Blood Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood covers the story of the Clutter family murder in Holcomb, Kansas. Many find it difficult to classify, as it is a mix of journalism and Capote’s creative ideas. It is known as a classic for its thorough characterization, intricate details, and accuracy. Capote combines these all of these ideas through his use of dialogue, plot development, characterization and imagery. A 1959 article was released a day after the murder, reporting what was inside the Clutter home. These details included how they were killed, what they were wearing, and where they were located inside of the house. Capote uses these details to create imagery, referring to the scene as “blood-soiled” and “blood-splashed” (78)....
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...Holcomb, Kansas, is a village containing approximately three hundred citizens. The square town is with described with having rivers, stations, horses, fields of wheat, a bank, and a school. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, an image of the town of Holcomb is presented throughout types of style such as, diction, imagery, syntax, and tone. In order to communicate a Western way of speaking used in Holcomb, Truman Capote mentions the town as, "out there," and says the pronunciation of the Arkansas River as "Ar-kan-sas." Throughout the town there are a few signs which cause a ghostly presence there. For example, "—Dance—but dancing has ceased and the advertisement has been dark for several years," and "HOLCOMB BANK," which later on said,...
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...In this excerpt from Truman Capote’s, In Cold Blood, he explores multiple perspectives of the village of Holcomb in great detail. He accomplishes this through the use of imagery to provide his readers with a visual representation of what can be seen in the village. Throughout the excerpt, readers are overwhelmed with a great use of diction that creates a detailed image of Capote’s description. As an author, he does an exceptional job of describing each element he comes across in the village. When writing about the scenery around, he describes the countryside “...with its hard blue skies and desert-clear air” and “The land is flat, and the views are awesomely extensive...” Even though he says there is not much to see, he still achieves an in...
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...In his novel, In Cold Blood, Truman Capote vividly describes a to his readers the stereotypical small town life and terrain of Holcomb. He uses various rhetorical strategies, such as descriptive diction, detail about individual parts of town, and imagery to describe the atmosphere of this small western town. This allows the readers to feel as if they are actually there, in Holcomb, immersed in the small town culture. In the first paragraph of his book, Capote starts by using incredibly descriptive diction in order to characterize the little town of Holcomb from a distance. He zooms out from all of the small town drama and gives the reader a scope of the landscape, painting a very familiar picture of the old west in our minds. Capote generously depicts the stereotypical western scene, as being.”flat,” and having,”views that are awesomely extensive; horses,” and “herds of cattle.” This description not only creates the setting in our...
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...recognizes the impossibility of perfect representation, the dream of the 1:1 ratio,” (Sharlet). What Jeff Sharlet means in this quote is that facts cannot be perfectly represented, regardless of any type of imagery or descriptions, so a good nonfiction work uses only what is needed to get the message across. Beginning in the 20th century, many nonfiction writers would even look towards fiction for the resources to describe what was considered impossible to describe (Taylor). One way writers have been able to do this is through nonfiction novels. A nonfiction novel is a narrative, of book-length, that unfolds actual events and actual people written in the style of a novel (“Nonfiction Novel”). This style of a novel implies that the book being spoken of can be looked at as art as well as fact (Sharlet). In the mid 1960’s, a nonfiction novel journey began, beginning with the narrative journalistic qualities of Truman Capote, continuing with the story telling of such authors as Norman Mailer, and then continues to stay constant throughout present day literature with works like Katherine Boo’s display of immersion journalism. Truman Capote is said to have invented this new genre in 1966 with, what some call his finest work, the book In Cold Blood (“Truman Capote”). In Cold Blood details the 1959 murders of Herbert Clutter, his wife, and two of their children (Wikipedia). Even before the murderers were captured, Capote decided to travel to Kansas and write about the quadruple crime...
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...Truly successful authors have the ability to convey their view of a place without actually saying it, to portray a landscape in a certain light simply by describing it. In the provided excerpt taken from the opening paragraphs of In Cold Blood, Truman Capote does just this. Through his use of stylistic elements such as selection of detail, imagery, and figurative language, Capote reveals his own solemn and mysterious view of Holcomb, Kansas, while setting the stage for an imminent change. Beginning in the first line of the passage, Capote selects the most boring details of life in the small town in order to portray its solemnity. He draws attention to the physical isolation of Holcomb by referring to it as the place that "other Kansans call 'out there.'" In addition, he speaks of the parameters of the small town, pointing out that it is enclosed on all sides by rivers, prairies, and wheat fields. He describes the town as remote and unaffected, desolate and boring, continually mentioning the old, peeling paint and "irrelevant signs" that dot the landscape. Capote also gives the village a feeling of laziness in his writing, describing it as an "aimless congregation of buildings" and a "haphazard hamlet." He obviously feels that the town lacks liveliness, that it is bland and unchanging, simple and average. Almost looking down on the village and its inhabitants, the author characterizes the people in broad categories and focuses on their outward appearances and superficial similarities...
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...Truly successful authors have the ability to convey their view of a place without actually saying it, to portray a landscape in a certain light simply by describing it. In the opening paragraphs of In Cold Blood, Truman Capote does just this. Through his use of stylistic elements such as selection of detail, imagery, and figurative language, Capote reveals his own solemn and mysterious view of Holcomb, Kansas, while setting the stage for an imminent change. Beginning in the first line of the passage, Capote selects the most boring details of life in the small town in order to portray its character. He draws attention to the physical isolation of Holcomb by referring to it as the place that "other Kansans call 'out there.'" In addition, he speaks of the parameters of the small town, pointing out that it is enclosed on all sides by rivers, prairies, and wheat fields. He describes the town as remote and unaffected, desolate and boring, continually mentioning the old, peeling paint and "irrelevant signs" that dot the landscape. Capote also gives the village a feeling of laziness in his writing, describing it as an "aimless congregation of buildings" and a "haphazard hamlet." He obviously feels that the town lacks liveliness, that it is bland and unchanging, simple and average. Almost looking down on the village and its inhabitants, the author characterizes the people in broad categories and focuses on their outward appearances and superficial similarities instead of delving more...
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...Human history has always been tainted with crime and wrongdoing. Thus being said, the severity of crime has varied and likewise, the punishments for crime have varied. In the case of murder, there has always been the question of the morality of capital punishment and whether or not the criminals who committed the murder have been sound of mind. In his novel In Cold Blood, Truman Capote uses diction, imagery, and tone to convey his central message that criminals such as Dick and Perry belong in a mental hospital, not on the Death Row. Truman Capote utilizes diction to persuade his audience to share the same view that he has on capital punishment. Capote’s target audience, particularly during the trial, is those who work in the judicial system...
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...perfect place to set the stage for murder. In the opening of “In Cold Blood”, Truman Capote paints a picture of Holcomb that is nothing more than a dull, boring, and desolate small town. He develops his view thought specific detail selection which depicts visual imagery, a detached and repetitious tone, accompanied with a specialized sentence structure. In a town that is as dreary as Holcomb, no one would ever expect a quadruple murder. Through his details, Capote attempts to place Holcomb as an extremely desolate and lonesome a area. He refers to Holcomb as a place that “other Kansans call ‘out there’”. He also depicts that the small town is surrounded by rivers, prairies, and wheat fields which gives the reader a feeling of loneliness. Several times he mentions the decaying paint among the “aimless congregation of buildings”, which shows how he views that Holcomb is dull and unchanging. Capote also uses broad terms to describe the inhabitants. He has them all “barbed with a prairie twang [accent]”, and wearing trousers and “boots with pointed toes”. He focuses on the superficial and outward appearance of all of the townsfolk of Holcomb, while describing one specific towns person as “[she] wears a rawhide jacket, denims, and cowboy boots”. That is another way of saying trousers and pointed toe boots. He never really develops any unique insight into any of the inhabitants. This overgeneralization proves Capote’s view that Holcomb is one-dimensional and simplistic, and therefore...
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...To be young and in love with both life and a boy...that’s the stuff a teenage girl dreams about. Yet, to have these taken away in an instant through a heinous murder...is the stuff of nightmare. In the passage describing Nancy in In Cold Blood, Truman Capote utilizes imagery, syntax, and pathos forcing us to understand who Nancy was and feel sad she is gone because she was an innocent teenage girl who was unexpectedly murdered. Capote displays the usage of imagery in the description of her room and the memories of her journey through life, giving us the general perception of the loss, taking us through the actions of her daily life and the layout the sweet and blameless girl and her room. The purity of a girl's room is seen in this passage,...
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...been studying the book, In Cold Blood written by Truman Capote. Having read and studied this nonfiction book on the case of the Clutters, I became interested in the investigation by the police. I decided to write a transcript of a press conference after the arrest of the murderers. It would be held by Al Dewey, the leader of the investigative team in the case of the Clutter family. He is speaking to the public about the details of the police investigation and the motives of the killers. The press conference also gives a small solace for the people of Holcomb, where the crime took place. They have lived under anxiety and fear for 1 month. In order to make the task reflect a real press conference, the conference...
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...Дневник читателя READER’S JOURNAL Ernest Hemingway. The Old Man and the Sea (1952). Joseph Heller. Catch-22 (1961). Tennessee Williams. A Streetcar Named Desire (1959). Iris Murdoch. The Black Prince (1973). Jerome David Salinger. The Catcher in the Rye (1951). Michael Ondaatje. The English Patient (1992). Ray Bradbury. Fahrenheit 451 (1953). Ken Kesey. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1962). Edward Albee. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962). Arthur Miller. Death of a Salesman (1949). ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- Ernest Hemingway. The Old Man and the Sea (1952). ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- FULL TITLE · The Old Man and the Sea ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- AUTHOR · Ernest Hemingway ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- TYPE OF WORK · Novella ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- GENRE · Parable; tragedy ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- LANGUAGE · English ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- TIME AND PLACE WRITTEN · 1951, Cuba ------------------------------------------------- ...
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