...Cheyenne McDermott Mrs. Albuquerque AP Language and Composition 11 September 2014 In Cold Blood “The village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of Western Kansas, a lonesome area that other Kansans call ‘out there.’ Not that there's much to see—simply an aimless congregation of buildings divided in the center by the main-line tracks of the Santa Fe railroad” (Capote 1). This lonesome, boring landscape was home to a town of people used to the normalcy and monotony that came with their everyday small-town life; until one day, when it all changed. It is November 1959 when the Clutter family is brutally murdered by two previously convicted cons, Perry Edward Smith and Richard Eugene Hickock. Not much was known about the mass homicide outside of the small Kansas village until, after 6 years of hard research, Truman Capote published his tell-all book. In this true story, Capote provided information that depicted the sad and pathetic lives lived by Smith and Hickock up until the murder and gave in depth details about the crime that could be known only by those who committed it (via multiple interviews). Initially, Capote opens the novel describing the small town and goes into detail about the Clutter family’s last living day. By doing this and revealing information about the family that was killed, Capote is taking measures to ensure his readers are sympathizing with the grieving townsfolk and those who knew the Clutters. By showing the readers that two men brutally...
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...1) I think that “In Cold Blood” synthesis essay was the most effective. I got a 95 on it the first time and redid it for a grade of 97. I was able to craft an efficient argument since I was making up my own rhetoric not analyzing someone else's. I Think that as an author I was able to use my own opinions on the subject and I did not have to look through the text for another author's ideas 2) I think so. The first rhetorical analysis I wrote gout a mere 4. The most recent of which got an 8. I think that this is a great improvement over the course of this timeframe. I also was able to learn many new words in the vocabulary quizzes that we took so far. I also was able to understand how Logos, Pathos, and Ethos all can...
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...James Truslow Adams once wrote that the American Dream is “…a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.” The notion of striving for dreams – the American Dream to be precise – is vocal a point to In Cold Blood. Characters flounder with how to achieve their dreams. In Cold Blood, Truman Capote uses characterization to convey the message that the pursuit and thrive to achieve the dream leads to ruin. Characters such as Perry and Dick are prime example of why the American Dream can be fragile and why the dream is an idea not to be tormented...
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...In Cold Blood - Syntax When the novel begins the sentences are long, complicated, and drawn-out, Creating an suspenseful tone and the sense of a calmness before a storm. By using compound-complex sentences Capote is able to give us more insight into characters like Dick, Nancy, and Kenyon. On page 38, Capote writes, “The furniture of the den, a cement-floored room that ran the length of the house, consisted almost entirely of examples of his carpentry (shelves, tables, stools, a ping-pong table) and Nancy's needlework (chintz slip covers that rejuvenated a decrepit couch, curtains, pillows bearing legends: Happy? and You Don't Have To Be Crazy To Live Here But It Helps)" This sentence gives us an insight into the characters of Nancy and her brother, Kenyon, we learn about their hobbies and what kind of people they were. Nancy partook in hobbies that were of “all-american” ideals and had a clever sense of humour....
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...Imagery, not only is it used for creating a vivid picture for the reader, but to further understand the characters and get inside their minds. Through Capote’s writing he uses imagery to add feeling, or sometimes even veer from creating biased opinions. Capote expresses how he feels through the story and wants the reader to establish their own opinion, for his morals are not the exact same as any one person. When Capote is talking about the deaths caused by a shotgun it sounds as though he doesn’t have any emotion towards it, “ended six human lives.” Capote never mentions the fact that two of those lives were those of the killers or that the others were the victims, they were all simply “human”. He does this so that he will not influence the reader’s thoughts on any particular character, this could be due to him not wanting reader’s to be so quick to judge the murderers. Because of that statement the reader may be confused, or be left on edge, “four shotgun blasts.” How do four shots lead up to six deaths? This leaves the reader guessing however, they are still clueless about the events yet to unfold. Behind Capote’s words lies a hidden meaning, the meaning being that he relates to Perry. Perry, a murderer with a tough up bringing. Does his past justify his violent crimes, should reader’s carry sympathy for Perry? Capote’s writing suggests that he does feel sorry for Perry and he wants reader’s to know about Perry’s traumatic childhood before forming an opinion on him. “After...
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...In Truman Capote’s novel, In Cold Blood, the story of Dick Hickock and Perry Smith’s brutal murder of the Clutter family is shared with the reader. Capote writes to show the reader Perry and Dick in a new light. Using syntax, tone, and diction, Capote wraps the reader into getting to know Dick and Perry. Capote begins introducing the reader to Dick and Perry in a clearer sense starting with their arrival to Garden City. One technique that Capote uses in his syntax to connect with the reader is hyphens; they are used to expose the reader to the situation as well as the mood that Dick and Perry’s arrival holds. Capote makes the reader experience the atmosphere of their arrival as he writes: “It was the return of Hickock and Smith these professional...
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...Capote’s purpose of this passage was to create a simplistic version of the life in Holcomb, Kansas and to give a deeper insight on Herb’s personality and characteristics to the audience. Clearly, Herb is a generous and composed individual who can differentiate between what is right and wrong and take actions accordingly. As a responsible father, these traits will help raising his kids to be mature and hard working individuals with successful lives. Towards the middle of the passage, O’Brien utilizes imagery when describing the dazzling plains in Kansas and juxtaposing something darker and more insightful about winter time in Colorado. The words, "apple-eating," "sheep-slaughtering," and "rough Colorado winds,"displays how often the weather...
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..."He told me once that there was no better faith than a wounded faith and sometimes I wonder if that is what he was doing all along-trying to wound his faith in order to test it- and I was just another stone in the way of his God." (284) I chose this quote because it shows the imperfectness of faith does not mean it is not strong. This quote resonates with me because I believe that faith needs to be tested to so you can understand its strength. Without our faith being challenged by God we don't know if it is real. God would not challenge us with anything that he knew we wouldn't be able to handle and I believe thats what Corrigan's faith meant to him as well. Corrigan tested his faith by making decisions that challenged it. He knew his faith was not perfect and by wounding his faith it only made it stronger. But to Adelita it was different. She knew that he was devoted to God and felt like she was being used to help him get closer to God. Corrigan's struggle with devotion to God and devotion to Adelita was reoccurring throughout the novel. I think this quote is important because it shows that Adelita also struggled with Corrigan's internal conflict. She could see Corrigan's struggle between God and herself and felt like she was in the way of his true love and salvation. "He said to me once that most of the time people use the word love as just another way to show off they're hungry. The way he said it went something like: Glorify their appetites." (225) I chose this quote...
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...gloomy and depressing? This sentence is quoted from a novel titled In Cold Blood, written by Truman Capote. In this novel, Capote tells us about a little town in Kansas known as Holcomb. He portrays to us that Holcomb is a little, run-down town that doesn’t really have any events going on in it at all. Truman Capote uses rhetorical strategies, such as imagery, diction, and tone, to display to us “all” that it has to offer. Capote uses many rhetorical strategies to put into perspective for us the characteristics of Holcomb,...
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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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...Throughout In Cold Blood Capote goes through the lives of the killers, Dick and Perry. Both convicts released from jail and at first glance seem to have a lot in common, but as the book continues the reader can see that the two characters are in fact very different. To characterize the killers Capote frequently uses flashbacks into their pasts, giving the reader a sense of what their lives were like and why they became who they are. Capote also utilizes detailed descriptions of the men’s appearances, quirks, and habits to characterize the murderers. From the moments in the book when we read about the brutal murders of such a benevolent family the killers appear to be nothing more than violent, cold hearted brutes, to be capable of committing such a terrible crime without no apparent motive. As Dick and Perry are running away from the village of Holcomb, Capote begins to delve into the lives of the men. Perry’s past reveals an unstable household, an alcoholic mother, and an abusive childhood as Capote flashes back in Perry’s memories “when he was seven a hated, half-breed child living in a California orphanage run by nuns—shrouded disciplinarians who whipped him for wetting his bed. One of these beatings, one he could never forget. She woke me up she had a flashlight, and she hit me with it. Hit me and hit me. And when the flashlight broke, she went on hitting me in the dark(Capote 93) .” Later on Perry’s memories flashback again as he remembers his family “his mother, an alcoholic...
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...In the two pages assigned from the book ‘In Cold Blood’ I chose two different but complimentary tones, which are intense and critical. These two words show different types of emotions towards the first two pages. Like the word intense, it shows how the people where getting close to finding the responsible for the family’s death. The tone word critical shows how they needed to be carefully on cleaning the scene because of the critical concept that happen there. The Authors diction is to let the reader know how the people felt towards the beginning of part two, when they were searching through the house where the incident had happened. When the four men agreed to clean four of the fourteen rooms, one man remarked “it just shut you up. The...
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...In Cold Blood Character Analysis Essay Perry Smith Is one born a murderer or does one become a murderer? That is the question that Truman Capote tackles in his non-fiction novel In Cold Blood. In his 1966 novel Capote relates in detail the true and horrific murders of four members of the Clutter family in 1959 in the town of Holcomb, Kansas, but more specifically focuses on the murderers, Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, and their motivation to commit such a cold blooded crime. Out of the two, Perry Smith is the most complex character who displays a natural ability to kill, but who also has been shaped to become a murderer, making a more “likable” character than his co-murderer Dick Hickock. In the first part of his novel entitled The Last to See Them Alive, Capote gives the reader hints that Perry Smith is indeed born a natural killer. When he was jailed in the Kansas penitentiary “Perry described a murder, telling how simply for the hell of it," he had killed a colored man in Las Vegas - beaten him to death with a bicycle chain” (Capote 54). After hearing the story his future partner in crime Dick Hickock “became convinced that Perry was that rarity, "a natural killer" - absolutely sane, but conscienceless, and capable of dealing, with or without motive, the coldest-blooded deathblows” (Capote 55). Perry Smith certainly proved to be “that rarity” when he cold bloodedly killed with a single shot in the head Nancy, Kenyon, Bonnie Clutter, and cut Herb Clutter’s throat...
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...Analysis of Truman Capote’s Purpose and Language in “In Cold Blood” Truman Capote, author of “In Cold Blood” wrote this book, like most authors, for the entertainment of others, but he has created a new genre, true crime. This wasn’t his intended purpose but it was the start to crime drama. If Capote didn’t write this crime entertainment wouldn’t be the same. This novel was different than anything ever done before, making this genre more appealing to consumers creating a feedback loop expanding the industry. His actions are clearly effective through the strong evidence of crime drama in today’s society. This new genre let readers ‘get into the mind’ of the criminals which is appealing to the average person. A backstory doesn’t justify...
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...Although Capote portrays Perry as childlike, calm, and gentle in sections one and two, he complicates his personality, making Perry appear as the more brutal of the two men; therefore, illustrating that there can be many layers to one's personality. Capote uses amplification in order to exaggerate Perry´s ability to manipulate. Two inspectors visit Perry´s sister, Mrs. Johnson, in order to interview her about her brother. She tells the inspectors not to give Perry her address because she is afraid of him. The inspectors ask if she is afraid he might harm her physically, and she responds with: ¨´But I'm afraid of him. I always have been. He can seem to warm-hearterted and sympathetic. Gentle. He cries so easily. Sometimes music sets him off, and when he was a little boy he used to cry because he thought a sunset was beautiful. Or the moon. Oh, he can fool you. He can make you feel so sorry for him--¨ (Capote 182). Leading up to this interview, Capote repeatedly illustrates how Dick is a monster compared to Perry, and portrays the idea that Perry has potential to be good. However, the way Mrs. Johnson describes Perry and exaggerates how he can come off as warm-hearted and kind, is similar to the way he appears in section one and two. As more details of Perry are revealed, he is presented in a manipulative way, just as Mrs. Johnson states. This illustrates the idea that one can have many different aspects to their personality, until you get to know them well enough. In order to...
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