Personal Review

           Truman Capote’s novel, In Cold Blood, was an interesting and heartbreaking story of the murder of the Clutter family but is ended with justice being served to the two killers who committed the crime. I was fond of the interesting way Capote created the book in going back and forth from the Clutter Family investigation of their murders to the murderers themselves and what they are doing to prepare for what first was intended as being a robber, but ends up becoming a murder, to what they were doing after they committed the crime. Through the description of every scene and interview that Capote explains, keeps the reader hooked to the story until they figure out why this horrible tragedy was done to the Clutter family. It keeps you at the edge of your seats and relieves you with a sigh of relief when it is seen at the end of the story that the killers are ultimately caught and meet the consequences of their actions. It is a unique book where the story is told through the various people that were a part of the investigation of the murders and has an interesting twist in having the reader see what the killers are up to as well.     

Text Connection

            Throughout In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote, the two killers in the story, Dick and Perry, intended to gain wealth through robbing the house of the Clutters. A text-to-text connection can be made to F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, The Great Gatsby, due to the fact the protagonist in his story too tries to gain his wealth in an illegal way such as Dick and Perry do by also giving out bad checks in order to get certain items like jewelry that they end up pawning to get the cash for it before the faulty checks bounce.

           When it comes time for the execution of the two killers of the Clutter family, Dick and Perry, they are relaxed and do not show any trace of panic among themselves as their final hours are up and it is their time to be hanged. A text-to-entertainment connection can be made to the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End because the movie begins with a line of pirates waiting until it is their turn to be hanged. Instead of starting to freak out as the get closer and closer to their deaths, they start singing and proudly walk up those dreadful steps to their ultimate death. In both executions the calm, eased feelings of the individuals facing their death is seen and felt.

Syntax

            Through the use of various forms of syntax, Capote is permitted to bring out a certain tone, purpose, or style in his distinctive way of writing, throughout In Cold Blood.

           At the beginning of the story, Capote depicts Holcomb, the main setting of the story, and goes on explaining that “not that there is much to see—simply an aimless congregation of buildings divided in the center by the main-line tracks of the Santa Fe Railroad, a haphazard hamlet bounded on the south by a brown stretch of the Arkansas (pronounced “Ar-kan-sas”) River” (3). Due to the use of the dashed line, Capote is allowed to provide the reader the additional information as to why Holcomb does not have much to see. His purpose as to why Holcomb is not that great of a place to be in is permitted through Capote’s use of the dashed line. Also Capote’s use of the parenthesis towards the end of the sentence is to inform the reader how to pronounce Arkansas.

           While describing the scene of the murder of the Clutter family, Susan, the friend of Nancy Clutter who was included in the murder, explained while looking at Mrs. Clutter’s dead body, “her eyes were open. Wide open. As though she were still looking at the killer—aim the gun. Nobody said anything.” (63). In this example of syntax, Capote uses short concise sentences to achieve the purpose of giving off a panicked and stunned tone of the person illustrating the scene of the murder due to her not believing what she is seeing. Once again it is seen here that through the dashed line Capote is successful in explaining what Mrs. Clutter might be watching the killer do, which is to aim the gun at her.

Diction

• As Capote is introducing Mr. Clutter, he illustrates that “his shoulders were broad, his hair had held its dark color, and his square-jawed, confident face retained a healthy-hued youthfulness” (6). Capote’s use of the words “healthy-hued” and “confident”, which have positive connotations, gives off a liking and admirable tone towards the character. It gives off the impression to the reader that Capote is affectionate towards Mr. Clutter.
• While describing the evils of the season he proceeds on explaining that the “winter’s rough Colorado winds and hip-high, sleep-slaughtering snows; the slushes and strange land fogs of spring; and summer, when even crows seek the puny shade, and the tawny infinitude of wheatstalks bristle, blaze” (10-11). Through the negative connotation of “sleep-slaughtering”, Capote presents the reader with a destructive tone but then concludes the sentence with a weak tone due to the word “puny”, which also contains a negative connotation.

Rhetorical Strategies

• Appositive: “The Past Wednesday, returning from two weeks of treatment at the Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, her customary place of retirement, Mrs. Clutter had brought scarcely credible tidings to tell her husband” (7).
• Foreshadowing: “Then, touching the brim of his cap, he headed for home and the day’s work, unaware that it would be his last” (13).
• Simile: “When she opened it, the heat gathered inside the room was like a sudden, awful hand over her mouth” (29).
• Simile: “It was as though his head had been halved like an apple, then put together a fraction off center” (31).
• Imagery: “Blue-furred, orange-eyed, red-fanged, a tiger snarled upon his left biceps; a spitting snake, coiled around a dagger, slithered down his arm; and elsewhere skulls gleamed, a tombstone loomed, a chrysanthemum flourished” (32).
• Alliteration: “But what meant most to Kenyon—and Bob, too—was their wandering, wrapping up in blankets, listening at sunrise for the noise of wings, moving toward the sound on tiptoe, and then, sweetest of all, swaggering homeward with a dozen duck dinners swinging from their belts” (39).
• Onomatopoeia: “It’s like playing tackle on a football team: Wham! Wham! WHAM! Not that I’m complaining, mind you” (66).
• Metaphor: Goes to whoever puts in the lowest bid. And I always do—so low a caterpillar could peek over it” (67).
• Rhetorical question: “For who could sleep in a house—a modest one-story house—where all night the telephone had been sounding every few minutes?” (100).
• Invective: “Sure I did. Only—a nigger. It’s not the same” (109).

In his novel In Cold Blood, Truman Capote utilizes various rhetorical strategies to bring diversity to his unique style of writing. He employs certain rhetorical devices to bring about an assortment of information in a specific way, whether it is about the murdered Clutter family and the investigation of their deaths or the killers themselves. Through the use of an appositive, as seen above, Capote is allowed to create an informative style of writing by being able to include the additional information about Mrs. Clutter’s treatment center that she is returning home from is the one she normally attends to. It allows for that extra detail to be known to the reader without necessarily affecting the purpose of the sentence itself. Throughout the story, Capote uses a vast amount of imagery, which is essential to his producing his detailed style of writing that he develops with every scene he illustrates to the reader as the plot builds up.