Concept/Vocabulary Analysis
Literary Text: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (Vintage International)
SUMMARY
On November 15, 1959 in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, Dick Hickock and Perry
Smith brutally murdered a family of four during an attempted robbery. In Cold
Blood is Truman Capote’s retelling of these murders, the investigation, arrest,
trial, and execution of these two men. The novel follows the men, their victims,
and the town through the planning of the crime, the actual murders, a five-year
appeals process while Dick and Perry waste away on death row, and, finally,
the hanging of two “enfeebled,” men, much changed from their time in jail. The
novel is much more than a journalistic report of a horrific crime. It delves into
the psychological depths of the crime and weaves a novel-like plot to extract
empathy from the reader. It raises more questions than it answers and would be great for
creating classroom discussions.
ORGANIZATIONAL PATTERNS
Truman Capote described In Cold Blood as the first nonfiction novel. At the time of its publication, the book was
revolutionary because it weaved a true crime narrative into the
form of a standard novel. The book is organized into four parts
entitled “The last to see them alive,” “Persons unknown,”
“Answer,” and “The corner.” The four parts are further divided
into unnamed chapters. Throughout the book, the narrative
jumps from the present to flashbacks in time. These jumps are not
confusing because the murders offer a solid boundary to separate
the time before from the time after.
ISSUES RELATED TO THIS STUDY OF LITERATURE
In Cold Blood is full of mature content and is, perhaps, not
appropriate for all classrooms. It includes sex, adult language, and detailed
descriptions of the murders, jail life, and the executions. It has been
banned (although later reinstated) from American high schools in the past.
The descriptions of violence, by today’s CSI standards, are mild in
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comparison, dealing more with internal character development rather than external actions.
THEME
American Epic Tragedy
Capote makes reference to Greek and Shakespearean tragedies within the first two
paragraphs of his novel. The references, although subtle and indirect,
give readers a clue to Capote’s intentions. For Capote, the nonfiction
novel allowed him to elevate and set as a standard this isolated
incident as exemplary of a larger, true American experience. And like
Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Capote successfully blurs the lines between
insanity, revenge, motivation, sexuality, and even reality. As Capote
described it, this novel moves and explores vertically while the plot keeps marching horizontally
through time until two men find themselves at the end of their rope.
Capital Punishment
Ironically, even though Dick and Perry are on death row, Capote
does a masterful job of humanizing the men, and when Perry refuses to eat
on death row the reader may find a small hope that he will pull through and
recover. At the end of the novel, Perry is portrayed as a small boy, innocent,
dangling from the gallows. Although never directly stated as such,
Capote’s depiction can be taken as an argument against capital
punishment. Indeed, the reader may even question whether the title In
Cold Blood refers to the original murders or the hangings.
Disillusionment
Rural America is no longer safe. Evil has pervaded even the smallest most remote ‘out
there’ parts of America in Capote’s book. The novel opens with a changed, shocked town.
Neighbors no longer trust each other, women are buying locks (any and all locks to secure their
doors), banks and business owners are compromised by Dick’s fraudulent checks, and typically
compassionate nuns are portrayed as child abusers. In short, the town of Holcomb, and by
representation America at large, has stopped dancing. The time of innocence has passed.
Violence in America
Capote argues that of all the people in the entire world the Clutters were the least likely
to be murdered. And even more so, of all the people in the world to commit their murders, Dick
and Perry were the least likely suspects, meaning simply that these two men seemed to have no
motivation for the murder. They were normal enough men. Corrupted? Yes, but certainly not
what is typically associated with gangster type violence. Dick and Perry were not murderers but
they were two men made capable of murder through circumstance. All Americans could likewise
become capable of such violence.
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American Family Values
“Feeling wouldn’t run quite so high if this had happened to anyone except the Clutters,
anyone less admired, prosperous, secure. That family represented everything that people here
really value and respect… and such a thing could happen to them. Well it’s like telling them there
is no God.”
The Clutters’ innocence and good living did not protect them. Capote’s tragedy is
created around the beloved and cherished American values that were so prevalent during the
fifties. The age of modernity, and progress has also brought a decline of another kind.
The Corruptive Power of Obsession
The detective, Alvin Dewey, is obsessed with the case and with capturing the killers. He
brings crime scene photos into his home, answers phone calls at all hours of the night against his
wives protestations, and, in his wife’s words, abandons what was a normal life to pursue this case.
He is consumed with solving the crime and almost destroys himself and his family to fulfill his
obsession. And ultimately at the end of the novel Capote presents Dewey as the prodding force
behind the executions rather than the state as a whole. It is as if Dewey has turned into the
murderer.
CHARACTER FOILS
Mr. Clutter and his family are directly contrasted with Dick and Perry. In every way, Mr.
Clutter and his family represent wholesome America. Dick and Perry represent a damaged
America. Comparing and contrasting these character sets could help students understand how
Capote crafted a novel from facts. For example, Mr. Clutter always writes checks, even for a
$1.50 haircut. Dick also always writes checks, however his are fraudulent and used to cheat and
steal from innocent store managers. In one instance, he writes a check for $80 over the value of a
necklace, takes the necklace and the $80 in cash, pawns the necklace, and makes away with that
money as well.
SETTING
The novel is set in the area surrounding Holcomb, Kansas. At the time of the novel,
Holcomb was a village of around two hundred people.
Capote, of course, couldn’t choose his setting because the
novel is based on true events; however, Capote uses the
rural location to bring urban themes into rural America. He
paints a picture of a disillusioned town no longer safe
enough to leave doors unlocked. The people of Holcomb
begin to distrust each other, as if no place in America can
escape twentieth century violence. The rural setting is also
interesting since he uses the expansive fields surrounding the village to suggest that Holcomb,
and what it represents, can be seen from great distances. Suddenly rural America is center stage.
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POINT OF VIEW, NARRATIVE VOICE
Capote claimed that every word of his novel is true. He manages to avoid inserting
himself into the story. Nowhere is Capote found in the book; yet, upon reflection, it can be
argued that Capote is everywhere in the book. Capote researched the novel for five years and
never took any notes on his interviews. He relied instead on his uncanny memory and ability to
recall conversations. But no matter how good his memory is, the novel includes details that are
absolutely impossible to be a genuine report (for example, the quoted words that Mr. Clutter
spoke in the presence of his wife before the murderers or any other surviving witnesses are
present). Though this style has become quite routine in literature and media today, writing
fiction which was “based on true events” was Capote’s way of breaking new ground at the time.
He used an intense understanding of the characters involved to justify the creation of authentic
dialogue and details where there were none provided to him.
AFFECTIVE ISSUES RELATED TO THE WORK
Students might have a hard time relating to the book and specifically to the characters of
Perry and Dick if they are only viewed as murderers. However, the book speaks from the
perspective of the outsider. Capote, although quite famous during his day, was a flagrant
homosexual and was not a stranger to feeling like an outsider. He
presents Perry in a way that I think teenagers can relate to. Perry is
awkward, confused, damaged, and above all still searching for an
identity. He is not presented as completely innocent but certainly
possessing a level of innocence because of his confused identity and
the lack of love during his upbringing.
IMPLICATIONS FOR STUDENT DIVERSITY
There is little ethnic diversity in this book. It takes place in a village of approximately two
hundred people and focuses mainly on a few isolated individuals. However, Perry is presented as
half-Indian and was called “nigger” by the nuns who raised and abused him. Capote presents the
town as a compilation of Germans, Swedes and various other immigrant groups in an attempt to
make this one town representative of all towns, but the reference is only to create the metaphor
and is not truly representative.
VOCABULARY
As mentioned, the book contains a few uses of the word “nigger.” This issue should
probably be addressed before reading the book. Overall, the
vocabulary is not too difficult and should be accessible for bright,
upper secondary students. It may, however, be helpful to review a
few dated words (e.g. parson, gallows, Spartan (simple) etc.). It
will also be necessary to review some agrarian terms for those not
familiar with ‘growin’ up on the farm’ (e.g. prairie, stetson (hat),
grain elevator, rawhide, 4-H, county-seat, tumbleweed, “dry-county”
(alcohol free), Tom Sawyer, southern belle, Indian summer,
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mongrel, Quonset hut, maize, Hereford (type of cow), etc.)
The vocabulary is not so distracting that it would detract from a student’s ability to gain
meaning from the text, but the novel does contain college level, if not obscure, words here and
there (‘pugnacity’, ‘profundity,’ etc.). Percy especially is quite intelligent and uses large words.
There is even a scene where he finds a journal entry that contains a list of words that he finds
beautiful. He reads the list but also provides each word a definition as transcribed from the
dictionary.
BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE
In today’s crime show-abundant television world, students are exposed to violence and
crime in a pervasive way and may be somewhat desensitized to the descriptions in Capote’s novel.
It may be helpful to review the time period and understand the moral climate (especially for rural
America), the exposure that the people of Holcomb would have
had with this type of crime and even the level of exposure the rest of
the country had at the time of the publication of this novel. It may
also be helpful to review the history of the death penalty and the
arguments surrounding cruel and unusual punishment.
THE CENTRAL QUESTION/ENDURING ISSUE
What is the line between right and wrong?
Obviously the book involves a criminal trial, but the book explores this issue well past the
obvious line of guilt and innocent as proven in a court of law. For
example, a few hours before Mr. Clutter is murdered he signs up for a
life insurance policy with double indemnity. When the insurance agent
hears of the murder, he has not yet cashed Mr. Clutter’s check for the
first payment, making him legally exempt from having to fulfill the
terms of the policy (a hefty sum), but he notes the morally correct thing
to do is to fulfill the policy. The book makes it clear that there are moral
laws that transcend and perhaps even subvert the legal laws of the land,
including the fulfillment of capital punishment.
Is Capital punishment ethical? (or the respect for human
life in general)
The book explores, and perhaps proves, that Dick and Perry are not
wholly in control of their mental faculties. Perry is portrayed as a victim of
abuse; he tries to kill himself, seems incapable of controlling his anger (an
anger unnaturally provoked), and above all is portrayed as being full of
childlike innocence right up until his execution. Yet, this all being true, Perry
and Dick themselves wonder with a sense of incredulity if they will really be
allowed to get away with what they have done. It is as if they believe they
should be punished and perhaps even hope for that. If the reader is not
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persuaded that capital punishment is inhumane, then the book offers the argument that the act of
hanging is, and by extension humankind are poor judges of what is a humane punishment (e.g.
the officers believe that hanging is a painless death for the victim; however, it takes twenty
minutes for the doctor to pronounce death, the victim gasping for breath much of the time).
While some may argue that the hangings concern only a few pages of the entire work, it
can be argued that the rest of the book is there to frame an understanding for the final killings.
PROJECT IDEAS
Debate (public speaking/research)
After class discussion, students can take sides regarding capital punishment. Students
can research famous cases, as well as this one. They can then come together for a debate to
present their research. Students listening can score the debaters for both their effectiveness as
speakers and the persuasiveness of their information. The project could also serve to help
students practice research as much as oral speaking. Finally, this project can be used to help
students evaluate the effectiveness of resources.
Profiling
The FBI uses profiling to create psychological profiles of criminals
including motivation, upbringing, and possible future actions, all from
isolated crime evidence. In the novel, Perry reads a Reader’s Digest article
entitled, “How good a character detective are you?” The article talks about
how characters’ internal make-up can be determined by external signs (a
stiff walk can signal a stubborn personality, etc.). In today’s crime and
television shows, this is an extremely
popular theme. Dr. House can diagnose
anyone, both psychologically and medically,
by these small clues. There is an entire show
entitled “Lie to me” where the premise is that it is impossible to
hide your internal motivations because all of the external actions
and micro-expressions of your facial muscles, body language, etc.
give away the truth of your guilt or innocence.
For this project, students could create character profiles for Dick, Perry, and perhaps
even Dewey or Mr. Cutter. The book relies on these
types of clues to develop the characters (e.g. Mr. Cutter
always uses checks and never carries cash because he is
perpetually preparing for the tax man to come knocking
on his door). Perry’s character is by far the most
developed and would provide heavy fodder for this
activity (e.g. his dreams, ripping his glove, correcting
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grammar, getting stockings from the nuns, love of the taste of aspirin, etc.)
The project could be developed into a formal essay or just remain as a practice in looking
for clues within the text.
ENRICHMENT RESOURCES
There have been many film adaptations
Movies made from Capote’s original book.
The first is a Richard Brooks adaptation made
in 1967; and the latest film “Capote” is an
adaptation of a book by Gerald Clark of the
same title. This latest version focuses on the
life of Truman Capote himself while writing
the book; and it is rated R.
YOUTUBE
There are short interviews with Truman Capote available on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkzeGpGNhRs entitled: Retrobites: Capote's NonFiction Novel (1966)
In this interview Capote discusses the non-fiction novel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1cqDLkT38&feature=channel entitled: Retrobites:
Capote in Kansas (1966)
In this interview he describes how the town of Holcomb first received
Him
Websites:
http://www.capotebio.com/
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