Capote - In Cold Blood - Classwork
youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfWMAReGazY
Journal: Respond to one of the following Capote epigrams, attempting to infer what
drives him as a writer.
Life is a moderately good play with a badly written third act.
To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the
music the words make.
I don't care what anybody says about me as long as it isn't true.
Love is a chain of love as nature is a chain of life.
Fame is only good for one thing - they will cash your check in a
small town.
Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.
Genre confusion?
What's a non-fiction novel? Is it possible to have a work of non-fiction presented in
a novel format? What issues might the reader need to confront? pp 3-30
Discussion Questions:
How does Capote paint the setting of the novel? What effect does it have on the
reader? How does his use of diction set the mood / his tone? Objective Correlative?
Describe Herb Clutter’s character as well as his relationship with the community of
Holcomb. How does his wife compare or contrast with him?
Compare and contrast the initial descriptions of Dick and Perry. What’s the big “score”
they have conceived?
Describe Nancy Clutter’s role in the family. How is she perceived? How does the family
(Herb) feel about Bobby Rupp?
What effect do the narrative’s transitions (montage) have on the reader?
pp 30-50
Analyze how the physical descriptions of Dick and Perry reveal their characters.
Describe Mrs. Ashida’s relationship with Herb Clutter.
How do Dick and Perry’s shopping purchases add to the tension?
Describe Kenyon Clutter.
What’s Willie Jay’s influence on Perry? What does he ascertain to be Perry’s flaw? “their
happiness is the source of your frustration” (44)
“nun’s are a bad luck bunch” (46)
What’s Herb Clutter known for? How does that contribute to the rising tension?
What’s the effect of Perry singing the following hymn? Foreshadowing?
And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known. (48)
“Dick’s tone was curt” (49). How do Dick and Perry’s dreams differ in regards to
spending “the score”?
monologues:
Choose a character from Part One, writing a monologue that either reflects their
reaction to the grisly murders or captures their hopes and dreams.
51-74
What does the interview with Bobby reflect on his character?
Describe Dick’s apprehensions about Perry’s character.
How does Dick and Perry’s journey represent the American Dream gone wrong? “Perry
down to his last 15 dollars”? (52)
What was the last stop made by the two travelers before they visited the Clutter
household? What was the bad omen perceived while they were there? “split between
the fingers” (53)
“His legs trembled; the pain in his knees made him perspire” (55)
What ultimately convinces Dick that Perry would make a good partner for his plan?
How does the description of Nancy’s room affect Capote’s tone? How does the
transition to this description affect the reading? What’s the last thing she’s known to
have done?
Describe Capote’s narrative technique in introducing, or not introducing, the murder?
Who initially discovers the murder? What’s their reaction like?
Why does Capote include the perspective of the young English teacher - Larry
Hendricks? How does his description heighten the mystery surrounding the murders?
Why does the sheriff rule out robbery?
How does the conversation between Mrs. Clare and Mother Truitt exemplify the
townsfolks’ anxiety?
How is Mr. Johnson legally and morally obliged?
Who’s the principal suspect after the murder?
“as though sleep were a weapon that had struck him from behind” (73) - How is Capote
trying to affect the reader with his descriptions of Dick and Perry at the end of Part 1?
Journal: Write your perception of how the murders occurred. What was there motive?
In Cold Blood - Part 1 - “The Last to See Them Alive” - Discussion Questions
You have twenty minutes to prep for your 5-7 minutes worth of discussion - use your
grid notes to bring explicit detail to your response
1.) Explore the significance of the title of the chapter “The Last to See Them Alive.” How
does Capote characterize the Clutter family along with the people who saw them last?
2.) Analyze what techniques Capote uses to heighten the mood of mystery in his reader
in Part 1.
3.) Analyze the characterizations of Dick and Perry up until they’re both sound asleep at
the end of Part 1 where Perry is described as having “fallen face down across the bed,
as though sleep were a weapon that had struck him from behind” (73).
In Cold Blood - Part 1 - “The Last to See Them Alive” - Essay Questions - 60 total points
Please embed at least two quotations into your response of ONE of the following
questions. Appropriateness of quotations (20 points); Presentation of knowledge (20
points); Response to question (20 points). Clearly number the the question you’re
responding to on your loose leaf paper.
1.) Explore the significance of the title of the chapter “The Last to See Them Alive.” How
does Capote characterize the Clutter family along with the people who saw them last?
2.) Analyze what techniques Capote uses to heighten the mood of mystery in his reader
in Part 1. What aspects of the crime does he hold back?
3.) Analyze the contrasting characterizations of Dick and Perry up until they’re both
sound asleep at the end of Part 1 where Perry is described as having “fallen face down
across the bed, as though sleep were a weapon that had struck him from behind” (73).
77-100
1.) Why didn’t Stocklein hear the sounds of the guns or the screaming?
2.) “How was it possible...” (79) Erhart
3.) Analyze Capote’s presentation of Dewey. What is his initial opinion (pair)?
4.) Analyze the relevance of Perry’s dream as well as the connection it has to his belief
of fate. (92)
5.) Perry’s poem to Cookie! (98)
IB HL Year 1 - 77-100 ?Pop? - 25 points - ***Answer all questions on loose leaf***
1.) Write down one of your Grid Notes from the reading.
2.) Name one reason Alfred Stocklein did not hear the echo of gun thunder during the
Clutter murders?
3.) What hypothesis does Alvin Dewey as well as the majority of his colleagues favor in
reconstructing the crime? What’s the big question in relation to this concept?
4.) What’s Perry’s initial reaction upon reading the front-page article in the Kansas City
Star?
5.) “A bit below the belt, but then Dick deserved it, his confidence was like a kite that
needed reeling in” (91). How does Perry quell Dick’s exuberance?
Bonus: What recurring image often appears in Perry’s dreams lift him away to paradise?
(+3)
100-120
Journal: In branding one’s work as a non-fiction novel, does the writer have an ethical
responsibility to deliver their prose without any hidden agendas? Or is it impossible for
our human nature to be completely objective? If that’s the case, is it foolhardy to refer to
any text as truly a work of nonfiction? Is Capote’s tweaking of the genre his way of
admitting his embellishing of the text?
How does Capote present the character of Alan Dewey to the reader? What aspects of
the murder confound him as he investigates motive?
After the chapter on Dewey, how is the description of the overstuffed old chevrolet
meant to affect the reader?
How come Capote doesn’t explore the emotions of Beverly, one of Mr. Clutter’s
surviving daughters, instead choosing to treat her as a flat character?
H.W.C. binoculars - style/strategy - you solve the case?
What’s Perry’s scratchy intuition telling him? (109)
“Look at his family! Look at what had happened there!” (110) ?????
How does Perry’s story about King add to the mystery?
Dick running down a dog - emblematic of his character? (dead mongrel)(euthanasia?)
“And since the murders it seems to bother me more” (115).
Why does Mrs. Hideo Ashida and her family want to leave Holcomb?
Relevance of Perry’s Smoky Mountain song? (117) Analyze Perry’s songs/hymns/
poems throughout the novel????
Otto’s sketch of Perry - “its mischief, an amused, babyish malice that suggested some
unkind cupid aiming envenomed arrows” (119)
120-155
Prophesies - Write your own prophesy, predicting what will be revealed later on in the
text?
“for everything had evolved as Perry had prophesied” (123)
“But the big question, and source of heartache, was what to do with his much-loved
memorabilia” (125)
Letter from Perry’s father to the Kansas State Parole Board - Golden Rule - “Live and let
live” (126)
“I’m a jack of all trades, so to speak, master of few and so is Perry” (128)
“Books are out” (129) Does father really know his son?
“easier way of supporting himself in line with my life” (129)
“Be a good boy in prison” (129) antithetical?
the team of “Tex & Flo” (131)
liquor had “soured her soul”
“The one where the Black Widows were always hitting me” (132)
“They hated me, too. For wetting the bed” (132).
“Tex taught his son to dream of gold” (133)
“Dad tried to trick up the place. Made a Garden of Memories” (135) Eden????
“A biscuit” (136)
“”fate,” in the form of “bad company,”” (136)
Letter from Barbara - “I truthfully feel none of us have anyone to blame for whatever we
have done with our own personal lives” (139)
“environment plays an awfully important part in our lives” (139)
Journal: “It is no shame to have a dirty face - the shame comes when you keep it dirty”
“Dad is not responsible for your wrong doings or your good deeds” (140)
“you are as an animal” (142) “your reasoning is off the beam”
Willie Jay’s analysis of the letter - (143) “emotionalism”
“she couldn’t fathom the pressures brought to bear upon you because of your
environment” (144) philosophical conflict in the novel?
“it is easy to ignore the rain if you have a raincoat” (144)
Prognosis? (145)
“What is Life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night” (147)
“Man was nothing, a mist, a shadow absorbed by shadows” (147)
(155) Perry’s Marching music
?!Pop Quiz!? (20 points)- 120-155 - only grid notes are permitted:)
1.) Write down one of your grid notes from the reading
2.) In Perry’s father’s letter to the Kansas State Parole Board, what’s the Golden Rule
he claims to have instilled in his son? How’s this ironic?
3.) In Barbara’s letter to Perry she claims that “environment plays an awfully important
part in our lives” (139). How is this advice relative to Perry?
4.) What’s Willy Jay’s prognosis of Barbara’s letter? How is the following quotation
representative of his perspective on Perry? “It is easy to ignore the rain if you have a
raincoat” (144).
Bonus: (+3): At the end of Part 2, what type of music are Dick and Perry singing and
swinging along to as they march down the road?
Upon completion of the short quiz, respond to the following quotation in your journals:
Journal: “It is no shame to have a dirty face - the shame comes when you keep it
dirty” (140).
159 -180
- role playing - Capote (interviewer/journalist) vs Dick and Perry
- “The young man’s name was Floyd Wells” (159) alluring opening?
- Wells’ description of the Clutters
- time frame - 1959 - how does Dick find out about Clutter - how’s he misinformed “I seemed to remember a
cabinet”? Situational irony? What’s Capote highlighting regarding fate?
- Marie’s reaction to Hickock’s visage? “a bobcat she’d once seen caught in a trap, and
of how, though, she’s wanted to release it, the cat’s eyes, radiant with pain and hatred,
had drained her of pity and filled her with terror” (164) ***embellishment***
- “And that was the ruination of him” (167) institutionalized
- “he can eat a whole tub of pickles” (170) childish perception of Dick’s incredulous
parents
- Mrs. Hickock about Dick’s disappearance - “Ashamed and afraid”
- “the memory of his father’s laughter increased his tension” (174)
- ‘When you gotta go, you gotta go!” (174)
- Zenith portable radio (176)
- “Big long words coming at you in this kinda lispy, whispery voice” (76)
- How do Perry’s items exemplify someone who’s lived a “lonely, mean life” (178)
- He calls himself “the Lone Wolf” (179)
180-206
- “Mrs. Johnson loved it” (180) What did she love?
- “The rights of other people mean nothing to Perry” (181)
- “Oh, he can fool you. He can make you feel so sorry for him-” (182)
- “the mood, like the evening ocean fog now clouding the street lamps” (183)
- “she was the only survivor” (183)
- How do the picture’s in Bobo’s album affect the narrative? (185)
- What does Perry resent most about his father? (185)
- Jimmy’s passion - “part pathological” (186)
- “the garden was white with sea fog” (187)
- What are Dewey’s only clues? - boot prints - “diamond pattern”, and “Cat’s Paw
design” (190)
- “prominent car dealer (who refused to disclose its source)” (191)
- Perry’s premonitions (193)
- Dick - his toughness only existed “where he unarguably had the upper hand” (193)
- the sound of Dick’s voice was like an “injection of some potent narcotic” (194)
- “Some nut that read about what happened out in Kansas” (200)
- “Why should that “big-shot bastard” have all the luck?” (201)
- “no respect for people who can’t control themselves sexually” (202)
- He and Dick were “running a race without a finish line” (202)
- “That was how Nancy had been: like young water - energetic, joyous” (205)
206-230
Role play: Nye versus Hickock / Duntz versus Perry
“Nancy. On Babe. Coming this way” (207)
“there’s plenty of money in bottles” (209)
“hunters” (210)
“What bothered him most , though - he was afraid that the story would leak” (213)
“a sum exceeding to an impertinent extent the value of the contents” (214)
Fate - “the boots were in a box of stuff” (216)
“The secret is: People are dumb” (217)
Dick’s account - Truth or Fiction?
“Nye drew a dagger on the cover of his notebook” (223) “His eyes twitched” (223)
“a living witness” (223) ????
Perry and Smith’s stories straight?
“Dewey exulted in Smith’s silence” (226)
“Perry Smith killed the Clutters” (230) TURNING POINT
230-248
Journal: Analyze the role public hysteria/intrigue plays in shaping our impression of
current events, giving an example from a recent newsworthy event. How can we be
informed yet aloof from the conspiracy theories?
- “The one wanted Clutter out of the way. The brains” (231) public paranoia
- What causes Perry to liberate himself from the truth? (232) “the prisoner gasps”
- “What he don’t know is, I almost did shoot him” (233)
- “I had faith in Dick; he struck me as being very practical, the masculine type” (234)
- “I’ve always trusted my intuitions; they’ve saved my life more than once” (235)
- Why did Dick turn the car around? (235)
- Clutter - “mild and steady” “very mild about it” (237)
- “Nancy” “prudently hid her watch”
- “the one who lied is your friend Floyd Wells” (239) ***all because of a lie*** cruel fate!
- “The glory of having everybody at his mercy, that’s what excited him” (239)
- “Dewey envisions them” (240) heroic Dewey
- “Watching myself in some nutty movie” (240)
- “More as though I was reading a story” (240) cue to reader
- “ as if in tribute” more glory for Dewey (241)
- What did Dick lie about to Nancy? (242) relevance?
- “Now, that’s something I despise” (243)
- How and why does Perry kill Clutter? (244)
- What’s the serious discrepancy between Dick and Perry’s stories? (245)
- “The crime was a psychological accident, virtually an impersonal act; the victims might
as well have been killed by lightning. Except for one thing: they had experienced
prolonged terror, they had suffered” (246)
- “Don’t look much like a necktie party to me” (247)
251-271
- “Institutional dourness and cheerful domesticity coexist on the fourth floor of the
Finney Country Courthouse” (251) ***What’s the setting Capote’s created***?
- Why did Perry initially lie? - “I wanted to fix Dick for being such a coward” (255)
- Why does Perry set the record straight? “he was sorry for Dick’s mother” (255)
- “Dick said he wished we had an ox to roast” (256)
- How do the defense attorney’s take their roles? Fleming and Smith
- “The rich never hang. Only the poor and friendless” (257) - Write a 5 line
blues poem using the aforementioned as the first line.
- Murder of the Walker Family? ...to be continued... copycat or not?
- Mr. Hickock - “having your boy hang, knowing he will, nothing worse can happen to a
man” (259)
- Many thoughts of Dick (259)
- Perry’s separation from Dick - “all by myself. Like somebody covered with sores.
Somebody only a big nut would have anything to do with” (260).
- Letter from Don Cullivan - purpose of its inclusion? (260)
- Irony of Dick making a “shiv” (263)?
- “I felt like Tarzan” (263) both characters are so confined by society!
- “motivated by a desire for adventure, meant to help him escape” (265)
- Yellow bird saves Perry from slicing his wrists with the shattered remains of a bulb.
- Tate’s not impressed with the Clutter estate sale... so? (269)
- Mennonite farmer bought Babe for 75 dollars - “use her for plowing” (271)
271-292
- “people have read about and forgotten” (272) Capote’s memorial
- Smith’s autobiographical statement for Dr Jones: “There was no rule or discipline, or
anyone to show me right from wrong” (275)
- “love and affection... ...drained from my heart like wasted water” (275)
- “I started to realize the importance of an education. This only added to the hatred and
bitterness I held for others” (276)
- Dick’s statement: “revealed his pedophiliac tendencies” (278) ***but not stated***
- What’s Dick ashamed of - sickness, Nancy (279)
- Clutter daughters no show? (280)
- “like a horse that has heard the hum of a rattlesnake” (282)
- “has experienced many vicissitudes” (285)
- 288 - Mrs. Hickock’s tragic figure - another example of the myth of the American
Dream
- Is Perry sorry? (291)
(292) - “While you’re here”
292-317 - 30 points
1.) According to Dr. Jones, did Dick Hickock know right from wrong? Explain the
relevance of his reply.
2.) What is Dr. Jones’ psychiatric diagnosis of Dick Hickock?
3.) What is Dr. Jones’ psychiatric diagnosis of Perry Smith?
4.) According to Dr. Satten, when Perry Smith attacked Clutter, what happened to Smith
psychologically?
5.) How did Dick and Perry react to receiving the death sentence?
6.) Copy down one of your Grid Notes.
Bonus (+3): Name the rule that is a test for criminal insanity (whether someone knows
right from wrong).
317-end
- “His top hat tumbled” - Perry’s dream (319)
- It seemed to Perry as though he existed “deep underwater” - (320)
- “I pretend I’m a tiny little baby that can’t keep its eyes open” (321)
- “We hate the world” (325)
- “recover from the death of due process” (327)
- Why didn’t Fleming and Smith, the defendant’s attorneys apply for a change of venue?
- “Their only hope was through some turn of fate the lives of these misguided individuals
might be spared” (329)
- “American jurisprudence amounts to a legalistic wheel of fortune” (330)
- “That was a cold night” (331)
- What was “nightmarishly unfair” according to Jenkins and Bingham? (336)
- “the festivities” (338)
- “he’d spent his final three years on Death Row painting self-portraits and pictures of
children” (340)
- “Instead he discovered himself recalling an incident of almost a year ago” (341)
- “the whisper of wind voices in the wind-bent wheat” (343)
In Cold Blood - title’s relevance?
Discussion Questions for Part Three - “Answer” - 3-5 minutes (15 minutes prep)
How and why does Perry decide to kill Clutter? Refer to his life’s experiences to
rationalize his actions.
What does Capote hope to emphasize with the following quotation? “The crime was a
psychological accident, virtually an impersonal act; the victims might as well have been
killed by lightning. Except for one thing: they had experienced prolonged terror, they had
suffered” (246)
What “Answers” do we receive in Part III? What’s the discrepancy between Perry and
Dick’s story?
Analyze the many examples of fate’s cruel role in the novel (especially focus on Part 3).
What’s Capote’s stance on fate?
IB HL Year 1
Part 2 Literary Discussion Prompts (choose 1, supporting your response with
quotations from the text) (for writings, additional points will be awarded for a sensible
outline)
1.) Analyze Capote’s use of montage, closely examining the transitions of two such
instances, analyzing the effect they have on the reader.
2.) Examine at least two instances where Capote exposes his bias in the text. How do
they add or detract from his work of non-fiction?
3.) Analyze the philosophical dilemma Capote has presented thus far involving nature
versus nurture.
4.) Analyze at least two of Perry’s songs/poems/hymns explaining what they reveal
about his character.
5.) Analyze Capote’s treatment of fate and superstition thus far in the non-fiction novel.
Final Discussion Questions
1.) What is the effect of montage on the reader?
2.) How does the motif of eyes affect the reading?
3.) How does the character of Perry evolve in the narrative?
4.) What does Dick and Perry’s relationship reveal?
5.) How does Capote’s bias affect comprehension?
6.) How do descriptions of setting ignite the reader’s sympathy.
7.) How do Dick and Perry’s characters evolve upon receiving the death penalty?
8.) How is light symbolically portrayed in the Clutter murders.
9.) How is fate portrayed in the novel?
10.) Analyze the multiple layers of meaning in the title.
11.) How is the text critical of capital punishment, incarceration and the interminable
nature of the justice system?
12.) Analyze the animalistic portrayal Dick/Perry?
13.) “Environment plays an awfully important part in our lives” (139). Analyze Capote’s
perspective on nature versus nurture.
14.) Analyze Capote’s presentation of the setting.
15.) How is the text didactic? What was Capote looking to accomplish in writing the
book? What’s the main theme?
What does Capote hope to accomplish with his humanizing of the killers, especially
Perry Smith?
Is there a hidden agenda here? What’s Capote’s motivation in his characterizations?