Intro to Capote
Go ahead…take some notes!
As we read…
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You will be expected to annotate your text
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Bookmark!
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Either in the text, or with sticky notes.
Guiding suggestions
Rubric
Think about the following question:
Can man alone be held responsible for his actions when
his environment has relentlessly neglected him?
The Bookmark: Themes
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Nature versus Nurture
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In particular, Perry Smith.
How he is portrayed by Capote within this context
 Childhood experiences/true accounts
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The Bookmark: Themes
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Retribution
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Punishment for a wrongdoing, vengeance.
“Why don’t you arrest somebody?”
The Bookmark: Themes
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Sexuality
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Insecurity surrounding sexuality for the two
killers
Homosexuality (undercurrent within the
novel; Capote himself)
The Bookmark: Themes
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Fate
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Capote describes events in great detail,
including the small “twists of fate” that lead to
the murders.
The Bookmark: Style
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Foreshadowing
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The details that Capote chooses to identify.
The Bookmark: Style
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Symbolism
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Largely relates to Perry Smith
“bubbles in his blood”; actual blood is boiling
The Bookmark: Style
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Verisimilitude:
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The appearance of truth, actuality, or reality; what
seems to be true in fiction.
How Capote portrays the small-town: documentarystyle realism.
Capote never claimed In Cold Blood as “pure
journalism”
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Often credited with establishing the True Crime genre.
Literary nonfiction, the New Journalism, and literary
journalism.
The Bookmark: Style
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Motifs
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Repetition of character-specific motifs
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Reminders of the nature of the subjects
The dark, open road
Gothic Literature
Grows out of ROMANTICISM
 emphasizes intuition, passion, mysticism leads into the supernatural
 emphasizes the individual especially the unusual protagonist
 is interested in the past and exotic, faraway places
 Lacks optimism; often associated with the dark side of
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people
 Got its name from the settings, usually Gothic architecture
 such as castles and cathedrals
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Representative author = Edgar Allen Poe
 Probably the most famous Gothic novel is Frankenstein.
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grotesque characters, bizarre situations
strange of terrifying events, and gloomy or run-down settings
The Bookmark: Southern Gothic
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Unusual because it is region specific.
Takes elements of Gothic style and places
them in a Southern environment.
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Generally avoids the supernatural element,
and focuses instead of the warped personality.
Often deals with those ostracized or afflicted
by Southern culture/values.
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Race/Homosexuality/Women
The Bookmark: Capital Punishment
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Waited to finish the book until the hanging
of Smith and Hickock (April 14, 1965)
Capote’s negative view of Capital
Punishment
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Not in any way neutral throughout the text
Clearly against it
 Interesting legal fact: this occurred before the
Miranda Supreme Court Decision (1966)
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Other things to take note of…
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Loss on Individualism
Loss of Innocence
Communism – threats to
democracy
East vs. West
Masking society’s flaws
Religion
Conformity
American morality
Violence
Fear of the Unknown – Cold War,
Space Age
Evolution of the family unit
Reality vs. Perception
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Immigration
WWII
Disillusionment
Abuse
Neglect
Humiliation
Rebellion
Fate
Isolation / Nonconformity
Homosexuality
Escapism / Aimlessness
Idealism vs. Reality
Racism
Truman Capote (1924-1984)
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Born in New Orleans, LA
Truman Streckfus Persons
Buddies with Harper Lee (To Kill a
Mockingbird)
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She was with him in Holcomb
Openly homosexual: Jack Dunphy
Never achieved the height of In Cold
Blood again.