In Cold Blood By Truman Capote

On November 15, 1959, 4 murders took place. Perry smith and Dick Hickock took the lives of four innocent people. “In Cold Blood”, written by Truman Capote, describes each of the murderers life. Perry smith was born in Huntington, Nevada on October 27, 1928. Perry was abused by his father and his family soon left his father. His mother was an alcoholic, and died when he was 13. He and his siblings were put in an orphanage where he was abused for wetting his bed. From there he was moved to a salvation army orphanage where a caretaker allegedly tried to drown him. Perry moved back with his father, from there he started getting into trouble with the police. He was in and out of juvenile detention. Perry smith should be held accountable for his

Truman Capote 's In Cold Blood is a stupendously written book, regularly acclaimed for it 's unparalleled style. As needs be, readers mustn 't look exceptionally far before they discover a surplus of rhetoric. Capote is regularly credited with having made the first crime novel, and he didn 't get this praise by composing such as others. He utilized his fascinating composition style to make his readers feel as if they were really in the book, rather than preserving the barrier between the reader and the page. He permitted them to get inside the character 's heads and truly know them, seeing flickers into the character 's pasts while, likewise, foretelling events to come. He wrote with a very, for the time, eccentric style, but also one that ended up being incredibly powerful.

In Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, the author confronts the reader with the discussion of the need for the death penalty, by presenting the issue through the characters of Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. He writes, “Our state provides that the punishment for murder in the first degree shall be imprisonment for life or death by hanging. That is the law. You, gentlemen, are here to enforce it. And if ever there was a case in which the maximum penalty was justified, this is it.” (27-31) The Prosecuting Attorney Logan Green uses the law as a justification of the death penalty. This statement clarifies the penalty and proves the necessity of its use. The Attorney views this to be the prominent solution, in which anything less would be too fair to the murderers. He then states, “So gentlemen, what are you going to do?

In this day and age the term “murder” is coined as a word used in everyday language, albeit fifty years ago in the [rural] heartland of America, that word evoked emotion out of the entire town’s population. Prior to writing In Cold Blood, Truman Capote had written several pieces that lead him to writing a piece of literature that would infuse fiction and nonfiction, thus In Cold Blood was created, albeit after six years of research (“Truman” 84). "Truman Capote is one of the more fascinating figures on the American literary landscape, being one of the country's few writers to cross the border between celebrity and literary acclaim…He contributed both to fiction and nonfiction literary genres and redefined what it meant to join the

Literature, the dictionary defines it being the art of written works that is simultaneously designed to entertain, educate and instruct its audience; writers, using their skill of telling stories, use literature in an attempt to transfer their ideas from paper to the reader; for some, this task means bringing their story to a different place and time that is entirely separate from what the could be perceive as ordinary, on order to serve the writer’s intent. With this, the impossible, becomes the probable, and the worst fear imagined becomes the breathed reality; with no separation between the truth, and fiction. The word “literature” in itself cannot be accurately defined, and by attempting to do so, it limits the word not only in its

Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood makes a great case for justice in relation to death. In the book, two criminals, Dick and Perry, worked together to murder the Clutters. They got caught and trial, however at the time Kansas maximum incarceration was life imprisonment with parole and most prisoners are paroled after twenty years. Twenty years of imprisonment for brutally killing four members of the most influential family in the area, causing mass hysteria for everyone in Holcomb and for others who are involved in the case is unquestionably too short. However, is the death penalty fair for both of them, considering Dick had a mental disorder and Perry had a terrible upbringing? This brings us to a bigger, broader question: to what extent does the law and judgement system achieve their main purpose: bringing justice to everyone?

In cold blood was a book about the struggle of a town trying to cope with the loss of a prestigious family in the community. It gave insight on an eye-opening murder that took place in Holcomb County, Kansas. The book gave statements and details from every point of view, allowing the reader to connect with all characters.

In Cold Blood is like a fictional novel because he wrote of a true account in a poetry-like way. He used many details to capture the setting and the characters. On page 3, instead of stating the story takes place in Holcomb, it’s expressed using figurative descriptions, such as: “a lonesome area that other Kansans call ‘out there.’” The novel shows journalism because as the readers goes through the events in the book, they are told of accounts from a wide range of people, such as the friends and acquaintances of the Clutters, to the investigators on their case. Because of the fictional and journalist aspects, Capote created suspense in the novel, detailing the ‘behind-the-scenes’ before the murder, saving the murder walkthrough until the near

Throughout their childhood and later adult life Dick and Perry are exposed to experiences which contribute to their lawlessness in the book In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. Recurring trends throughout each man’s lives such as their involvements in traumatic car accidents and higher education contribute to their unstable mental being, which eventually leads to the murders of the Clutter family. In Cold Blood argues that Dick and Perry’s backgrounds make their criminality inevitable.

Crime and Punishment in Kansas: Truman Capote's In Cold Blood." Hollins Critic, vol. 3, no. 1, 1966, p. 1 +. Literature Resource Center, Gale

Hickock was able to use this to his advantage, often referring to Smith as “honey,” to appeal to his attraction (15). Hickock was the one who wanted to rob the Clutters originally; he was the one who obtained the information, albeit false, from Floyd Wells. Smith was persuaded later to help out, most likely by Hickock promising him a hefty sum from the job. Later, at the Clutters’ abode, Smith told Hickock, “‘these people are telling the truth. The one who lied is your friend Floyd Wells. There isn’t any safe, so let’s get the hell out of here,’” but, “He said he wouldn’t believe it till we searched the whole house,” and then, “says Dick, after we’ve found the safe, we’ll cut their throats” (239). Smith preferred not to kill them, and told Hickock he wanted to leave, but he refused to leave and insisted that they should continue searching and then kill them. Hickock directed Smith to murder the Clutters, which according to the wording of the law, proves he is guilty of this aggravating circumstance.

Capital punishment has been under scrutiny since the uprise of civil rights movements during the mid-1950’s. This is the sentence that was dealt to Dick and Perry from In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. Capital punishment is defined as the legally authorized killing of someone as punishment for a criminal. An alternative to this sentence is life without parole in which a person stays in prison for their rest of their life with no option to leave. There are many reasons why capital punishment is the right sentence for certain criminals similar to Dick and Perry such as the money it saves, the prevention of future crimes, and bringing closure to a family.

One debate that is surrounded by the death penalty is the humanity of it. Can we consider making someone wait for months, and even more realistically years, to be put to death? In the books The Last Day of a Condemned Man and In Cold Blood, both narrators tell the tale of impending death. While The Last Day of a Condemned Man is told in a first person view, In Cold Blood is told from a third person. Although from different views, each tells the trials and tribulations of approaching the death penalty.

Critical Question: Is there a theme to the poem “Fire and Ice” that many can still relate to today?

In society today, many believe executing a human being for committing an immoral act is the most appropriate type of punishment that should be given to a convicted criminal. The name of this capital punishment is mostly referred to as, The Death Penalty, and it can be presented in different ways. This consists of being vitally shot at by a firing squad, poisoned in a gas chamber, given a lethal injection, and so on. Today in the United States, there are thirty one states that approve of the death penalty, while nineteen states believe it is unethical and have completely abolished it from its state (Robert Costa). This amazing data reveals to our society that no one believes a convicted criminal should be forgiven after committing a barbarous crime, especially if that criminal had or attempted to murder an innocent civilian. In addition, at least 4.1% of all defendants sentenced to death in the US in the modern era are innocent(Pilkington). According to the first major study, there was an attempt to calculate how often states get it wrong in their wielding of the ultimate punishment. This can be usually seen as an unfair judgement for the accused criminal, but by this time it would have been too late. In the novel, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, civilians views and beliefs about the death penalty have changed because of the novel.