Truman CapoteS In Cold Blood Essay Example For Students

Truman CapoteS In Cold Blood Essay Truman CapoteS In Cold BloodTruman Capote was first introduced to the story of the brutal killing of the Clutter family â€Å"†¦one morning in November of 1959, while flicking through The New York Times, I encountered on a deep inside page, this headline: Wealthy Farmer, 3 of Family Slain† (Capote, 3). He decided to write about the crime committed in Kansas, because â€Å"murder was a theme not likely to darken and yellow with time† (Capote, 3). Capote promptly headed for Kansas, where he spent six years researching, solving, and writing about the unforgivable act. Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, the final product of his years of research, is a masterfully written account of the cold-blooded murder of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas in 1959. We will write a custom essay on Truman CapoteS In Cold Blood specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now In writing In Cold Blood, Capote presents the blood-curdling story of the brutal killing of the Clutter family in a journalistic style, and is able to exclude his point of view on all of the events; â€Å"The most difficult thing in In Cold Blood is that I never appear in it, but I solved it†¦The whole thing was done from Al Dewey’s point of view† (Newsweek, 60). Because of Capote’s immeasurable talent for writing, he is able to present factual events, just as in a journalistic article, in a style that seems similar to a fiction novel. His focus in In Cold Blood is on the facts of the events which occur before, during, and after the murder of Mr. Clutter; Kenyon, his fifteen year old son; Nancy, his 16 year old daughter; and, Bonnie, his wife. Capote’s emphasis on the facts can be seen through his thorough account of what the murderers, Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, took from the Clutter’s house, which was about thirty dollars from Mr. Clutterà ¢â‚¬â„¢s billfold, â€Å"†¦some change and a dollar or two† (239) from Mrs. Clutter, a silver dollar from Nancy, and a radio. Added up, Perry and Dick gained â€Å"between forty and fifty dollars† (246) from their visit to the Clutter’s house. As well as being written in a journalistic style, In Cold Blood is written in a documentary style, which switches â€Å"†¦back and forth from the worlds of the Clutter family, and later of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, to the terrible half-world in which the two murderers live† (McCabe, 561). By writing in the documentary style, Capote is able to be specific about the thoughts, feelings, and actions of all of the characters separately, making each character’s situation and point of view clear to the reader. Throughout In Cold Blood, Perry Smith is presented to the reader as a heartless and savage murderer, but during his confession, he says, â€Å"I didn’t want to harm the man. I thoug ht he was a very nice gentleman. Soft-spoken. I thought so right up to the moment that I cut his throat† (302), which makes the readers realize that it is not his savage nature that drives him to murder; it is Smith’s mental condition that does not allow him to feel that his actions are wrong. Along with being a journalistic and documentary piece of literature, In Cold Blood can also be classified as a detective story, because of all of the research and detective work that Capote, himself, did in order to write this extraordinary work, and because of all of the detective work incorporated into the plot. Al Dewey is the chief detective in solving the murders and figuring out the murderers. In actuality, Capote’s detective work and research on the Clutter murders parallels Al Dewey’s work in the non-fiction novel. The combination of the journalistic, documentary, and detective styles of writing in In Cold Blood is what makes this work brilliant and masterful ly written. Through the use of these three styles of writing, Capote is able to present the factual account of the detective work on solving the murders; the events before, during, and after the murders; and personal accounts of all of the characters involved. This combination of styles not only presents all of the possible accounts of the murders, but it also presents the events as a story, such as a fictional novel would present its plot. The unification of journalistic, documentary, and detective styles of writing proves to compose an unsurpassed form of non-fiction. .u89b347ecd70fb0546c82258d5cee342a , .u89b347ecd70fb0546c82258d5cee342a .postImageUrl , .u89b347ecd70fb0546c82258d5cee342a .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u89b347ecd70fb0546c82258d5cee342a , .u89b347ecd70fb0546c82258d5cee342a:hover , .u89b347ecd70fb0546c82258d5cee342a:visited , .u89b347ecd70fb0546c82258d5cee342a:active { border:0!important; } .u89b347ecd70fb0546c82258d5cee342a .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u89b347ecd70fb0546c82258d5cee342a { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u89b347ecd70fb0546c82258d5cee342a:active , .u89b347ecd70fb0546c82258d5cee342a:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u89b347ecd70fb0546c82258d5cee342a .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u89b347ecd70fb0546c82258d5cee342a .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u89b347ecd70fb0546c82258d5cee342a .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u89b347ecd70fb0546c82258d5cee342a .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u89b347ecd70fb0546c82258d5cee342a:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u89b347ecd70fb0546c82258d5cee342a .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u89b347ecd70fb0546c82258d5cee342a .u89b347ecd70fb0546c82258d5cee342a-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u89b347ecd70fb0546c82258d5cee342a:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Martin Heidegger EssayEnglish Essays

Motives for Murder in Edgar Allan Poes The Black Cat

Motives for Murder in Edgar Allan Poes The Black Cat The Black Cat  shares many characteristics with Edgar Allan Poes The Tell-Tale Heart: an unreliable narrator, a brutal and inexplicable murder (two, actually), and a murderer whose arrogance leads to his downfall. Both stories were originally published in 1843, and both have been widely adapted for theater, radio, television, and film. For us, neither story satisfactorily explains the murderers motives. Yet, unlike The Tell-Tale Heart, The Black Cat makes extensive attempts to do so, which makes it a thought-provoking (if somewhat unfocused) story. Alcoholism One explanation that comes up early in the story is alcoholism. The narrator refers to the Fiend Intemperance and talks about how drinking changed his formerly gentle demeanor. And its true that during many of the violent events of the story, hes drunk or drinking. However, we  cant help but notice that even though he isnt drunk as hes telling the story, he still shows no remorse. That is, his attitude on the night before his execution isnt very different from his attitude during the other events of the story. Drunk or sober, hes not a likable guy. The Devil Another explanation the story offers is something along the lines of the devil made me do it. The story contains references to the superstition that black cats are really witches, and the first black cat is inauspiciously named Pluto, the same name as the Greek god of the underworld. The narrator deflects blame for his actions by calling the second cat the hideous beast whose craft had seduced me into murder. But even if we grant that this second cat, who appears mysteriously and on whose chest a gallows seems to form, is somehow bewitched, it still doesnt provide a motive for the murder of the first cat. Perverseness A third possible motive has to do with what the narrator calls the spirit of PERVERSENESS- the desire to do something wrong precisely because you know its wrong. The narrator posits that its human nature to experience this unfathomable longing of the soul to vex itself- to offer violence to its own nature- to do wrong for the wrongs sake only. If you agree with him that humans are drawn to break the law just because its the law, then perhaps the explanation of perverseness will satisfy you. But were  not convinced, so we continue to find it unfathomable not that humans are drawn to do wrong for wrongs sake (because were not sure they are), but that this particular character is drawn to it (because he certainly seems to be).    Resistance to Affection It seems to me that the narrator offers a smorgasbord of possible motives partly because he has no idea what his motives are. And we  think the reason he has no idea of his motives is that hes looking in the wrong place. Hes obsessed with cats, but really, this is a story about the murder of a human. The narrators wife is undeveloped and virtually invisible in this story. We know that she loves animals, just as the narrator supposedly does. We know that he offer[s] her personal violence and that she is subject to his ungovernable outbursts. He refers to her as his uncomplaining wife, and in fact, she doesnt even make a sound when he murders her! Through it all, she is unfailingly loyal to him, much like the cats. And he cant stand it. Just as he is disgusted and annoyed by the second black cats loyalty, we  think he is repulsed by his wifes steadfastness. He wants to believe that that level of affection is possible only from animals: There is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, which goes directly to the heart of him who has frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man. But he himself is not up to the challenge of loving another human being, and when faced with her loyalty, he recoils. Only when both cat and wife are gone does the narrator sleep well, embracing his status as a freeman and looking upon [his] future felicity as secured. He wants to escape from police detection, of course, but also from having to experience any real emotions, regardless of the tenderness, he brags he once possessed.