In Cold Blood door Truman Capote

1 Title

The title has as a symbolic meaning. The title explains how the murders in the book are committed: In cold blood. Without any bad feelings.

2 Setting

The setting of the book is primary a village near the Wheat Plains: Holcomb, Western Kansas. Murderers get caught and are kept in Kansas State Penitentiary.

3 Flash-forwards or flash-backs

The story is mostly told in chronological order, except for the background stories and the confessions, which are flashbacks.

4 Comment on the writing style

Truman Capote writes very long–winded with a lot of additional information. This makes the reading speed to slow down. On the other side is the handling of the language superb. The book is brought as an objective book. By giving lots of backgrounds, details and additional information, the book arouses sympathy for the main characters and thus influences the judgement of the reader.

5 Suspense

There isn’t really a clear line of suspense. The book is told how it the acts actually happened. You can say the suspense is built up very slowly. Except for part one, Capote clearly describes the time before the murder on the Clutter family was committed. So there was some suspense build up.

6 Perspective

The book is written in the third person by an omniscient narrator; the thoughts of all important characters are given.

7 Loose threads

I couldn’t find any loose threads. So I suppose there aren’t any in the book.

8 Best Character to identify

The best character to identify would be Mr. Clutter. He’s a very decent and religious man. With a lot of conservative principles. He’s against alcohol and he’s very economical with money. He’s also very cautious with money and his actions are well-considered. He represents a normal American man living with his all-American family.

9 Most impressing scene

The most impressing scene is the scene where the murdered Clutter family is found in their house. Because the family looked so peacefully and normal and in a moment they were brutally murdered.

10 Most disappointing scene

I think the whole book is disappointing, because Capote writes down so many details and writesso long-winded, that it is not fun to read anymore. It is very interesting though.

11 Other ways of manipulating by the writer

Truman Capote influences the readers' judgement in awakening less or more sympathy for some characters in the book. He also influences the readers' thoughts about the death penalty, he writes about it with affection.

12 Author’s vision of the book

Capote doesn’t describe the killers as senseless persons, on the contrar;y he is very much interested in their state of mind and he seems, at the end of the book, to sympathize with them in their harsh fate. He visited them several times when they were still alive. In the book he presents them as if they were, in a way, victims themselves, and suggests mental illness as a reason for their cruel action. Especially Smith is described as a tragic victim.
Capote is firmly opposed to capital punishment, he is almost as disgusted by the execution of the murderers as by the crime they committed. Because they are mental patients, he feels they should have been treated as such. The court trial which resulted in their conviction, though fair enough, lacked the element of feeling.

13 Genre

In Cold Blood is called a non-fiction novel. The book is based on actual events and the actual murder. You can say that In Cold Blood is a documentary novel.

14 What to change

I would like to change the hanging of the murderers; Perry Smith and Dick Hickock. In the book you get some sort of sympathy for them. I’m also against the death penalty, so this is what I would like to change the most.

15 Meeting

I think I would choose to meet Perry Smith. The reader feels sympathy and some sort of compassion for him, because of his mental illness. I don’t think I’ve got something to say to him, because in one way you can’t blame him, he’s sick. But i would have tried to prevent his hanging.

16 Quotation

The quotation: ‘I didn’t want to harm the man. I thought he was a very nice gentleman. Soft-spoken. I thought so right up to the moment I cut his throat.’ gives a clear view of the illness of Perry Smith, the murderer. The reader sees him as much as a victim as the people who are murdered.

17 Cartoon

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18 Front Cover

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19 Link with other book etc.

No, this book doesn’t remind me of any other book, song, play, painting, sculpture or movie. It’s based on a real story and is a very exceptional crime, so every event or scene is unique.

20 Advertisement

In Cold Blood is the best non - fiction book ever published. This Documentary novel, by Truman Capote, describes the story around the murder of The Clutter family. Whit his superb language and his objective point of view, Truman Capote absorbs the reader into the story.
At the end the murderers were hanged. This scene of extreme judicial cruelty still haunts Capote to the current day, years after he published this fascinating document, a controversial study.

21 Back page

In this book, Truman Capote tells from an objective point of view, the scene and story around the murder of the Clutter family. They were brutally murdered by two men, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. Capote follows the story in time and writes down every detail. Capote was fascinated by the murder, because of the lack of motive and their incredible testimony. With his superb writing, Capote absorbs the reader into the story.
In short: In Cold Blood is a novel you have to read. No one has writen a book of this majority.

22 Movie. What would I alter

If I would direct a movie based on this book, I would alter the style of the story. A movie of this book would have been more like a documentary than a movie. I would strengthen the psychological thriller element, so it would be more interesting to watch.

23 Movie. Which character would I like to play

It don’t want to play any character, because they have all shortages or are in a way. If I could be the omniscient narrator, I would be him. Because of the objective role and the fact that he’s not participating in this story.

24 Opening shot with music

The opening shot would be the members of the Clutter family, in turn, busy with very normal actions. And after the handling of each person I would give a shot of their dead bodies. I would choose peacefully classical music on the background. It strengthens the vision of the normal family and the brutally murder afterwards.
It would also strengthen the psychological and thrilling side of this novel.

25 Last shot with music

The shot before the last shot of the movie would be the hanging of of Perry smith and Dick Hickock. This in combination with very dramatic music. The last shot would be a scene with, in turn, all people who where involved. Meaning that the hanging of both murderers has not changed their sad feelings of the murder on the Clutter family. I would do this to show that the death penalty isn’t soul-saving. The last scene would have less dramatic music than the shot before.