IN COLD BLOOD

by Truman Capote
Table of contents
1. The author Truman Capote 2. An epic nonfiction novel 3. Short presentation of the four parts The Last to See Them Alive Persons Unknown Answer The Corner 4. A suggestive title 5. A real story 6. Dick and Perry psychiatric issues 7. A modernist novel 8. Concluding remarks

TRUMAN CAPOTE (1924-1984)

He was one of the most notorious writers of his time. His wit and knockout opinions kept him on television and in magazines as a major personality. Capote did not attend college. Instead, he published a few short stories and eventually a first novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms, in 1948. A succession of books followed, as did involvement with the stage and film. In 1958 he wrote Breakfast at Tiffany's.

IN COLD BLOOD an epic nonfiction novel

After almost ten years living in Europe, Capote returned to the United States in the late 1950s hoping to compose what he termed "an epic nonfiction novel. In Cold Blood was that book. In 1959, Capote noticed a small newspaper item describing the mysterious murder of a Kansas ranch family of four. He decided that this might be the perfect story for him to write about. Five years of intense research followed, during which time Capote became very close to the two murderers, Richard Eugene Hickock (Dick) and Perry Edward Smith. He talked to the townspeople of Holcomb, where the murders were committed. He followed the police investigation and the eventual appeals process until the execution of Hickock and Smith in 1965. During interviews he never took notes or used a tape recorder; instead, he was able to transcribe the interviews from memory, a skill he had been practicing for years. The result, published in January 1966, was a long and highly acclaimed novel, a success critically and commercially. According to Capote, every word of In Cold Blood is true. And Capote himself never appears in the book. He believed that the key to good journalism was making the author invisible.

IN COLD BLOOD short presentation

The novel is divided into four parts, the titles of which are very relevant for their content: The Last to See Them Alive Persons Unknown Answer The Corner

The Last to See Them Alive

Everything starts on the 14th of November, 1959. The town of Holcomb and the Clutter family are described in the middle of their daily activities. The familys members living in the house are: Herbert Clutter, his wife Bonnie and their children, Nancy and Kenyon. They are very respected in their community. Then, Perry and Dick are introduced. They are two ex-convicts, who now prepare for a long drive to Holcomb, planning something which is not yet revealed to the reader. However, what is, in fact, revealed is that they are capable of even killing the entire Clutter family and whoever might

be with them in order to obtain what they want. Their motto is no witnesses. Dick, thinking about the problems they might be confronted with, says: There's him. Her. The kid and the girl. And maybe the other two. But it's Saturday. They might have guests. Let's count on eight, or even twelve. The only sure thing is everyone of them has got to go." And, even more coldblooded, he says to Perry: "Ain't that what I promised you, honey - plenty of hair on them-those walls?" Dick and Perry arrive at the Clutter home, but we are not informed about what they do there. All we know is what some friends of the family see the next day, i.e. the dead bodies of the Clutters. The murder is announced on the radio and everyone is shocked by the news, while the criminals are presented as being miles away from the crime scene, acting totally normal and returning to their everyday life.

Persons Unknown
The KBI, headed by Alvin Dewey, investigates the scene. The only clues found are a footprint and a missing radio. Dewey is unsure of the motive for murder, but he visualizes how he thinks the crime occurred. He thinks that the killer must be someone close to the family. Rumor sets the small town of Holcomb on fire. Meanwhile, Perry and Dick pass some false checks, and the two flee to Mexico. Perry has always dreamed of finding sunken treasure in Mexico. Perry tells Dick he is surprised that he was able to go through with the killings. While the investigation in Kansas begins to methodically follow up dead end leads, Perry and Dick run out of money in Mexico City and they plan on returning to the states. Perry goes through his personal belongings and remembers his childhood. His mother and father rode the rodeo circuit until they had a falling out. Perry was passed from home to home as a child. Now, two of his three siblings have killed themselves. He reads a letter from his father, which fills Perry with both hatred and love. He also reads a letter from his sister Barbara, whom he loathes, and who, in turn, is afraid of him.

Answer
The investigation of the Clutter murders seems to be heading nowhere. However, Floyd Wells, an inmate, hears of the murder case and, being sure that Dick Hickock is responsible, gives the information to the authorities. Dewey is careful to keep this secret because he wants the accused to feel falsely safe. Meanwhile, Dick and Perry pick up hitchhikers, mean to kill them, but their plan is deterred.

 Dewey gets a phone call from another agent, who informs him that Dick is in Kansas and has been passing fake checks. Dick and Perry are captured and they deny the murder at first. Then, being separated, Dick admits the killing but blames the murders on Perry. The latter says he murdered the men while Dick murdered the women. The officers tell them that there is a witness and Dick knows it is Wells. On a car ride to Garden City, Kansas, the police tell Perry that Dick told them about the story of Perry killing the negro. Perry is very surprised because he thought the police were bluffing, but now he knows that Dick truly placed the blame on him. Perry gives a full confession and even says that he takes full responsibility for all four murders because he thinks Dick's parents are good people. Perry describes exactly what happened at the Clutter house that night, how calm and trusting Mr. Clutter was, how exactly he locked them in the bathroom, tied them up and killed them one by one, and how Dick wanted to rape Nancy. They go to the jail amid a watchful crowd.

The Corner
At their trial, a psychologist asks Dick and Perry to write him an autobiography, and he psychoanalyzes them to determine if they can claim temporary insanity. The defense makes its case. Perry and Dick's lawyer hopes that the psychologist can claim temporary insanity, but when questioned whether Dick was sane, the psychologist said "yes." When questioned whether or not he could determine whether or not Perry was sane, he said "no." He is not allowed to give further information, but Capote presents to the reader what he would have said about Dick and Perry's characters. Judge Tate calls for death penalty for Dick and Perry. They are assigned cells in "The Corner," the death row, with other cold-blooded criminals given the death penalty, including Lowell Lee Andrews, a scholar who Perry detests. Perry tries to starve himself while Dick writes letters to various appeals organization. However, after five years, Dick and Perry are hanged on April 15, 1965. When death comes, Dick is awkward and Perry is remorseful.

IN COLD BLOOD a suggestive title

We think that the author could not have found a more appropriate title for his book, as there are many allusions to the merciless personalities of the characters, such as:

 Dicks opinion about Perry: Dick became convinced that Perry was that rarity, a natural killer absolutely sane, but conscienceless, and capable of dealing, with or without motive, the coldestblooded deathblows. Perry about Dick: The glory of having everybody at his mercy, that's what excited him. Dick to Perry: And then after we've found the safe, we'll cut their throats. Can't shoot them, that would make too much noise. Mrs. Meier about the criminals: They'd cut out your heart and never bat an eye. Perry to a friend who visits him in jail: Am I sorry? If that's what you mean - I'm not. I don't feel anything about it. I wish I did. But nothing about it bothers me a bit. Half an hour after it happened, Dick was making jokes and I was laughing at them. Maybe we're not human. I'm human enough to feel sorry for myself. Sorry I can't walk out of here when you walk out. But that's all. Perry, about his crime: And it wasn't because of anything the Clutters did. They never hurt me. Like other people. Like people have all my life. Maybe it's just that the Clutters were the ones who had to pay for it.

IN COLD BLOOD a real story

For the readership, one of the most interesting and appealing aspects of this book is that the story is based on a real fact. Therefore, Truman Capote had to devote himself entirely and do a thorough research in order to render the books authenticity by presenting the events just as they happened. The newspapers information about the murders was vague, just a few paragraphs, but it got his interest. "It suddenly struck me," he said in an interview with The New York Times in 1966, "that a crime, the study of such, might provide the broad scope I needed to write the kind of book I wanted to write. Moreover, the human heart being what it is, murder was a theme not likely to darken and yellow with time." What he wanted to accomplish was nothing but "literary photography. So he packed up and went to Kansas with his friend Harper Lee, and then spent the next 10 years of his life writing this American classic. Not only did he learn about who the Clutter family had been and how the townsfolk reacted to this brutal crime, but when the killers were caught, he got to know them as well and was even invited to their execution an event that deeply affected him. In fact, he was the only person they wanted to spend time with before they died.

 When Dick and Perry were brought to Garden City, Kansas, Capote was among the crowd of people who waited to see them. He tried to interview them the next day, but Perry was suspicious and Dick so talkative that he said essentially nothing. Over the next five years, as they were convicted, sentenced to be hanged and appealed their convictions, Capote got to know Perry much better. Ironically, Perry told him that all he'd ever wanted to do in his life was to produce a work of art, and now his crime was going to do that for him. He didn't like the title, though. The murders, he insisted, were not committed in cold blood. As he went to his execution, Perry kissed Capote on the cheek and said "Adios, Amigo. The writer examines the events so closely and the dialogues seem to be so vivid, that the reader has the impression that he is in the middle of the action. The letters, testimonies and interviews revealed throughout the novel add to this effect of verisimilitude.

Dick and Perry psychiatric issues

It is very important for the reader to pay attention to any of the narrators details or remarks regarding the behavior and social backgrounds of the two characters. Especially after reading about the way in which the crime was committed, one might easily notice that the main characters suffered from severe mental disabilities. Perry Smith is traumatized by the split of his parents, the witnessing of his mothers sexual activities with other men and his fathers threat that he would kill him. He relives the past constantly as he sees his mother and father as other people at certain times. Hickock is a manipulative person who never fails to keep smiling. He seems to be optimistic but truly is not, as his last words before his persecution were that dying would bring him to a better place than this world ever was.

Capote even introduces in the novel a psychiatric analysis made by a professional doctor, which reveals the criminals split personalities. Both Dick and Perry manifest antisocialism, emotional abnormality, impulsiveness and low selfesteem, which is in fact a sign of the complex of inferiority. They are also above average in intelligence. Although they share these characteristics, what distinguishes Dick from Perry is Dicks pedophilic tendencies, with which Perry totally disagrees. Before killing Nancy, Dick intents to rape her, as Perry informs us: Then he says to me, as we're heading along the hall toward Nancy's room, I'm

gonna bust that little girl. Nevertheless, Perry strongly opposes, saying that he is totally against people who cannot refrain their sexual desires. The psychiatric diagnosis for Dick is severe character disorder.

Perry is different from Dick in many ways. He is also antisocial, but in comparison with his friend, he feels the need for affection; however, he cannot appreciate when a person tries to establish a relationship with him. This inability to form close ties is due to his paranoia, as he is suspicious and distrustful of others. In addition, he has an inclination to feel that people discriminate against him, are unfair to him or fail to understand him. Also linked to his paranoia is his sensitivity to criticism. He thinks people are hypocritical, hostile, and deserve whatever he is able to do to them. Thus, he attaches little value to human life and he sees even his life as worthless; he considers his idea of suicide as a possibility to escape from the real harsh world. Unlike Dick, he has poor ability to organize his thinking because he has a weak personality. Thats why he needs Dicks guidance in everything Dick plans to do. Perry is easily influenced by his friend, whose proposition he immediately embraces.

One of the most important and fatal features of Perrys temperament is the fact that he cannot separate the real situation from his own mental projections. This incapacity is associated with his psychiatric diagnosis, paranoid schizophrenia. Even though he was the one who committed the crimes, he didnt feel as if he were involved in this murder process. At a certain moment, he says: It was like I wasn't part of it. More as though I was reading a story. And I had to know what was going to happen. The end. Even Dewey, the detective of the crimes, realizes Perrys mental illness: The crime was a psychological accident, virtually an impersonal act. At times, Perry is not regretful, while at others he cannot understand why he even does such evil acts like killing the Clutter family. Dick, on the other hand, is always laughing and smiling getting the last word in on everything. Yet, he truly believes that this world is one filled with cruelty and emptiness, since he believes life after death will be better than living ever was for him.

IN COLD BLOOD a modernist novel

Nonlinear structure of the story: The story is not traditionally told sequentially because the author began the story with the aftermath of the murder and how Perry Smith and Dick Hickock react afterwards. Finally, it is brought back to the persecution of the two murderers. In addition to the restructuring of the plot, many flashbacks occur throughout the novel. Psychological interior: Much of the reason why Perry Smith and Dick Hickock perform such murderous acts is because of their deprived childhoods. Perry is the one who was the most affected by his terrible childhood. But the psychological interior concerning Dick Hickock is also quite interesting. The search for a meaning in life: Dick and Perry obviously have difficulties in searching for their meaning in life. Just as they were deprived of decent childhoods, their adulthood could not be fulfilled as much as possible. They live during each moment without thinking about the future. This is evident with the murder of the Clutter family. Smith and Hickock then live tentatively, improvising on whatever they could possibly achieve.

IN COLD BLOOD concluding remarks

In Cold Blood is Truman Capotes most famous novel, with an immense success both to the public and to the critique, establishing at the same time a new genre, the nonfiction novel, as the author himself labeled it. The book presents in an elegant and well-calibrated manner the multiple crimes that created a feeling of horror in the newspapers of the year 1959: four members of a rich family from Holcomb, Kansas, were murdered in their house by two ex-convicts, who were looking for a nonexistent safe. Capote minutely reconstructs the last day of the victims lives, the past and the complicated psychology of the murderers and their adventures. He also follows the characters closely, observing the subtle transformations they suffer after committing the crime and up until they are caught, judged and executed. Capote gets in the minds of the protagonists as deeply as possible, revealing their motivations, their anxieties and their illusions, without expressing directly a moral position concerning the criminals or their sentence to death. The author tries to conceal his presence by adopting a gaze which analyzes everything with the same curiosity, thus building a peculiar hybrid a realist novel with a perfectly balanced structure and a hyper-stylized and imaginative reportage, at the same time.