Truman Capote’s Nonfiction Novel in Cold Blood

In the novel “in cold blood” a family of four is murdered horrifically in a small town named Holcomb, Kansas that has the whole town in shock and fearful. Truman Capote wrote this to argue the controversial topic of capital punishment. Capote throughout the book uses rhetorical devises and tone to get the reader to think about the events the horrific events that happened in Holcomb and to get the reader to think about the overall argument of the book.

In his book, Capone starts off by talking about the quiet town of Holcomb and introducing the victims the Clutters. Then he foreshadows to what may happen later in the book. “The last to see them alive” is a quotation from the Bible that the disabled Mrs. Clutter keeps in her room. This item is one of the items Mrs. Clutter has in her room while she is in her room all day. This is important because it foreshadows death is coming sometime soon. After the foreshadow, Capone begins to give the descriptions of the two convicted murderers. Capone then uses a simile, “It was as though his head had been halved like an apple, then put together a fraction off center”. This quote compares an apple that is put together in bad shape to the structure of Dicks Face. The reason being is an aftermath of a car accident that happened years before in his life. This situation gives off imagery to picture one of the murders and can get an idea of the murderer’s early life and what could be an idea that led up to the killing of the innocent family. Capote then explains the people that Dick and Perry have met in the past. Which shows the un stable mentally people they’ve met have similar personalities as them.

Capone creates the somber tone in the book “in cold blood “to create a dark tone to emphasize how significant this murder is. The Murder of the Clutter family has the entire town in shock and afraid. The somber tone, Capone used creates the cold-hearted nature of the investigation of the horrific murders, and how there is no happiness about the conflict.

He also uses logos in the novel to show the true story of the murder of the Clutter Family. Capote uses logos to show facts within the text. He labels the events and facts as truly as in reality. He provides the dates and real names of certain people involved in the story, and locations.

In the novel, I agree he successfully argues his central claim by using the rhetorical strategies. I agree because in the story there are two side the claim. I believe he does because of the way he creates such a mournful feeling towards the death of an innocent family that wanted no trouble. The horrific scenes he created in your mind of shotgun blows at point blank and the blood all over the walls and not being able to recognize who they were. Also, I agree how they could be a threat in the future to do another horrific event like this where more innocent people are killed.