In Cold Blood Study Guide
“In Cold Blood” is more than just a thriller or a detective story. Truman Capote wrote a truly diverse and multidimensional text that tells a story of a real quadruple murder in the USA. The murder happened in Kansas in 1959 and immediately after it, the author went down to interview the locals. The book was published six years after in 1966.
The murderers were caught and executed within a year from the crime, and the reader will follow the line of hunting and questioning them. It’s up to you to decide what was the reason behind their terrible actions. Many will say it’s the flaws in our society that causes people to act like this.
And while there could be many people to blame for the influence on the actions of the murders, the victims don’t have a chance to say their word. They were buried in clothes that they were going to wear to church the next morning. The morning that happened without them.
Capital punishment. Is it the best punishment for criminals like these ones? Or is it too cruel and inhumane? There’s not much rhetoric about this matter but the reader can’t help but wonder.
It is a book that is a reportage, an experimental investigation and a questioning report all in one text. Capote created a true crime genre, unique and new at that time. It is poisonous and it seems that the author was poisoned by it himself. After “In Cold Blood” Capote couldn’t finish any more novels. He was disappointed that the book didn’t win the Pulitzer Prize and no high appraisals and positive feedback could save him.
You don’t have to be a lover of criminal texts to read “In Cold Blood”. It is a second most popular crime book ever, so its impact on the world literature is great and a true book lover can’t afford to miss it.
Author: Wayne Byrd
New Essays
Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood documents the homicide of the Clutter family, the search for the killers, and the trial and execution of the two convicted murderers Perry Smith and Dick Hickock. Capote gives a detailed insight into the lives of the four Clutters prior to their untimely deaths...
Timelines and storytelling are two of the important aspects of any trial which occurs in the American Courts. The story of “In Cold Blood” by Truman Capote’s original publication in a four part article in The New Yorker, In Cold Blood was turned into a movie, some would say a...
Without the basic necessities such as water and sunlight, a flower will not bloom into a beautiful, colorful creation, but rather wilt into a brown, unrecognizable mess. Just like a flower needs water and sunlight to thrive, a child requires support from a guardian to prosper in every aspect. A...
On November 15, 1959, the whole nation was shocked by a ghastly murder involving four family members in the discrete farm town of Holcomb, Kansas. It was most shocking because a crime of this magnitude with no motive was rare. This was so discomforting a well known author, by the name of Truman...