"In Cold Blood"

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the novel, "In Cold Blood," and looks at how it is an exhaustively researched, in-depth report, not just of events, but also the characters of the victims and their killers. In particular, it explores how Capote's portrayal of the two killers, Perry Edward Smith and Richard Eugene Hickock, as socially dysfunctional personalities capable of cold blooded killing ends up shaking the reader's equanimity by the very notion that such socially detached individuals could, in fact, be part of American society.

From the Paper:

"It is not just the note that Capote sets to Smith and Hickock's seemingly innocent journey, but also the manner in which he describes their interaction that lends the impression that something is just not right with this whole picture. True, a reader who is not already privy to newspaper reports of the Clutter murders may fail to connect Smith and Hickock to the murder scene. However, for those readers who are already aware of the facts of the case, the very casual air of the two characters begins to lend real meaning to the words "in cold blood." In fact, the cold blooded nature of the crime becomes even more evident when it is established that Smith and Hickock really had no clear motives; at least not of the conventional kind."

More papers on "In Cold Blood":

• Analytical Essay # 126272 : "'In Cold Blood' and Capital Punishment"
• Book Review # 111876 : "Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood"
• Analytical Essay # 66744 : "Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood"

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