Pontificia Universidad Javeriana

United States 60s Literature

May 8th, 2023
Student: María Lucía Zárate Mahecha

In Cold Blood -Truman Capote

Presentation

Introduction

Truman Capote, or Truman Streckfus Persons (1924-1984) was an American

novelist, short-story writer and playwright from New Orleans, Louisiana, who was
inscribed in what is known as the Southern Gothic tradition (stories that take place in the
South of the United States characterized by macabre or grotesque incidents). In one of his
best-known novels, In Cold Blood (1965), he had more of a journalistic approach, with an
atmosphere given by a Southern Gothic style.

The novel

The novel In Cold Blood is about the murder of the Clutter family in their home
near Holcomb (a suburb of Garden City), Kansas, on November 14 th of the year 1959, and
everything surrounding the crime. The second half of the novel gives a detailed account of
the prosecution, arrest, conviction and execution of the killers of the Clutter family, Perry
Smith and Richard (Dick) Hickock. Right away, the reader is immersed into the family and
domestic life of the Clutters, as Capote makes a short account of each member of the slain
family: Herbert Clutter, Bonnie Clutter, and their children, Nancy Clutter and Kenyon
Clutter. The Clutter family was a well-respected, well-liked, and wealthy household. The
account of the Clutters’ domestic life includes a context of the small-town life in Holcomb.
From the beginning, Capote is very clear that Holcomb is a very close and small
community. At first glance, the commune of Garden City is the perfect place to live. We
learn this through the townsfolk’s testimonies: “Good neighbors, people who care about
each other, that’s what counts.” (Capote, 1967, p.33). However, from the beginning the
reader gets a feeling of unease from Capote’s writing that suggests that there is something
sinister lurking in the community, and the feeling does not recede at any point during the
novel, not even after the execution.
This is one of the key aspects that connects the novel with the rest of the texts and
poetry from this period, starting with the Beats in the 1950s. These authors have in
common a sensitivity for the underlying evils and nuisances of their culture and denounce
the notion of the American dream, which is the perceived as a “perfect” way of life. Capote
does this not only through the context of Garden City, but he also extrapolates the
discussion to the rest of the United States, bringing violence and crime to the spotlight. In
general, the novel is an account of the nature of violence in the United States, and Truman
Capote does this by bringing attention to the apparent lack of motive for the Clutter murder,
portraying the humane and deep characterization of the killers.
Toward the end of the novel, Capote evokes a general picture of the United States’
monumental prison system and the essentially punitive and inhumane judicial processes
that precede this atmosphere. He introduces the debate concerning Capital punishment,
which, as we learn in the novel, is favored by the general public in Garden City as they look
for retribution and revenge for what the criminals, Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, did to
the Clutters. However, after the reader assists to both the trial and execution of the
murderers, the tension does not recede and there is no sense of relief or a feeling that now
the state or the country is safer because they are not alive. Instead, the feeling of unease
prevails because capital punishment does not, in any way, solve the real, underlying
problem of American society that is the source of unending violence.
The critical attitude that connects Capote to other writers of this period is also made
evident by the characterization of the two men that killed the Clutters, Perry Smith and
Dick Hickock. Capote makes a detailed reconstruction of both men’s backgrounds and
thoughts from the moment Dick starts to plan to the moment they are both executed. The
characterization of both men is holistic and humane. The reader learns about their families
and their traumas, and they get to even sympathize with them, as characters. However, I do
not believe Capote was trying to make the reader feel sorry for the killers, or glorify them
in any way, but to write them as humans. They both came from very different backgrounds
and early in the novel we learn that they both had a different motive for the crime (or no
motive at all). This checks out with the theme we have seen in many other writers from this
period, the looking at things, people, and situations with a completely different perspective
from the dominant culture’s. In the novel, we can see that most of the Garden City people
think about the criminals as nothing more than killers. However, Capote gives us the story
also from their perspective, which causes a shift in the way we can look at different
problematics in the American culture, like the flaws in the judicial system and the state of
violence in the US. This last problematic is likely the principal reason why the tension in
the novel is not released when the Clutter case is closed. The widespread violence and
crime within the limits of the so-called “American dream” is the real ghastly antagonist in
this novel. Right before Capote’s account of the trial, in part III of the novel, Capote
includes an editorial from the Garden City Telegram released in the days before the trial:

“Even a hundred miles west of here in Colorado few persons are even acquainted
with the case – other than just remembering some members of a prominent family
were slain. This is a sad commentary on the state of crime in our nation. Since the
four members of the clutter family were killed last fall, several other such multiple
murders have occurred in various parts of the country. Just during the few days
leading up to this trial at least three mass murder cases broke into the headlines. As
a result, this crime and trial are just one of many such cases people have read about
and forgotten…” (Capote, 1967, pp. 271-272).

Conclusion

Finally, to wrap up the commentary, we wish to say that the importance of this
novel in its context and period lies in the unique perspective it offers concerning the
problematics of violence in the US and the shortcomings of the American judicial system.
Additionally, this novel is important because it acknowledges in a masterful, subtle and
deeply impactful way the underlying problems of American culture and society through the
journalistic account of the Clutter case, which, as the author makes clear throughout the
novel, is just one of many, and it was driven by regular American men, whose background
and life are not poles apart from the usual.

References

Capote, T. (1965). In Cold Blood. New York: Random House.

“Truman Capote | Biography & Facts | Britannica.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 2023,
www.britannica.com/biography/Truman-Capote. Accessed 7 May 2023.
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