Cold blood, warm attachments

The human psyche has always been an interesting subject, one that allows us to question what we are supposed to understand about ourselves. While reading Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood might leave one in shock and disgust at the human psyche, but perhaps what is even more shocking is Capote’s thought process while he was writing this novel and his connection to the murderers. The book in itself was a ‘grand literary experiment’ but a closer analysis allows us to explore the various themes in this book such as Capote’s views, the book’s themes, its structure, and the portrayal of characters.

In his 1968 interview about his book, Capote confesses he knew the murderers “better than they knew themselves” and that he wanted “the film to be shot in the Clutter home.” This depicts Capote’s connection with the two killers because of his interactions with them and his emotional attachment with Perry which was truly fascinating, because it makes me realise that Capote wrote the novel as an omniscient narrator, but was never really objective while writing. It was only after watching the interview, did I come to the realisation that Capote might have been an unreliable narrator. While he did follow a traditional journalistic style when it came to reporting the facts of the case and offered deep insights into the characters’ lives, the fact that he interviewed the killers and was somehow associated with them depicts that he himself might have been emotionally or mentally troubled.

This was quite interesting because I wasn’t just interested in psycho-analysing Dick and Perry, I was also interested in psycho-analysing Capote because I started to notice that maybe he’s presenting certain personal qualities — like having a traumatic childhood or being emotionally sensitive — through Perry’s character and other themes in the novel.

Reading this book felt like following a thriller movie that follows a typical storyline where you start off with the perfect American family and the American dream, how that is suddenly shattered, and then you have the entire investigation process. As someone who loves to watch psychological thrillers, this was a great piece of nonfiction for me because it is something that I enjoyed reading (while ignoring the chilling fact that Capote is closely attached to the killers) and it followed a proper structure that evokes emotions in the readers.

The book is structured in such a way that it builds suspense as you read through it and this is done through the use of dramatic irony (the fact that the readers know that the Clutters are about to die), the pacing of the book (alternating facts and extended scenes in the first two chapters), and the use of descriptive words and imagery. Before I elaborate upon this, just the fact that Capote does not directly begin with the killer's plan and rather paints this cozy image of the Clutters, allows the readers to empathise with the family and portrays them as people rather than mere victims of a crime.

Moreover, as a reader you are already familiar with the tragic inevitability right from the beginning because Capote uses phrases such as ‘unaware that it would be his last,’ and the title of his first chapter is literally ‘The Last To See Them Alive’. This creates a constant atmosphere of tension and suspense where you are waiting for the tragic event to unfold. Capote’s writing style was something that appealed to me because he incorporates various forms of descriptive and creative imagery in his pieces. Right from the beginning of the novel, he uses words such as “aimless,” “haphazard,” “stark,” “falling-apart post office” and the “depot with peeling sulphur-coloured paint” and “flaking” to describe various elements of the town. This parallelism between nature and the setting with the events in the book, has been a great technique when it comes to writing.

While reading this piece, I instantly remembered Shakespeare’s Macbeth and how nature started to revolt against Macbeth when he was going to commit the murders with the winds howling and the weather changing to something terrible. This idea of nature somehow responding to one’s criminal activities is fascinating and reflected in Capote’s description of the town. Capote does begin the novel with words such as "the hard-blue skies,” and “desert-clear air,” which later contrasts with the physical description of the town. Additionally, the physical decay of the town also mirrors the moral decay that is going to happen as the story proceeds and this depicts the idea of how nature or the setting closely follows the events that happen in a literary piece.

The book focuses on certain themes such as the American dream (appearance vs reality), trauma, relationship dynamics, murder, and justice which are depicted through the characters and their interactions with each other. Analysing the idea of the American dream as presented in the book, the readers are introduced to this perfect American family and it seems like the family they introduce in American movies as we can tell by Capote’s description, ‘whereupon Nancy had behaved like one; curtsying in her hoop-skirted costume, she had asked if she might drive into Garden City. The State Theatre was having a special, eleven-thirty, Friday-the-thirteenth "Spook Show," and all her friends were going. In other circumstances Mr Clutter would have refused. His laws were laws, and one of them was: Nancy and Kenyon too must be home by ten on week nights, by twelve on Saturdays. But weakened by the genial events of the evening, he had consented’ (Capote 8). As a reader, one can tell that the Clutter’s life deeply contrasts with Dick and Perry’s past and present life. It could be said that Capote is trying to shed light upon a systematic issue regarding class differences in America and might be criticising the concept of the American dream.

While America is the ‘land of opportunity and freedom’ and the American dream stands for equality, that is not the reality as depicted through Dick and Perry’s lives. Belonging to low income households and suffering from different traumas, Capote depicts how negative experiences and lack of opportunities shape a person’s future in America and questions the credibility of the American dream.

Moreover, Capote presents Dick and Perry’s relationship as a complicated one and the progression of their relationship throughout the book was interesting to analyse. As readers, we are aware that Perry has had a rough past and seems to be a bit more emotional than Dick as observed through his actions and his constant anxiety after committing the murders. In comparison, Dick is presented as a macho man who does not appear to exhibit any emotion and often looks down upon Perry by referring to him using nicknames such as ‘baby’ and ‘sugar’. While reading their interactions and noticing Dick’s use of these nicknames towards a grown man, it constantly felt like Dick was more dominant and assertive and would be condescending towards Perry. And throughout all of this, it seemed as if Perry simply ignored or accepted Dick’s attitude towards him because he might have been slightly attached to Perry. However, we also observe Dick’s blatant disregard for Perry when he claims that Perry was the one who committed the killings. As a reader, I sympathised with Perry at that moment. Additionally, there were other instances in the book where I realised that I did sympathise with Perry and was channeling all of my anger at Dick because maybe Capote presented the characters in this way. It led me to question whether Capote did this on purpose and did try to paint a less evil version of Perry.

This book was a very different kind of read. Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, John Hersey’s Hiroshima, and other pieces of non-fiction that I enjoyed reading as much as this, because they don’t incorporate that element of suspense and thrill that Capote manages to create. While these other texts focus on different themes and ideas, Capote’s blending of traditional journalism with creative writing and nonfiction makes this novel interesting and something that one enjoys reading.

Syeda Fizza Jafri is a media student and freelance writer.

All facts and information are the sole responsibility of the writer.