Truman Capote once said, “No one will ever know what In Cold Blood took out of me. It scraped me right down to the marrow of my bones. It nearly killed me. I think, in a way, it did kill me.” What about In Cold Blood was so harrowing for Capote? The answer is not clear from the quote but the answer can definitely be found in his book. The answer can be discerned by examining and analyzing his use of rhetorical elements. Thus, Capote’s projected persona must be examined, his audience must be identified, his relationship with the audience must be analyzed, his central message must be dissected, the arrangement of his arguments must be sorted out, the context must be explained, and the influence of the context must be thoroughly understood. By understanding these elements and their roles in In Cold Blood it will give readers an insight into Capote’s purpose and experience as an author.
The First Rhetorical Question
The first question that must be answered when examining the rhetorical elements is: “What kind of person does the writer or speaker seem to be?” This simply means to look at Capote’s diction and tone and determine his persona. In Cold Blood is alleged to be entirely factual; however, Capote blatantly infuses biases in the novel to further his overall argument and entertain readers. Capote shows himself in the text as a recorder of events, a reporter of the murders of the Clutter family, detailing the lives of every person involved. However, he gives special attention to the killers, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. Capote illustrates the two killer’s humane characteristics and details their troubled and depressing pasts. It can be inferred that Capote is a sympathizer because of his special interest and treatment of the killers. Furthermore, it can be descried from the text that Capote was interested in the psychological motives of criminals and how theirs previous life experiences affect the criminal activity they engage in during the present.
The Second Rhetorical Question
The second rhetorical element that is necessary to be aware of in order to fully understand the epistemological implications of Capote’s purpose is who the target audience is for In Cold Blood. Capote’s target audience is the people who are part of the criminal justice system and psychologists. The argument is directed at this group because Capote’s intention is to persuade them that all people are inherently benevolent but when someone has a traumatic past, they have injured and sensitive psyches. Thus, many people who are violent criminals commit violent acts because they have weak psyches and have the inability to truly control their emotions and consequent behaviors. Capote’s prognosis is that the justice system should become aware of and sympathize with these mentally crippled criminals, study them, and then learn how to prevent future criminals. Understanding Capote’s audience is a crucial part of understanding his intentions.
Capote’s Relation to Audience
Now that Capote’s audience has been identified it is necessary to examine the relationship Capote has with his audience. Capote seems to be very familiar with the audience that he is talking to and he does not hesitate to use their jargon. Thus, he is often referring to specific cases in court systems that dealt with inexplicable cases of violence. Moreover, he frequently references psychological issues and disorders. Capote is utilizing the language of his audience to garner credibility with them. He wants his audience to feel comfortable with him and trust what he is saying. It is simply an appeal to ethos. Paradoxically, Capote tries to keep himself out of the text because the book is nonfiction and he wants to preserve its integrity in that sense. Capote does not want to belabor the reader with his arguments; he wants the readers to recognize the message in the novel for themselves and then apply it.
In Cold Blood’s Central Message
The central idea that In Cold Blood develops is that even when violent crimes seem inexplicable there is always an impetus driving that criminal to commit atrocities. Often, the motivations of these violent crimes are direct consequences of the criminal’s traumatic experiences as a child or in his or her pasts. Furthermore, these traumatic experiences usually cripple the psyche of these criminals so extensively they can be diagnosed with severe mental illnesses. Thus, the violence and carnage wrought by these criminals is not wholly their fault; therefore, in the criminal justice system they should be pitied and treated kindly according to Capote. Capote implies that the court systems should attempt to rehabilitate these mentally ill criminals and not try to murder them off with capital punishment. Thus, many laws will have to be changed and altered to account for the mentally ill.
Perry Smith and Dick Hickock
In Cold Blood is almost entirely devoted to furthering its central idea. Capote first sets off supporting his main idea by detailing the traumatic childhood of Perry Smith. He discusses how Perry Smith was neglected by his family, put in an orphanage where he was beaten by nuns, suffered a severe falling out with his father, and was permanently maimed by a motorcycle accident. Capote then summarizes Dick Hickock life, which was basically normal until a car crash. The car crash injured Dick’s head and after Dick made thoughtless and reckless decisions. These decisions continued to exacerbate and Dick continued to deteriorate in his moral structure as he became increasingly overwhelmed by the consequences of his decisions. Capote also shows the courts lack of sympathy for victims of severe mental illness by mentioning the strictness and austerity of the laws on determining the mental competence of defendants. Furthermore, Capote also details the lives of many of the inmates of death row in Kansas. From their stories the reader can see that the inmates do not belong on death row because they are suffering from sever mental illnesses. Capote is constantly supporting his main topic throughout his novel.
The Organization of In Cold Blood
In Cold Blood is organized into four distinct parts. The four parts are divided by the natural breaks in the chronological procession of occurrences of the murders: the first ends the night of the murder just before it is committed, the second concludes at the end of Perry and Dick’s Mexico trip, the third ends at Perry and Dick’s return to Garden City, and the final part concludes with the execution of Perry and Dick. Inside each of the four parts there is a plethora of other divisions in the text, detailing the thoughts and stories of people connected to the Clutter murder or Holcomb, Kansas. These little divisions make the novel seem like a compilation of many newspaper articles. Thus, this promotes the integrity of the factuality of the story, which validates Capote’s argument because it shows that Capote’s argument is immanently supported by factual evidence not just his opinion. The newspaper style creates an appeal to ethos and plays on the readers’ assumptions that the media is unbiased.
The Context
The context that surrounds In Cold Blood is most appropriate for furthering Capote’s argument. The novel was written and published within the six years of the date of the Clutter family murder. The Clutter family murder occurred in Holcomb, Kansas 1959. Thus due to the fact the murderers were not executed until 1965 makes the novel extremely timely, which is rare for novels. Capote was writing his book during all the occurrences of the Clutter case. In fact, he himself is part of the case because of the effort he spent following it and chronicling it; therefore the murders obviously incited Capote to desire to persuade people of his opinion. Furthermore, Capote’s argument is all the more effective because his audience experiences everything almost first-hand. Moreover, Capote was writing in a time where they were less aware of mental illness and its impact on the actions of people. Thus Capote was ostensibly motivated to increase people’s awareness especially the court systems because they were the ones executing people who were not even responsible for their actions.
In conclusion, after examining the rhetorical devices employed by Capote and the rhetorical elements in his novel his purposes for writing are clear. Capote wrote to argue that the criminal justice system needs to be more conscientious with mental ill criminals, and that psychologist should focus on how mental illness develops and leads people to inexplicable acts of violence.
Sources
- Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood. Random House. 1966. Print.
