In Cold Blood is a novel written by Truman Capote in 1966. In Cold Blood is a
true account of a multiple murder case that took place in Kansas in the 1950’s.
The book outlines a brutal murder case, but it shows the story from many
perspectives, not just that of the law. Capote introduces you to the Clutter
family, a well known, very hard working and loyal family to the community. The
town of Holcomb is a small farming town. There is not much excitement in the
town, and that is the way the people liked it. Everyone went to church and the
community trusted each other, until the unthinkable happened. The town’s most
prominent family was killed. It is even worse when the only clues are two sets
of boot tracks. Everyone in and around the town become scared because if such
evil could be brought upon the best family known, what will happen to them? When
Truman Capote wrote In Cold Blood, he wrote a masterpiece. When he wrote the
book he developed the character Perry so that even after you watched him kill
you feel sympathetic for him. He proves that you can even see some good in the
worst of people. He does this by slowly developing Perry’s character. He gave an
in-depth view of Perry’s world. He showed that Perry, although he had troubles
in his life and sometimes had a total disregard for people’s life he also
respected the people. Perry felt bad for some of the people he met. He also was
willing to forgive people. Truman Capote was born Truman Streckfus Persons, in
New Orleans September 30th 1924. His parents got a divorce when he was four and
his mother later remarried and took on the last name of his stepfather. Capote’s
childhood was extremely insecure.
He was handed back and forth between relatives. When Capote was a child he
started to write to deal with the loneliness. At age ten, Capote made up his
mind to become a professional writer. Because he knew what he wanted to do with
his life, Capote shied away from formal schooling. (Breit) By his mid teenage
years he was technically accomplished writer. He stopped going to formal school
when he was seventeen. He received a job at the New Yorker magazine. There he
was just an errand boy but was noticed because of his mannerisms. During the
early stages of World War II, Capote’s interests still focused on his writing. (Norden
p162) . In June 1945, his short story “Miraim” brought him a lot of attention.
It led to his first novel contract. Most of his early works were considered
“gothic” but he also had many qualities that made people think that his work in
the future had a lot of potential and those people were not wrong. (Breit)
Capote’s work did develop past gothicism although some of the old traits
lingered in his later works. He had a wide range of attitude in his stories,
from horror stories and psychological collapse to stories of magical children.
Capote never married but became friends with some of America’s most glamorous
women. Capote had been declared professionally dead several times but after each
time he came back and proved that he was still alive and well. In 1959 Capote
officially decided to start work on a nonfiction novel. In November of the same
year he read about a multiple murder case in Kansas. He decided to use this
crime as the bases for his novel. He devoted all his time and energy for the
next six years on the development of this novel. He started his research before
the murders were caught. He was in the town when they were put in Jail. Capote
lived in the town of Holcomb for a while to gain the trust of the townspeople
and of the murderers. In 1965 when Capote finally finished he published the
finished product in four articles in the New Yorker and in 1966 and it published
in book form. In Cold Blood earned Capote more money then all of his previous
works put together. This book created a big controversy because Capote claimed
to have created a new writing style when he wrote In Cold Blood and also because
he profited of the deaths of six people. When Capote wrote about Perry in his
book In Cold Blood he didn’t just construct the character around the real life
Perry. Capote also used some of his own childhood experiences and feelings to
make the character of Perry deeper and more developed. After writing In Cold
Blood Capote took a long break from writing.
