Sunday, August 31, 2008

In Cold Blood

The chilling masterpiece In Cold Blood is loaded with spine- tingling suspense and catharsis. Capote does a great job retelling a haunting story too solemn to ever be forgotten, and rewriting an actual past to an on- paper horror that never will go away. Unless of course, one finishes the book, and ends their own anguish! Capote does an immaculate job keeping the truth in line with the tale. However, truth is dry, and a little poetic license and witty input from our author gives this tale a dynamic and suspenseful kick.

Capote puts in a lot of research into this murder case because his main players existed and had many parallels. The Clutters were a real family who owned River Valley Farm. Mr. and Mrs. Clutter had a Nancy and Kenyon as well as older children out of the roost. In fact, Kenyon even owned a true Coyote Wagon as well as a real hope chest for his older sister Beverly. It was also true that Nancy Clutter was a very studious and enthusiastic helper of her community. She was a part of 4-H and owned a horse of her own. She also was a musical girl gifted with the ability to play clarinet and piano.

Capote did an immaculate job creating a close- knit family in his writing, which was exactly how the Clutters were in real life. It takes a fine writer to be able to create such realistic and believable relationship bonds between family members. Capote also created such a rich and vivid description of the homeland of these people. He described the dusty plains of where they lived so well. The family lived in Holcomb, Kansas in a middle class house; where a family still occupies the house today!

There are also many truths to the antagonists of this novel including: Perry’s life. His parents were both alcoholics and rodeo performers. Another fact was that Perry also lived in a very confusing lifestyle that left him upset and confused. Capote wasn’t fluffing his story about the way Perry walked. Perry did actually get into a motorcycle accident where he damaged his legs. His gait was then abnormal since then. Hickcock, the other murderer, was also a sports- buff teenager at one time, who had popularity handed to him on a silver platter. He was indeed a strong man with an uncontrollable mean streak to him. These two men actually murdered the innocent Clutter family, and their murdering techniques were exactly how Capote listed it. These two mentally- ill men were put out to dry. They were hanged! A great ending for two horrible men who killed a loving family that reminded me so much of my own. Nancy in particular reminded me so much of myself. Her involvement in the community, 4-H, piano, and horses were all things that I do also. I live on a farm too with my close- knit family. It truly gave me cold blood when I read about characters that reminded me so much of my own family.

Capote has such a creative story – telling capacity. He couldn’t leave us with a dry gunny -sack of truth because he wanted to weave his own creativity into fruition, a tapestry of art. It is like having a dry piece of bread. You need to have some water to wash it down with. And Capote trickles us with a little creative license. Capote molded his own characters in his novel. Mrs. Clutter was described as being a bit sickly and depressed with life. Bonnie in reality was much more lively and volunteered in 4-H frequently. She was doting over her children, and did not have a depressed side to her. Mrs. Clutter was also the last victim to be slain in reality.

There also are some uncertainties to the behaviors of Dick and Perry. Hickcock displayed the characteristics of a masculine man, and Perry a bit on the feminine side. It was portrayed in the novel that there were some power issues as well as homosexual or bisexual tendencies. Dick called Perry Honey at times, and they seemed rather inseparable. These men portrayed in many ways a homosexual relationship at times. “ In order to place the crime in proper perspective, we have to conjecture on the nature of Smith and Hickcock’s relationship- which I believe was the result of a prison homosexual relationship.” (1, Maloney) To further display their sexuality and their insecurities, they used murder as a way to heighten these uncertain emotions. Power drives sex. Murder can fuel sex to sick individuals. Twisted, I know, but it is fact.

Theses two were definitely oddballs, but Perry is a paradox. He murders for his religion. He believes that he is going to heaven even though he has committed sin. Maybe he hasn’t read the Bible: “ An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” Or maybe he is just mentally unstable. Perry is described to have a religious journey to his madness. Faith is a very important factor in this novel. It gets very interesting when a man guilty of murder wants to repent. How could this man possibly believe God will forgive him when his hands are blackened? Perry’s religious beliefs are not proven as fact. Perry may not have believed what Capote described his religious beliefs as. We also don’t truly know whether or not these men were mentally ill or whether they were money- hungry beasts. If done so out of gluttonous desire, Perry has another sin lying on his chest on Judgment Day. All in all, these men were obviously angry unhappy people who had no love in their cold metal hearts.

Capote may have added some artificial ingredients to the truth, but if it were fed to us as the plain truth, it would have been comparable to taking BiaxinÒ medication! Capote’s attention – grasping writing made the cold hard truth go down with ease. The book was chilling as a whole because the way Capote built the murder was so clever. I enjoyed how he would switch on and off scenes. One would be at the Clutter house, and the other would be in the pick up truck of the killers. The tension escalated dramatically when the killers were preparing the supplies to murder the family. I also felt such remorse for the poor family when I read how they were brutally massacred. That was horrifying carnage. He drove feeling and deep emotional response from my heart and soul. A book that can pull response and emotional remorse to a reader is a superb author. Capote truly created a masterpiece. Only a great novelist can take a true event and adjust enough personal input to create personal ownership, but not add too much so that the material loses its believability. Capote mastered that balance of truth and fiction. In Cold Blood is a great book, but one that I would only read once so that my mental sanity stays at its equilibrium!