In Cold Blood by Truman Capote - Essay Example

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote Stereotypical notions, even in their open defiance of basic logic and rational thought, still have a strong hold uponeven the best educated mind. Often are the times we hear of a certain action and associate it to specific persons without even the faintest regard to the unique characteristics of the situation at hand. This is the case with the novel by Truman Capote titled In Cold Blood. The novel revolves around a gruesome murder that happened in Kansas. The victims are a wealthy farming family, the Clutters. They have excellent relations with neighbors and are soft-spoken within the town. They are devout Methodists too. They pay their farm workers and other employees generously (Capote 160). At this point, the first serious discrepancy appears in the novel. If they are such a friendly family, then why would someone want to harm them? It is at this point that stereotypical explanations set in to occupy the information gap. Alvin Dewey, who is the investigative officer in charge of this case, suggests that the murderer had to be someone who knew the family well. Otherwise, they could not have accessed the home with such ease considering its size and the fact that it even had an underground basement. As a result, Bobby Rupp is arrested before he passes the lie detector test and is subsequently released. The other pertinent stereotype is based around the motive for the murder. This can not be easily deciphered considering that the family did not have any known enemies or any awful relations with any of the people in the town who as such could have been suspected of the crime. The author does well too not to make the motive of this heinous crime known. When eventually the motive is disclosed, it is almost at the end of the novel and as a confession. This is necessitated by the need to build suspense. Important too, as far as stereotypes are concerned, is the nature of information disclosed to the reader concerning the two murderers. We learn that Perry had a difficult upbringing. His parents separated while he was still young. His brother Jimmy and sister Fern both committed suicide. His remaining sister, Barbara Johnson, does not talk to him. Neither she nor his father visit him while he is in prison. All these details merges to be the basis of the stereotypical notion that he was destined to lead a troubled life by virtue of such a tumultuous upbringing. Stereotypes are not new and will not disappear soon. A good number of times they are applied, they are not too far off the truth. The ongoing debate about the murder of a young black man, Trayvon Martin, is a testament to that. Nobody is immune to stereotypes either. On a recent trip to my corner store, I was frisked on my way out of the establishment on the basis that cases of shoplifting were on the rise and young men and women like me were the prime suspects. The incident left me totally dumbfounded, but now I realize the idea of prejudging the character of an individual on the basis of age, race or even dress, however, irrational is all human. There are several histories employed in the novel. Their importance can not be underestimated. We need this rear view mirror to have a look at events in the past and be able to determine possible courses of action in the future. We are introduced to two main histories in the novel. One is that of Perry Smith, one of the murderers. The other is that of the Clutter family. Both histories are employed for different purposes. The history of Perry Smith is all too prevalent in the novel. We are taken through a sort of guided tour throughout his entire life. It begins at childhood. His father, Tex John Smith, meets his mother while both are ardent fans of the rodeo. They get married but separate while he is still young. He has to live with his mother, and any attempts to run away and re-unite with his father are rebuffed. He ended up under the care of Catholic nuns (Capote 115). He is beaten a lot for his bed wetting. He joins the marines and on leaving to re-unite with his father he is involved in a gruesome motorcycle accident in Washington. He then resolves to move to Massachusetts to re-unite with an old army colleague. On the way, he is led astray and ends as part of a theft ring. He escapes punishment but fails to find his intended target in Massachusetts and instead moves to the Big Apple where the law eventually catches up with him. He is taken back to Kansas for imprisonment. His mother dies. His life story is so full of tragedy that, at times, I fail to find a proper starting point from which to re-tell it. Some tragedies even seem to overlap! The history of Perry Smith is extremely significant since it gives us a hint about where the sympathies of the author lay. It also helps put his point across more forcefully. He seeks to tell us that the focus should not be entirely with the victims only. We need to spare a thought for the perpetrators too. As in this case, they might be victims of injustices too. This is not by any means an attempt by Truman Capote to justify the murders. He, instead, might be trying to tell us that in order to fully understand the psychological profile of a killer, we need to look at their past not simply to dismiss them as criminals. Not surprisingly, after we look at the upbringing of Perry Smith, we briefly sympathize with him too even with the knowledge that he is a party to such a heinous crime. We also learn that he has a human side to him. He does not allow Dick to rape Nancy. He is also remorseful during death as contrasted with Dick who is not. Also, he seems to be nervous about being caught by the police (Capote 200). This proves that deep down him still exists a conscience, something that serial offenders like Dick seem to lack. The family history of the Clutters is also of importance to the novel. The family hails from humble roots and builds itself gradually and honestly through hard work and faith. They are liked in society. Contrasted with this happy image of the family, Bonnie Clutter suffers mental disorder. She is mostly in bed. On the other hand, her husband is up and down and is looked as a model within society. The author builds this likeable and sympathetic atmosphere so as to make the crime even more baffling. This makes people wonder even why murderers could target such a good family. It builds the suspense even more and appeals greatly to the affective component in the readers. The overall aim is to immerse them even more in the happenings. Our histories determine the people we are today. This is the main reason why lots of emphasis is lavished on raising kids with the right values. That’s why presence of both parents during the growth of a child is important. If I was not raised into a reading culture, for instance, I could have had a difficult time reading the entire novel and preparing for this assignment. Both stereotypes and histories are central to this novel. Without stereotypes, it could be difficult to even begin to figure out the people behind the crime. Without the history of the murderers, it could be impossible to understand the motive behind the crime. Work Cited Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood. New York: Vintage Publishers. 1966. Print. Read More