"In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote Essay

This work is dedicated to one of the most important novels of the outstanding American writer Truman Capote “In Cold Blood “(1966). This novel is based on the story of real crime, committed in 1959 in Kansas, and reveals the nature of violence as a complex social and psychological phenomenon. Capote’s book instantly became a bestseller, and created a special genre of the novel called reportage. Balanced and open-mindedness of author’s position, its verified style and polyphony images made Capote’s novel a model of documentary-fiction.
Most of the book is devoted to detailed social-psychological study of senseless, cruel and, in fact, even unmotivated murder of ordinary family from the southern U.S. heartland. In 1959, Kansas was committed a terrible crime: the murderer killed a whole family, for that he was subsequently sentenced to death. This case has received wide publicity and was the basis for the plot of the novel of Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood”. The author finished the book six years after the tragedy, in 1965. Investigating the phenomenon, Capote is concerned first and foremost with an attempt to understand the essence of the crime. “Cold Blood” is not a detective, not a thriller, although to some extent is constructed in accordance with the requirements of the “black” genre. “Cold Blood” is an attempt to understand the reasons of the crime and motives of killer.
“In cold Blood” is the first of its kind novel-report, which describes the sequence of events without bias from one death to another death. At the same time, Capote writes his report very talented, so that after the apparent objectivity are hidden true emotions and feelings, which find a response in the reader. This novel is great both from literary and emotional point of view.
In the characteristics of real heroes T. Capote is both careful and bold in his statements. Speaking of their original features, the author gives short, clear, rigid information, with small comments and, thus, his true attitude towards them is expressed between the lines. The novel is also characterized by an abundance of details: Capote drew attention to anything that might be relevant to the reader. All described details become as realistic as possible, taking the reader into the world of its characters. At the same time, the author very clearly describes the central characters, so that they literally become alive, true people, with their problems and sorrows, grievances and aspirations.
It is worthy to point the very composition of this novel: at the beginning Capote introduces the reader not with the central character, but with those people whom he will kill then. The first chapter of the novel is literally shocking, as the reader begins to feel sympathy for the characters, when suddenly they die. Finale is very surprising, even despite the fact that it is not originally intriguing, so that Capote just tries to keep the reader in suspense, that is the evidence of genuine literary talent of the author. This is a great advantage of the book, and proves that it certainly is worth reading.
“In cold blood” is called one of the best novels of Capote, and of this genre; it is one of those works that leave a deep mark in the soul of every reader, forcing not to simply follow the storyline, but really to “live” it.