Essay on 'In Cold Blood' Literary Devices

When comparing two books written by the same author, it is expected that you will be able to pick up on the authors' special technique to make each of their books as intriguing as possible. This cannot be said about Truman Capote and his books “In Cold Blood,” and “Breakfast at Tiffanys.” When writing these books Capote was not just able to make each of them unique and special, but he also was able to affect many people and help to inspire a new style of writing. In writing “In Cold Blood,” Capote took a new route from his common writing style, and expressed new journalism. This greatly affected the way readers viewed this novel, because it gave a new perspective to Capote's writing that he has never used before. Truman Capote will always be regarded as one of the greatest American novelists, with his most influential writings being “In Cold Blood,” and “Breakfast at Tiffanys.” While his writings are unlike any other, he does in fact have a past of being controversial, this is due to his struggle with addiction and abuse of drugs. This goes to show that while someone can write such amazing novels and seem as if their lives are amazing, they can also be going through a lot behind the scenes. Writings such as “Breakfast at Tiffanys,” parallel to Capote's life for example, Capote seemed caught between a spirit of satisfaction and the longing for something deeper. Just like the characters that he created for the novel “In Cold Blood,” those characters face dark times and struggle with finding ways to make their lives better.

The two stories ``In Cold Blood '' and “Breakfast at Tiffanys,” give great examples of Truman Capote's unique writing style. While his writing is not only incredibly interesting to study, it is also very hard to understand. When looking at the book “In Cold Blood,” at first it becomes easy to pick up on Capote's writing style but just as quick as you pick up on it, it changes. Capote is able to take journalism and work it into fiction in a way that makes his stories seem far from fiction. This is where Capote’s talent shows, for example an article writes “Capote's style is objective and is highly innovative prose; it combines the factual accuracy of journalism with the emotive impact of fiction. He understood the suspense that could be garnered by lengthy descriptions and by letting his characters speak extensively.” This quote explains how people pick up on his way of portraying a story as if it actually happened in real life. Capote's writing style is found again in the book “In Cold Blood '' when looking at how he portrays characters, for example he is able to use language devices such as similes, symbolism, and diction to develop Perry Smith throughout the story. As the story plays out, diction plays a big role in developing Perry Smiths character, to the point where it suggests reasons for the murder. While other authors and writers use their special techniques to pull in the reader, I believe that Capote uses the best technique to catch the reader's attention and focus.

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Building suspense is arguably the most important part of writing a story, while writers like Stephen King and Anne Cleeves do an amazing job at this specific technique, the way that Truman Capote builds suspense is unmatched. Books such as “In Cold Blood,” give great examples of how Capote is able to catch the reader's attention using suspense, for example Capote switches between killers' perspectives and their plan to commit their next crime. I find that Capote does the best job at building suspense when he uses subtle things that point toward a major event in the story, causing the reader to try to draw their own conclusion as to what might possibly happen, for example in the book “In Cold Blood,” Capote gives hints such as Mr Clutter purchasing life insurance the day before he dies, and Nacy writing down things about her day that she finds boring and constant before she also dies. Nacy’s journaling about her daily life also gives an important life lesson about how life can be boring at times, but things can change instantly and even though your life is boring, it's still better than not having it. Finding suspense in a book that is about crime and mystery is quite simple due to the fact that suspense is commonly found in those types of books, but where suspense is not often found is in a romantic novel. This is where Capote truly shows his talent, in the Novella ``Breakfast at Tiffanys,” Capote finds a way to build suspense using his ability to elongate certain situations that are happening in a story, for example he uses Holly getting arrested for her participation in Sally Tomato’s drug ring to build suspense and let the reader wonder what her fate will be. Truman Capote’s use of suspense and foreshadowing is fairly well recognized in the “writing world,” and throughout my research I did not find one article that did not talk about this talent of his.

One of the most important parts to focus on when studying a writer's work, is their use of literary lenses. Truman Capote does a great job at using literary lenses, especially in his book “In Cold Blood,” which depicts the corrupt and evil society that we live in. The most evident literary lense that is used in the book “In Cold Blood,” is a historic lense. I say this in regard to how Capote feels about the current state of our country and people at the time, It seems as if he believes that the older times were much simpler and less crime and hatred was directed toward other people, whereas now people are filled with hatred which is leading toward killing other people in cold blood. Many of Capote's writings use at least one literary lense, but many of them do not make as much of a statement as the one in the book “Breakfast at tiffanys.” The Literary lense that is used in this Novella is a femnist lense, while this sounds unusual due to “Breakfast at Tiffanys'' being a book about a girl named Holly being the “play-thing” to a bunch of rich white men, I believe that there is a deeper meaning behind it. Holly proves that she is not only self-sufficient, but she is also able to empower other women. Capote’s intention when he created Holly, was to portray her to be ‘a prototype of today’s liberated female’ in a 1968 Playboy interview. When researching Capote's use of literary lenses, I found it to be difficult because of the way that he is able to hide it in a sense.

Truman Capote’s writing is recognized for many reasons due to his ability to use real events and turn them into an exciting and itricit novel. He does this by taking journalism and mixing it into fiction to create an amazing work of literary perspectives known as new journalism, but some people despise this due to the way journalism and fiction do not go together. This did not stop Capote, and because of this unique style of writing he has been recognized by many mainstream media outlets, for example this article states “The playwright and novelist Truman Capote became a central figure in the New Journalism in 1965 when The New Yorker magazine serialized Capote’s nonfiction novel, In Cold Blood, about the murder of a family of four in their home near Holcomb, Kansas, in 1959. Capote spent six years reporting and writing the piece.” This quote goes to show that he was one of the main leaders in this new wave of writing style that he created. Like the quote above states, “In Cold Blood,” is the picture child when it comes to discussing Capote's use of New journalism. New journalism is found close to immediately when reading “In Cold Blood,” due to Capote's ability to not only humanize the characters in the novel no matter what their role is, but also to switch perspectives and show the reader what a character is feeling in that moment and their struggles. . Due to Capote's novel “In Cold Blood'' being published 4 years after “Breakfast at Tiffanys,” the use of new journalism is not found in “Breakfast at Tiffanys.” This is quite easy to pick up once you start to read the novel “Breakfast at Tiffanys,” because immediately you can see that the book does not use change of perspectives or narration the way that it is used in “In Cold Blood.” This amazing trait that Capote was able to acquire for himself has left a major impact on many other authors, and it has changed the way many people write, but also read novels.

While many may think Capote did not know of his incredible ability to write novels and short stories, he often acknowledged it in a confident manner in interviews. For example, one of his most famous quotes reads “ I think I've written one masterpiece in my career and that's 'In Cold Blood'. It is a masterpiece and I don't care what anyone says. I think I've also written three or four short stories that are as good as anything written in the English language.” Capote was a very confident man that knew his skills and accomplishments, and he never neglected to tell people that. Many of his famous quotes come off as “cocky” in a sense, for example one of his quotes states “Writing stopped being fun when I discovered the difference between good writing and bad and, even more terrifying, the difference between it and true art. And after that, the whip came down” - Truman Capote. This quote to a person that does not know Capote may come off as too confident, but for the people that know Capote's personality, this quote would look completely normal if not a bit censored. This personality played a big role in many of Capote's writings, but eventually it got the best of him when he created a novel called “Answered Prayers.” According to Capote, this novel was supposed to be his best yet, saying to Peoples Magazine that he created the characters in a way that they would be disguised but in reality they were his friends in real life. His goal going into writing this novel was to “Execute” his friends, with his pen being the gun. This caused Capote to lose everything, friends, reputation, desire to write, and most of all himself. Many critics were appalled that he so cold heartedly exposed his friends, and not in just a mean way, he exposed things from audulty all the way to murder.

The summer of 1984, Truman Capote's life ended after he lost a battle to liver disease. I believe that Capote's downfall started once he fell into his drug and alcohol addiction, his writings became scattered and he was not the same author that wrote “In Cold Blood,” or “Breakfast at Tiffanys.” Watching a person with such talent fall into addiction is one of the hardest things to see, especially when it is someone that does not have a person to lead them into a better direction. I believe that Truman Capote's life would have lasted much longer if he had someone that was able to guide him throughout his life. With his name being connected to the start of new journalism, Truman Capote will always go down as one of the most innovative and influential writers ever. Although his career ended in a rough manner, his works will continue to inspire many more writers, and his legacy will be carried on through new journalism