Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

The death penalty can be classified as a controversial topic because people either find it justified or immoral. Both sides always seem to bring up the same points in each argument, but Truman Capote shows these arguments in a whole new light. Truman Capote has a strong opposition to the death penalty and effectively conveys this via his writing style in In Cold Blood where the two killers, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith, are sentenced to be hung.
This opposition can be seen with the precision in detail, especially with the quotes Capote chooses to put in the story. Instead of just inserting his opinion, Capote uses real quotes from real people on how they personally feel about the death penalty. This is shown on page 266, when Mr. Fleming said …show more content…
Syntax is exemplified on page 318 when Capote interjects a quote, from Perry Smith which said “You can wait around for the rope. But not me,” in the middle sentence explaining how Smith just refused to eat. This shows the willingness of the inmates, that are sentences to death,going to different lengths to die by their own hand than the state’s. By showing this, the reader is told to form pity on Smith for being punished with death. We can see pity used in it’s own example with the Mr Fleming quote because it adds to the community’s feelings. For figurative language, this can be found on page 337 when Alvin Dewey, a detective, on the horrendous case, attends not his first execution, the execution of the killers he caught. It is painted to the reader Dewey’s disgust to the setting in which the killers would be hanged. Capote inputs the figurative language here describing the bleak setting. By combining both Dewey’s dismay and the way Capote writes out the setting by using dark figurative language, the reader now has a grasp on how poorly treated these hangings are done, and can possibly be swayed to be against the death penalty.
So by using his writing skills in “In Cold Blood”, Capote conveys his disgust for the death penalty. He is able to manipulate in a subtle way so the reader can see his side and, eventually, agree with it. Kansas, to this day, still carries out the death penalty

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