In 1966, Truman Capote published In Cold Blood about the real-life murder of the Clutter family. After the death of the four family members, the book follows the story of killers Dick Hitchcock and Perry Smith: how the murders happened, how they got caught, and their trial and sentence. Capote wrote a compelling and thrilling book, taking creative license to convey that capital punishment is unlawful and immoral.

Capote Doesn't Build Empathy for the Clutters

Capote's first choice as a writer is limiting the description of the Clutter family to approximately 25 pages out of 343. As a result, the reader doesn't have true feelings for them. There is compassion for the Clutters because they were murdered, but there is no attachment to them. By restricting the intimate details of the lives of the Clutters, there is no true portrait of them. This is how Capote begins the process of getting the reader to question the death penalty.

We Feel Sorry for Perry

In comparison, Capote focuses heavily on Perry’s narrative to make him sympathetic and easy to relate to. This is a solicitous device in order to understand his background story. Dick came from a good family who loved and supported him. In contrast, Perry was abandoned by his father, had an alcoholic mother who put him into a orphanage, and an orphanage worker who abused him for wetting the bed. Perry said that “. . . she’d fill a tub with ice-water, put me in it, and hold me under till I was blue” (Capote 132). The stark contrast between Dick’s and Perry’s lives makes the reader even more sympathetic toward Perry. Furthermore, Capote chose to include Perry’s backstory, even when the stories interrupt the narrative. Perry’s brutal past allows the reader to pity him. The abuse he suffered developed into mental illness, and he did not understand the difference between right and wrong. It is difficult to think about the thought of Perry hanging when he is such a sympathetic character.

(Real-life Killers Dick Hitchcock and Perry Smith)

Capital Punishment is Cruel and Unusual

The last choice that Capote makes as an author is the hanging scene at the end. Capote writes about their deaths by including a piece of dialogue that shows the horrors of the death penalty. In a conversation between two men, one says, “‘I was standing right close. I could hear him gasping for breath’” (Capote 340). Capote wasn't a witness to this dialogue, but he makes the choice as an author to include it, showing that death by hanging is not quick and painless. In fact, when describing the death of another inmate, Andy, the doctor kept crying and listening “to hear if Andy’s heart stopped. Seemed like it never would. The fact is, his heart kept beating for nineteen minutes” (Capote 332). This is surely cruel and unusual punishment. Capote writes for 21 pages about the death penalty, death row, and other capital punishment murders. This is just about as much time as he spent describing the Clutters. By the last page, the reader is convinced that the death penalty is immoral and unlawful.

Summary

Truman Capote is an amazing writer. This true crime book is a page-turner that reads like fiction because of Capote's use of creative license, which turns the real-life story of the Clutter murders into an argumentative piece on capital punishment. Capote builds a case for Perry throughout the book to create the sympathy needed to make the reader believe that Perry deserved to live. By the time Perry’s legs are dangling, Capote has made the reader question the veracity of capital punishment.