FRQ Response Two

The murders of the Clutter family as portrayed in In Cold Blood are so shocking due to Capote’s way of making the reader sympathize with them throughout the novel. Herb Cutter is easy to sympathize with because he embodies the typical hero. The typical hero starts from humble beginnings, and through a series of trials and tribulations, achieves wealth, power, and social status, usually siring many children. This model is seen throughout Greek mythology, as well as recent literature; Harry Potter is an example that easily jumps to mind. Herb fits this model easily; he started out as a farmer and through his own intelligence and skills, as well as some luck, he became a ranch owner with four children who had a considerable amount of money and was high up in his community’s social ladder. He also personifies the American ideal of the self-made man, rising from poverty to riches on his own. People are suckers for rags-to-riches stories, stories where underdogs come out on top, especially in film; The Pursuit of Happyness and The Social Network are two prime examples.  Because Herb Clutter encapsulates both of these ideals, readers want him to come out on top, to see him win and have a long, fulfilling life. When he is murdered, his brutal death is a cold reminder of the brevity of life and how no one is safe from death.

            Another character that the reader begins to sympathize with is Perry Smith, one of the two murderers. Capote uses Perry’s family history to make him seem like a victimized child; his idea of a yellow bird saving him from his troubles is a detail Capote includes to elicit sympathy from his readers. By illustrating a history of abuse and neglect, the reader begins to feel bad for Perry, and begins to attribute some of his more vicious personality traits to his childhood. Capote’s inclusion of a psychologist’s evaluation of Smith serves two purposes; one, to illustrate Capote’s view of the death penalty, and two, to generate sympathy for Smith. The reader begins to think that he isn’t such a bad person, but that he didn’t know any better because of his abusive childhood and twisted mentality. If less of Smith’s history was included, we would despise him as a character, as he had murdered at least two people in cold blood. Some of this sympathy for Smith can be attributed to Capote’s own affections for the man, as noted by friends and rumors of a romantic relationship between the two.

Capote’s ability to generate sympathy for his characters is what marks out In Cold Blood as an iconic piece of narrative nonfiction. When the reader sympathizes and empathizes with the characters, they can put themselves in their shoes, allowing them to connect with the book on a deeper and more personal level. This deeper connection is what makes In Cold Blood a readable novel, and not just a disturbing book illustrating the gory deaths of four good people, as if it was a miniature literary form of Saw. It marks out In Cold Blood as one of Capote’s best works and a definitive piece of American literature.