Rhetorical Techniques In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood
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Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood embodies a novel-esque style by using rhetorical strategies to bring a true criminal account to life. In an early excerpt from the work, Capote highlights sixteen-year-old Nancy Clutter’s character on the eve of her gruesome murder. Capote cleverly characterizes Nancy throughout this passage in order to build a stark contrast between her innocent, kind qualities and the reckless insanity of her murderers, as well as to build sentiment for her short-lived adolescence. By use of strategies such as detailed imagery and an appeal to the reader’s emotion, Capote adds depth to the true telling of the murder and creates a detailed distinction between the purity of the Clutter family and the heinousness of Richard Hickock and Perry Smith.…show more content… Capote adds to this sentimental scene by describing the photographs of Bobby Rupp and adding wistful details, such as the fact that the edge of McKinney Lake “was as far as he dared go, for he had never learned to swim.” By incorporating these small elements of Nancy’s life, Capote further builds on Nancy’s innocent path to maturity and highlights the cherishable moments in her short-lived existence, again creating a certain sentimentality for the growing