Truman Capote chooses to reveal the very plot of the murders and the entire story early in the beginning of his novel In Cold Blood. By doing this, the audience is shown early on a different side to his main characters, Dick and Perry, thus allowing readers to sympathize and even develop an emotional attachment to these characters.
In the first few sections of his novel, Capote introduces a small family, The Clutters, in the west Kansas town of Holcomb. When we’re first shown Herb Clutter, he is walking across his property admiring every miniscule detail, unbeknownst to him that it would be the last time he would be alive to do this. Across the United States, at this same time, Perry, who actually murders Herb and the rest of the Clutter family, is enjoying a breakfast of cigarettes and aspirin with Dick on his way to join forces in a haunting black Cadillac. The Clutter goes along as any normal day with Nancy teaching a local girl how to bake an apple pie, Kenyon is down in his basement sanding a hope chest he’s intending to give as a gift to his older sister, and Bonnie Clutter is spending the day in a hopeless despair-as usual. This setup shows the complete oblivion of the Clutter family and allows the audience to form an emotional connection to each member of the family.
Leading into the murders, Capote opts to give his readers the background on both of the Clutter’s murderers. The audience learns of Perry’s twisted childhood, with his father and mother being Rodeo performers and his being tossed around from place to place. One is left to question the psychiatric condition of Perry and also left to wonder if he is truly to blame for his actions. Including both the murder and previous run-ins with the law. Capote spends a lot of time describing Perry’s past. He gives his readers true insight through his use of old letters from Perry’s father and Perry’s sister while Perry was in prison. Capote’s readers are really able to grasp what his childhood was like...