Some great works of literature can be described as “timeless”: Pride and Prejudice, A Christmas Carol, The Divine Comedy, Beowulf. No matter who reads these books, no matter how far in the future, the themes and ideas presented in them will be pertinent and valuable to the reader. They cannot be dated or outmoded; the presentation of theme will always make sense to a modern-day reader. Other works, some just as great, some not, do in time become dated: the cautionary theme present in Orwell’s 1984 is still obvious, but the ludicrous descriptions of “future” technology distract a modern reader, and even the title itself is now outdated. The reams of “chick lit” and other modern day novels filled with brand names and the latest colloquiums will seem old and out-of-date in just a few years. The book In Cold Blood, in my opinion, is in some places dated, though the main idea is still relevant and important today.

            It is obvious in reading In Cold Blood that America forty-odd years ago was a very different place than it is today. A modern, jaded reader may come to the statement that nobody ever locked doors in Holcomb (59) and wonder if the Clutters deserved what happened to them because of their stupidity. Dick and Perry’s fake-check-writing spree (97) seems fairly ridiculous, as it is doubtful they could get away with such a thing today. The description of the execution (339-41) seems barbaric and unethical to a modern reader, as hanging as a method of execution is not used today. Finally, the shock value of the murders themselves is decreased for a modern reader, because America today is simply more violent and such horrific acts are far more commonplace for us than they were for our grandparents. Although there are points of In Cold Blood that are no longer quite as effective as they might have once been, the overarching theme of violence and its myriad of causes is still today as important and understandable as it was forty years ago, perhaps even more so, because mindless violence is more widespread now.  A modern reader may even gain more from reading the book, as we have forty extra years of empirical experience and we can see the evolution and growth of violence in America from the time that In Cold Blood was written to now.

              

       The town of Holcomb and the surrounding area is so often and in so much detail described that the setting is in effect a character in itself. It is the first thing to which the reader is introduced; the book opens with the sentence “The village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of western Kansas” (3). It seems to be a completely ordinary, if rustic, town. The “land is flat” and the “views are awesomely extensive” (3); the “unnamed, unshaded, unpaved” streets “turn from thickest dust to direst mud” (3) when the rain falls; at Christmastime “swags of gala greenery trimmed with scarlet paper bells” (148) decorate the shop-fronts. The “small-town” idiosyncrasies of Holcomb make the location seem charming and real. A town in which the mail must be caught as it flies from a train going “a hundred miles an hour” (66) because it is not important enough to have the train actually stop does not seem a threatening place. By depicting the town as innocent and secure, the author makes the horror of the murders as shocking to the reader as it no doubt was to the inhabitants of Holcomb.

            The author also uses his frequent mentions and elaborations on the setting to create the mood of the book. Right after the murders, a group of out-of-state hunters arrive in Holcomb to be “startled” by a strange sight: “windows ablaze, almost every window in almost every house, and, in the brightly lit rooms, fully clothed people, even entire families, who had sat the whole night wide awake, watchful, listening” (88). The stark contrast to the former Holcomb where nobody ever even locked the doors demonstrates to the reader how much of a shock the murders were, and the vibrant image of an unsleeping town  imparts to the reader a sense of the fear and apprehension Holcomb’s inhabitants must have experienced. Later in the book, when the search for suspects has dragged on far longer than hoped, it is noted that “the weather was remarkable. Even for western Kansas, renowned for the longevity of its Indian summers, the current sample seemed far-fetched – dry air, bold sun, azure sky” (204). The frustration and anxiety of the ‘dry spell’ in the search for answers is reflected and magnified in the feeling of hot summer air and the heat of the sun, lingering far longer than expected. When Perry and Dick are finally arrested and brought back to Kansas, “the miraculous autumn departed…the year’s first snow began to fall” (248). The drought is over; the answers are coming.

To characterize Dick and Perry, Capote utilizes several techniques, using both direct and indirect methods. Among the most effective, in my opinion, are the letters included in the book. These serve as direct characterization from the point of view of others. For example, Perry’s father writes, in a letter to help his son obtain parole, that Perry “never forgets” if he is mistreated and that “freedom means everything to him” (126-7), two valuable insights into his mindset. Capote’s careful selection of detail is another type of characterization. Though details such as Perry finding it “so relaxing” (192) to be in a Laundromat, the fact that Dick was “always ready with a dirty joke on any subject,” (93) and Perry’s experience on a “purse-snatching team” (192) seem trivial at first glance, once added up they create a fuller picture of the people they describe. This is an example of indirect characterization. A final method of portraying the personality of Dick and Perry are the excerpts of their own writings and words included in the book, obviously an example of direct characterization. While imprisoned on Death Row, Perry writes of having “many thoughts of Dick,” (259) even when the reader knows full well Dick could care less about him. Perry’s collection of “beautiful” and “useful” (146) words, meticulously compiled, reveals his cerebral tendencies.

In my opinion, the reader is asked to sympathize with Perry more than with Dick, which is in itself ironic, as we are lead to believe that it was Perry who actually pulled the trigger on the Clutter family. From the beginning, Perry’s sorry childhood and young adulthood is alluded to and elaborated upon, which causes the reader to empathize with the man. His recurring dream, mentioned several times, in which a parrot “taller than Jesus, yellow like a sunflower” appears and carries him away to “paradise,” (93) resonates with many readers who have felt the helpless desire to be free and far away. His musical abilities, first with the guitar and later with the harmonica, as well as his book of thoughts and quotes-”What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.” (147)- demonstrate both his apparent intelligence and real, human feelings. At the end of the book, when the prisoners were hanged, I felt nothing for Dick but I did feel a pang for Perry; Capote did an exceptional job of including material in the book to cause the reader to connect with and understand Perry, which in the end leads to one’s sympathy as a character not so different from oneself and with so much possible potential is killed.