english / cold-blood.mdon commit Merge branch 'master' of ssh://charles/tank/andrew/school/notes (cba1d08)
   1# *In Cold Blood* - Truman Capote
   2
   3## Setting
   4
   5**What does the setting of the text include?**
   6
   7- Holcomb, Kansas, America, 1959
   8- cultural information - America, small isolated community, agricultural economy, 1959
   9- explicit mention of dates to set period (Nov 14, 1959)
  10- Holcomb, Kansas - small town, "not a place that strangers come upon by chance"
  11- introduction to characters - family interactions/relationships
  12- integration of events & people to describe culture/period/location
  13- "hip-high, sheep-slaughtering snows" - harsh weather
  14- description of clothing - "narrow frontier trousers, Stevensons, and high heeled boots"
  15- description of accent - "the local accent is barbed with a prairie twang"
  16- landscape - dusty, dry flat, vast
  17- low population
  18- "few Americans [..] had ever heard of Holcomb"
  19- dilapidated buildings, uniform through town
  20
  21**How do the setting and events work together?**
  22
  23**Foreshadowing**
  24
  25p 25, 41, 52, 63, 67
  26
  27- chapter titles - "the last to see them alive" etc
  28- not going to church
  29- ambiguous implications
  30- “Chinese elms had turned into a tunnel of darkening green” (leading up to Clutters' house)
  31- “until one morning in mid-November of 1959, few Americans [..] had ever heard of Holcomb”
  32- Herbert “headed for home and the day’s work, unaware that it would be his last”
  33- “if Dick had not hammered home the every-minute importance of the next twenty-four hours” - Dick and Perry planning
  34- “the only sure thing is every one of them has got to go” - Dick
  35- “four shotgun blasts that, all told, ended six human lives”
  36- “Only now when I think back, I think somebody must have been hiding there. Maybe down among the trees. Somebody just waiting for me to leave”
  37- dual narrative in chronological order approaching murder
  38- - create a sense that the narrative will "collide"
  39- - different settings, same time
  40
  41
  42## Characters
  43
  44### Herbert Clutter
  45
  46- owns River Valley Farm
  47- four children - two daughters (Eveanna + Beverly) + Nancy + Kenyon
  48- successful - owns large property
  49- "I'm not as poor as I look"
  50- devout Methodist
  51- approves of Bobby but wary of their relationship
  52
  53### Bonnie Clutter
  54
  55- wife of Herbert Clutter
  56- mentally unstable (anxiety/BPD)
  57
  58### Kenyon Clutter
  59- 15
  60- builds stuff
  61
  62### Nancy Clutter
  63- boyfriend Bobby Rupp
  64- best friend Susan Kidwell
  65
  66### Bobby Rupp
  67- Nancy's boyfriend
  68
  69## Alvin Dewey
  70- Investigator for Kansas Bureau of Investigation
  71- wife Marie (stenographer), two sons
  72
  73
  74
  75### Dick Hickock
  76
  77- murders Clutters with Perry Smith
  78- "Dick, the practical Dick"
  79- appears confident
  80- married twice, had three sons
  81- calls Perry "honey"
  82- impulsive - if he had enough money, he "would spend it on vodka and women"
  83
  84### Perry Smith
  85
  86- murders Clutters with Dick Hickock
  87- injured in motorcycle accident
  88- breakfast - "three aspirin, cold root beer and a chain of Paul Mall cigarettes"
  89- self-centred/egotistical - “Every time you see a mirror you go into a trance”
  90- more open/prominent in text than Dick
  91- messy/materialistic - “Christ, Perry. You carry that junk everywhere?”
  92- "know the ins and outs of hunting gold"
  93- has trouble meeting deadlines - "if Dick had not hammered home the every-minute importance of the next twenty-four hours"
  94-  criminal past
  95- "never drank coffeemy name sluger lolol"
  96
  97### Willie-Jay
  98- assistant to prison chaplain
  99- respects and mentors Perry
 100
 101### Minor characters
 102
 103- Myrtle Clare - postmistress
 104- Mrs Hideo Ashida - family moved due to crime
 105- Floyd Wells - worked on Clutter farm, imprisoned with Dick, snitched Dick & Perry
 106
 107### Suspects
 108- John Jnr/Snr
 109- Mr. Smith
 110- robbery?
 111- Mabel - cafe worker
 112- Jonathan Daniel Adrian