1# *In Cold Blood* - Truman Capote 2 3## Setting 4 5**What does the setting of the text include?** 6 7- cultural information - America, small isolated community, agricultural economy, 1959 8- explicit mention of dates to set period (Nov 14, 1959) 9- Holcomb, Kansas - small town, "not a place that strangers come upon by chance" 10- introduction to characters - family interactions/relationships 11- integration of events & people to describe culture/period/location 12- "hip-high, sheep-slaughtering snows" - harsh weather 13- description of clothing - "narrow frontier trousers, Stevensons, and high heeled boots" 14- description of accent - "the local accent is barbed with a prairie twang" 15- landscape - dusty, dry flat, vast 16- low population 17- "few Americans [..] had ever heard of Holcomb" 18- dilapidated buildings, uniform through town 19 20**How do the setting and events work together?** 21 22**Foreshadowing** 23 24p 25, 41, 52, 63, 67 25 26- chapter titles - "the last to see them alive" etc 27- not going to church 28- ambiguous implications 29- “Chinese elms had turned into a tunnel of darkening green” (leading up to Clutters' house) 30- “until one morning in mid-November of 1959, few Americans [..] had ever heard of Holcomb” 31- Herbert “headed for home and the day’s work, unaware that it would be his last” 32- “if Dick had not hammered home the every-minute importance of the next twenty-four hours” - Dick and Perry planning 33- “the only sure thing is every one of them has got to go” - Dick 34- “four shotgun blasts that, all told, ended six human lives” 35- “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” 36- dual narrative in chronological order approaching murder 37- - create a sense that the narrative will "collide" 38- - different settings, same time 39 40 41## Characters 42 43### Herbert Clutter 44 45- owns River Valley Farm 46- four children - two daughters + Nancy + Kenyon 47- successful - owns large property 48- "I'm not as poor as I look" 49 50### Nancy Clutter 51 52 53### Kenyon Clutter 54-15 55- builds stuff 56 57 58### Dick Hickock 59 60- murders Clutter with Perry Smith 61 62### Perry Smith 63 64- murders Clutter with Dick Hickock 65- breakfast - "three aspirin, cold root beer and a chain of Paul Mall cigarettes" 66- self-centred/egotistical - “Every time you see a mirror you go into a trance” 67- more open/prominent in text than Dick