**What does the setting of the text include?**
+- Holcomb, Kansas, America, 1959
- cultural information - America, small isolated community, agricultural economy, 1959
- explicit mention of dates to set period (Nov 14, 1959)
- Holcomb, Kansas - small town, "not a place that strangers come upon by chance"
### Herbert Clutter
- owns River Valley Farm
-- four children - two daughters + Nancy + Kenyon
+- four children - two daughters (Eveanna + Beverly) + Nancy + Kenyon
- successful - owns large property
- "I'm not as poor as I look"
+- devout Methodist
+- approves of Bobby but wary of their relationship
-### Nancy Clutter
+### Bonnie Clutter
+- wife of Herbert Clutter
+- mentally unstable (anxiety/BPD)
### Kenyon Clutter
- 15
- builds stuff
+### Nancy Clutter
+- boyfriend Bobby Rupp
+- best friend Susan Kidwell
+
+### Clutter family
+
+- complement each other - "just beautiful honey, a beautiful southern Belle"
+- cares for each other - "poor Bonnie's afflictions", "just one serious cause of disquiet"
+- controls his kids with a genuine interest - "suggests she see less of Bobby", "his laws were laws"
+- strict routine/organisation
+- a family that was stereotypically perfect until Bonnie was sick - judgement of others
+
+### Bobby Rupp
+- Nancy's boyfriend
+
+### Alvin Dewey
+- Investigator for Kansas Bureau of Investigation
+- wife Marie (stenographer), two sons
### Dick Hickock
-- murders Clutter with Perry Smith
+- murders Clutters with Perry Smith
- "Dick, the practical Dick"
+- appears confident
+- married twice, had three sons
+- calls Perry "honey"
+- impulsive - if he had enough money, he "would spend it on vodka and women"
+- egotistical - e.g. tattoos (contrasting themes) etc
+- moderately high IQ
+- diction - indicates uneducation
+
+*Perry and Dick appear less genuinely criminal at the beginning of the novel*
### Perry Smith
-- murders Clutter with Dick Hickock
+- murders Clutters with Dick Hickock
+- injured in motorcycle accident
- breakfast - "three aspirin, cold root beer and a chain of Paul Mall cigarettes"
- self-centred/egotistical - “Every time you see a mirror you go into a trance”
- more open/prominent in text than Dick
- "know the ins and outs of hunting gold"
- has trouble meeting deadlines - "if Dick had not hammered home the every-minute importance of the next twenty-four hours"
- criminal past
-- "never drank coffeemy name sluger lolol"
\ No newline at end of file
+- "never drank coffeemy name sluger lolol"
+- personal account of boyhood while in Mexico
+- parents were rodeo riders
+- two siblings and one inlaw committed suicide
+- tattoos - more delicate / meaningful than Dick's (juxtaposition). contrasting themes
+
+### Willie-Jay
+- assistant to prison chaplain
+- respects and mentors Perry
+
+### Minor characters
+
+- Myrtle Clare - postmistress
+- Mrs Hideo Ashida - family moved due to crime
+- Floyd Wells - worked on Clutter farm, imprisoned with Dick, snitched Dick & Perry
+- Andrews - prison inmate, temporary friend of Perry
+- Paul Helm - looks after Clutters' farm, close friend of Herb
+
+### Suspects
+- Bobby Rupp - lie detector test
+- John Jnr/Snr
+- Mr. Smith
+- robbery?
+- Mabel - cafe worker
+- Jonathan Daniel Adrian - breaks into Clutters' house, reported by Paul Helm
+
+**Manhunt** - Floyd Wells alerts authorities and Alvin Dewey starts manhunt. Dick and Perry steal car then return to Kansas to produce more cheques. They then move to Miami, then Las Vegas. Policewoman in Vegas recognises car. Dick confesses first, then Perry. Both undergo trial and are condemned to death. Five year appeal process - Perry starves himself, Dick writes letters to organisations. Dick accepts death sentence politely, Perry regretful/apologetic.
+
+## Themes
+
+- appearance vs. reality
+- family & relationships
+- juxtaposition/irony
+
+## Text structure
+
+Transition between scenes:
+
+- linking event/scenario e.g. car engine, full moon etc
+- continuous timeframe
+- songs/hymns
+- location is gradually introduced into transitions
+- aids with flow of storyline
+- foreshadowing of collision of character narratives
+
+## Writing style
+
+- detail
+- imagery
+- mixed perspective