Sociological and psychological aspects of crime in Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood

Joanna Stolarek
The Siedlce University of Natural Sciences and Humanities
Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University, Warsaw


Sociological and psychological aspects of crime in
Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood

The aim of this article is to examine sociological and psychological aspects of crime in Truman Capote’s most celebrated nonfiction novel In Cold Blood (1965). The author of the article is going to analyse the crucial themes running through the book, such as violence, murder, victimization, atonement and punishment as well as the writer’s narrative techniques, characterization, style and setting. The article is going to prove how and to what extent In Cold Blood constitutes an excellent mélange of literature, journalism and reportage as well as a thorough sociological, philosophical and psychological study of crime, the nature of the evil and a painstaking analysis of the human psyche, especially the criminal’s mentality which still remains enigmatic and inscrutable.

Violence and terror are ubiquitous in almost every aspect of our life. Being regularly bombarded by shocking news and announcements of brutal killings, heinous acts of murder and hideous crimes we feel less and less self-confident and more anxious about our life security and the world’s future. In the 20^th century, particularly in its second half, and in the threshold of the third millennium numerous writers, critics, philosophers and sociologists, while witnessing sundry acts of violence, pathology and moral debasement of hardened criminals as well as the degeneration of “ordinary” citizens, having examined minutely human corruption, endeavour to find the explanation to the criminals’ nature, their motives and the abnormal conduct of certain members of the society. Unfortunately, very often their research and investigation are of no avail since they fail to provide a definite answer to rising violence, its roots and nature.

Crime and brutality constitute recurrent motifs and themes in American literature, especially in the works of 20^th-century American writers. Violence, tyranny, persecution, suffering, mental and physical oppression saturate miscellaneous US books, yet this subject matter is the most conspicuous in literature of the American South, prime examples of which are the novels and stories of Flannery O’Connor, Norman Mailer, Eudora Welty, Katherine Anne Porter, Carson McCullers, and, above all, Truman Capote. It is undoubtedly the last of the afore-mentioned novelists who excels at depicting complex, labyrinthine, often eccentric and grotesque features of his characters, their obsessions, phobias and fears, odd demeanour, propensity for violence and ferocity. Interestingly enough, in a considerable amount of his works, especially in his early fiction, death, murder, violence and victimization remain background elements. It is the lost childhood and loneliness (Other Voices, Other Rooms) (1948), the unexplored realm and search for identity (A Tree of Nights and Other Stories) (1949), child memories, the struggle between innocent naturalness and restrictive societal values (The Grass Harp) (1951) and untamed wilderness, quest for love and identity (Breakfast at Tiffany’s) (1958) which come to the fore. Needless to say, crime, guilt and penance are still omnipresent in his fiction and become crucial components in “A Diamond Guitar” (1950), a story in the southern group story collection and in In Cold Blood (1965), a novel which gave Capote worldwide recognition and literary acclaim.
In his writing Truman Capote combines elements of Gothicism with both s Southern setting and Southern characters, therefore his works have mystery and suspense, terror and horror, heavily textured description, strange episodes and people, and psychological and symbolic features of the gothic (Garson 14). Nevertheless, when it comes to violence, crime, murder and punishment, the themes most thoroughly explored in the above-mentioned “A Diamond Guitar and in In Cold Blood, the novel to be scrutinized in this article, the author strived to go beyond the confines of the literary and cultural heritage of the American South and provide a new national dimension to the crime issue, yet he left a Southern setting and some local traditions as a base for investigating also regional roots of villainy. The subject that inspired the novelist to write one of the most stunning works was the report which caught Capone’s attention while he was looking through the New York Times in November 1959 and which stated that Herbert Clutter, a wheat and cattle farmer, his wife, their teenage son and daughter had been killed in their home in Holcomb, a suburb of Garden City in Kansas. Soon after reading the account, Capote decided that the story of the homicide was what he had been searching for, a subject that would enable him to write a book which would endure (Garson 141). Furthermore, the novelist was tempted by the thought of exploring an area and people that were rather unfamiliar to him. However, the motif of the atrocious crime, agonizing death of the members of the Clutters family was one of the two major themes of In Cold Blood. Another significant aspect the writer raised in his outstanding novel was the story of the murderers of the Clutters, Richard Eugene Hickock and Perry Edward Smith, who were executed five and a half years after the murder. Capote’s book appeared in January 1966 and became a literary sensation critically and commercially (Garson 142).