Truman Capote - in Cold Blood

These days there is no doubt that we should question the media and any information published today. A prime example is Truman Capote's In Cold Blood. Capote tried to start a new era of non-fiction novels with his book. This in itself was the root of his problems. There was no way he could entertain his readers with just facts, so he had to fabricate them into a story; telling only some of the truth, and thus skewing our view of the story. Authors use information (or a lack thereof), to change the reader's opinion on a subject, to make them feel a certain way, or just to make a more fascinating book.

In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood he chooses certain information to tell us that will change our opinion. At the time of the murder trials the defendant of Perry Smith is quoted. "I do not desire to serve," [Smith's Lawyer] told the judge. "But if the court sees fit to appoint me, then of course I have no choice." (257) Capote chooses to put this in here to create sympathy for the murderers since a lawyer that was forced to defend them will poorly represent them. Capote also uses the book to speak out against the death penalty and to make us agree with him he writes that it take the doctor twenty minutes to decide Dick is dead after he is hung. But isn't hanging supposed to be humane? Whether twenty minutes was the actual time or not is questionable, but Capote mentions it for just that reason; to point out it is not humane. In the article, " 'To Kill a Mockingbird' author helped Truman Capote break the ice in Kansas" some light is shown on Capotes motives. He often paid for interviews, which brings to question the validity of the information. Also according to the article he was known for not writing things down during the interviews. This means he might have gotten some of it wrong makes you question its accuracy. Without changing the information to sway the reader, Capote would not have the compelling novel that he did.

Capote also changed the information to make people believe certain things so it would add to the thrilling aspect of the story. When he left out information to create sympathy for the murderers, that made the trials and the final executions all the more emotional for the readers who had developed ties with the characters of Dick and Perry. In the article "An Outspoken Critic", Duane West is talked about as the persecutor for the murder case in the book but is nowhere to be seen in the book. Capote leaves him out and West's reaction was, "A story in the paper can be as inaccurate by what it leaves out as by what it puts in," he said. "That's the problem with Capote's Writing." (last paragraph) Another example unrelated to the book is the children's book The Lost Witness. It isn't so much the writing but the illustration that shows one of two adversaries to be much larger then the other when they were