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Does a man who brutally murdered four humans-for the sole reason that he had the power to-deserve any ounce of sympathy? “In Cold Blood”, Truman Capote uses “pathos” to appeal to the emotions of the readers about the two murderers, Perry Smith and Richard Hickock. Capote certainly sympathizes with and portrays one of the cold-blooded murderers in a positive light and portrays the other murderer as a despicable and disgusting human being. For instance, Capote utilizes righteous and simple diction to advocate Perry’s emphatic nature with choices like, “compassion” and “uncharitable”. Furthermore, the author’s piteous tone emphasizes the tragic and hopelessness of Perry’s life with choices like, “You think I like myself?” and “”. In addition, Capote’s tone and diction paints Dick as a tasteless, vicious creature who deserved to take the full blame of the murder. Lastly, there are several rhetorical strategies that author employs to encourage the audience to sympathize with Perry and to hate and despise Dick.
Capote’s diction makes Perry seem like a moral human being. For instance, Capote writes, “All along Dewey had argued that the mattress box had been placed on the floor for the comfort of Mr. Clutter, and taking heed of similar hints, other fragmentary indications of ironic, erratic compassion, the detective had conjectured that at least one of the killers was not altogether uncharitable.” that shows righteous word choice. The words “uncharitable”, “compassion”, and “comfort” are all extremely purposeful words that communicates Perry was not as heartless as he may seem. Pleading to the reader’s feelings, the diction depicts as Perry as a more caring person. Furthermore, when Dick says, “I’m gonna bust that little girl”, Perry responds with, “Uh-huh. But you’ll have to kill me first.”(Capote 243). With simple word choices like “bust” and “Uh-huh”, Capote conveys his purpose without flare. In this example, Dick wants to rape Nancy Clutter before killing her, but Perry refuses to let him do so. This reveals that Perry has morals, “Now that’s something I despise. Anybody that can’t control themselves sexually.”, and that Dick is a disgusting person who would rape an underage girl (Capote 243). Along with writing Perry as an actual human being with heroic qualities, Capote’s tone encourages the audience to sympathize with Perry’s tragic upbringing.
By using a piteous tone, Capote manages to draw the audience into sympathizing more with Perry because of his ugly childhood. Perry says, “You think I like myself?” when he is talking to his sole surviving sister (Capote 185). Not only does this exemplify pity, it shows that Perry has no self-confidence and that he realizes how his horrible childhood has shaped him into the man he is today. The audience feels sorrow for Perry because of this self-hating, desperate tone. Additionally, Capote says, “Here was someone offering help, a sane and respectable man who had once known and liked him, a man who signed himself friend.”(262). Again, it has a piteous and desperate tone. Capote emphasizes the word friend insinuating that Perry has no friends. Plus, it says that the people who knew Perry generally did not like him and if they did they were usually insane or criminals. Utilizing pathos, Capote sympathizes with Perry because he is a seemingly lonely man whom no one likes.
Capote utilizes other rhetorical strategies that paints Perry in a more positive light and illustrates Dick in a negative light. For example, he uses syntax, specifically dashes: “Nonetheless, [Dewey] found it possible to look at the man beside him without anger-with, rather, a measure of sympathy-for Perry Smith’s life had been no bed of roses, but pitiful, an ugly and lonely progress toward one mirage and another.” ( Capote 246). The dashes employed show that Dewey, one of the detectives on the Clutter murders case, does not feel anger but rather sympathy for Perry. If one of the detectives on the case can sympathize with Perry, it suggests that the reader can also. Furthermore, in this example, the author uses a metaphor: “…Perry Smith’s life had been no bed of roses, but pitiful…” (Capote 246) to compare Perry’s life to something else. The purpose of this is show how truly unfortunate his life was and further appeals to the reader to care for Perry. Adding on to this, the author decided to add anecdotes of Perry’s childhood to further create compassion from the audience. Capote writes, “Once, when he was a running-wild child in San Francisco, he and a ‘Chink kid’ (Tommy Chan? Tommy Lee?) had worked together as a ‘purse-snatching team’.” (192). The author goes on to describe a small story about how they robbed an old lady for ninety cents. It creates sympathy because Perry was still “an urchin dependent, so to say, on stolen coins” twenty years down the road (Capote 193). It is simply another example that shows how horrible and pitiful Perry’s life was that he had to steal to survive. Another anecdote is selected by the author to show that Dick’s life was privileged and normal compared to Perry’s: “My school years went quite the same as most other boys my own age. I had my share of fights, girls, and other things that go with a growing boy. My home life was also normal..”(Capote 277). The purpose of this anecdote is to show that despite that Dick had caring parents, was a good student, and possessed a bright future, he turned into a soulless killer, compared to Perry whose life no one would envy. Again, it appeals to the reader’s emotions, persuading us to pity Perry and despise Dick.
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