NOTE: Read at least to page 36 in In Cold Blood, but feel free to real more of the first chapter if you like. I'll give you more reading over the weekend for next Wednesday, so you'll have plenty of time to finish the chapter.
Answer TWO of the following:
Q1: Truman Capote is reconstructing the events leading up
the murder based on interviews and his own intuition. He wasn't literally in
the car with the killers to hear their conversation, and he never even met the
victims. Do you think it's fair to write a fictional reconstruction of 'real'
events like this? Did it bother you--or did it help you understand the events?
Q2: For most people in the town, the Clutters were the perfect American family: successful, close-knit, and high-achieving. And while Capote doesn't contradict this portrait, what secrets did the family keep behind the scenes? What makes them less 'perfect' than appearances might show?
Q3: Why was Dick so drawn to Perry? As Capote depicts them, they're very different people, and at times don't even seem to like each other very much. What made them 'fated' to be together, in his eyes?
Q4: Writing about the town of Holcomb, Capote notes, "The inhabitants of the village, numbering two hundred and seventy, were satisfied that this should be so, quite content to exist inside ordinary life--to work, to hunt, to watch television, to attend school socials, choir practice, meetings of the 4-H Club" (5). Based on this, what makes Holcomb worthy of writing about in a book like this? Since most people have never even heard of it, why is a murder in Holcomb a national event? What makes Holcomb uniquely 'American'?
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