| While In Cold Blood's place in Capote's career, or its apparent halting of his career, has been the source of conversation for many scholars, it will not be my primary concern in this thesis. Instead, I seek to understand and explain the rhetoric of In Cold Blood. That is, I want to examine the tangible impact that this text had on its original readers. The nature of this project reveals that the question of this nonfiction novel's rhetorical impact is a question that can be answered. Careful examination of cultural artifacts, close reading of Capote's text, and rhetorical theory, all help to explain the rhetoric of In Cold Blood. Ultimately, I will argue that Capote's authorial decisions persuaded readers to empathize with Dick Hickock and Perry Smith, the murderers of the Clutter family of Kansas, thereby reversing the most common understanding of these men as inhuman villains. |
