In Cold Blood Notes

The Last to See Them Alive: 1 of 3

Holcomb is a small town on the high plains of western Kansas. Herbert Clutter owns a farm in the area, River Valley Farm. On November 14, 1959, he wakes up, eats a light breakfast, and begins the day's work. It will be his last. On the other side of the state, Perry Smith eats a breakfast of aspirin and cigarettes. His friend Dick Hickock comes to pick him up. Back at the Clutter household, a phone call wakes Nancy Clutter. A local girl wants to learn how to make apple pies. Nancy rearranges her schedule to make time. Her friend Susan also calls. They talk about Nancy's date with Bobby the previous night and how Herb Clutter wants Nancy to slow down their relationship. Nancy also mentions that, inexplicably, she has been smelling cigarette smoke. Also, her father seems to be worried about something.

Dick is driving a black Cadillac. He and Perry take it to the shop where Dick works, where they tune the car, preparing for a long drive.

Nancy has finished teaching Jolene Katz how to bake apple pies. She leaves, and Bonnie Clutter talks with the girl. She shows Jolene her collection of miniatures. After Jolene leaves she goes to bed, very depressed, as usual.

Perry and Dick are getting cleaned up for their drive. Dick is athletic but small; Perry has a muscular upper body, but his legs were badly damaged in a motorcycle wreck. They are both tattooed--Dick in many places, Perry only in a few places, but his tattoos are polished and intricate.

Four hundred miles away, Herb Clutter is driving Mrs. Ashida home from a 4-H meeting. The meeting was in Garden City, a small city close to Holcomb. Mrs. Ashida and her young family are new to Holcomb, but they may have to move. Herb hopes that they do not move.

Commentary

The killers approach Holcomb, while the Clutters go about their wholesome, everyday business. This sequence is crafted so as to heighten the sense of suspense. Capote shifts quickly from scene to scene. It is like a film in which the scene shifts between simultaneous events in different places. The reader knows that the Clutters are going to die, but the Clutters are blissfully ignorant of this fact. Capote capitalizes on this irony. At the end of almost each chapter about the Clutters, Capote writes that this will be their last day, their last apple pie, etc.

It is obvious that Capote is the narrator, because the narrator is obviously more sophisticated than many of the characters in the book. His descriptions sound almost like anthropological investigations; he is aloof from his subjects. Although Capote had a rural childhood, his cosmopolitan experience comes through clearly as he describes "local color." In many ways, he is an urban sophisticate giving us a voyeuristic window into the "heartland" of America.

The Last to See Them Alive: 2 of 3

Driving across the state, Dick and Perry stop to buy rubber gloves and rope. Perry suggests buying stockings to wear over their heads, but Dick reminds him that no witnesses will survive.

Kenyon Clutter is in the basement recreational room, working on a hope chest for one of his older sisters. Kenyon is fifteen; he is interested in cars and tinkering with inventions, but not in girls. He and his best friend sometimes go out in his car, the Coyote Wagon, to round up coyotes. Kenyon goes outside and speaks to Mr. Helms, the husband of the housekeeper. They note that an insurance salesman is visiting Mr. Clutter.

Dick and Perry have paused once again, this time to try to get black stockings at a convent. Perry remembers the real reason he came to Kansas, which for him is a parole violation. He had hoped to meet up with Willie-Jay, who was a kind of religious mentor to him when he was in prison. Not finding Willie-Jay, he agreed to do a "score" with Dick.

Back at River Valley Farm, Mr. Clutter makes a deal for a large life insurance plan. The agent leaves with the first payment in his pocket.

Driving down the highway, Perry is playing songs on his guitar and the two are sharing a bottle of orange drink and vodka.

The next Monday, Bobby Rupp describes his last night with the Clutters to the police. He went over to the Clutters home and watched TV with the family. At eleven, he left.

Dick and Perry have a steak dinner. They move on to Garden City, where they buy a tank of gas. Perry's legs cause him great pain, and he spends a long time in the bathroom, trying to find the strength to stand up again. Dick thinks that his partner must be having second thoughts.

Nancy, in her bedroom, makes an entry in her diary.

Dick and Perry pull up to the Clutter home.

Commentary

In Cold Blood is divided into small chapters. In this part of the narrative, Capote uses the short chapter lengths to their full effect--the chapters come quicker, like brief, alternating glances as Dick and Perry near the River Valley Farm. This heightens the sense of simultaneity. It is as if the mind's eye were quickly toggling back and forth between a view of the Clutter home and one of the approaching black Cadillac, trying not to miss a thing.

Capote makes the most of the fact that he is telling a true story. To describe Billy's visit to the Clutter home, he simply uses Billy's testimony. He is calling attention to the fact that this is a true story. The factuality of his story becomes something like a gimmick.

As the killers race toward Holcomb, Capote sketches the developing working relationship between Dick and Perry. Perry wants to tell Dick about his dream that a giant parrot will come and rescue him, but Dick ignores him. Dick is practical; he does not understand the romantic side of Perry. Also, he underestimates Perry. Dick thinks that Perry may be having second thoughts when in fact he is trying to overcome excruciating pain so that he can carry on.

The Last to See Them Alive: 3 of 3

Nancy Ewalt, a schoolmate of Nancy Clutter, comes to the house the next morning. No one answers, so she and her father go to ask Susan Kidwell if she knows anything. Together, they return to the house and find the bodies.

The local mail messenger, Sadie Truitt, sees ambulances approaching the Clutter farm. Soon, she and her daughter (who is also the postmistress) Myrtle Clare hear news of the murders over the radio. Myrt is cynical about the news, but they are both shocked.

That morning the news was announced from Sunday morning church pulpits and over the radio. Many