In Cold Blood Summary

In Cold Blood Summary

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

Setting

The novel is set in Holcomb Kansas.

Main Characters

Perry Edward Smith- He is a short man, with a large torso but small legs. His legs were badly injured in a motorcycle accident. He wants very much to be educated, and he considers himself quite intelligent and artistic.

Richard Eugene Hickock- he is also a small man, who grew up in Kansas, was married twice, and is jailed for passing bad checks.

Herbert Clutter- he is the father of the Clutter family. His wife is Bonnie and they have four children: two older daughters, who have moved out, and Nancy and Kenyon. His large property, River Valley Farm, keeps him moderately wealthy.

Bonnie Clutter- she is Herbert's wife who cannot keep up with his public image as a leader, and she withdraws into the home. Suffering depressive mental disorders, she spends a great deal of time in bed.

Nancy Clutter- she is one of the two youngest Clutter children.

Kenyon Clutter- he is an awkward 15-year-old. Kenyon loves to tinker with carpentry and machines.

Bobby Rupp- he is Nancy's steady boyfriend who lives nearby.

Alvin Dewey- is an investigator for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI). Dewey is the agent responsible for much of western Kansas.

Harold Nye- is one of Dewey's principal KBI assistants. Nicknamed "Brother Nye," he is the youngest of the group.

Roy Church- he is the oldest of the KBI assistants, Church is nicknamed "Curly" and is supposedly the fastest draw in Kansas.

Clarence Duntz- he is another of the three KBI assistants, Duntz is a burly man with a broad face.

Tex John Smith- he is Perry's father, Tex is a kindly backwoodsman who taught Perry to bake bread, but who never comes to see his son in jail.

Plot Summary

Herbert Clutter inspects his ranch in the morning while Perry Smith and Dick Hickock are driving to their next crime scene. While Herbert is doing some chores around his property, the two criminals are preparing for their day’s work by getting into a car with weapons in hand. Three of Nancy’s friends discover her body. The police are baffled and a man named Bobby Rupp is the prime suspect, but he passes a lie detector test. The killer must be someone close to the family since no one else could have known about the location of their bodies. People talk about it in town at Hartman’s Cafe.

Meanwhile, Perry and Dick have returned to Dick’s hometown of Olathe. Dick passes some hot checks, and the two flee to Mexico. Perry has always dreamed of finding a sunken treasure in Mexico. While the investigation in Kansas begins to methodically follow up dead-end leads, Perry and Dick spend some time entertaining a rich German tourist before they run out of money in Mexico City. While packing to return to the states, Perry goes through his personal belongings and remembers his childhood. His mother and father rode the rodeo circuit until they had a falling out. He was passed from home to home as a child because he did not get along with any siblings or parents that he lived with for long periods of time.

The Clutter murders seem to be unsolvable. However, a man in prison is sure that Dick Hickock and Perry Smith are guilty of the crime. He decides to talk to authorities about it. Meanwhile, Dick and Perry are hitchhiking through the desert after stealing another car. They try to steal yet another one but fail miserably at it. The police have already caught Floyd Wells for confessing his role in the murder case, so they are now looking for Dick and Perry as well as investigating other suspects who might have been involved with them in this gruesome act of violence against an innocent family.

Before they are caught, Dick and Perry steal a car and write bad checks. They eventually go to Las Vegas where the police capture them. Dick and Perry are on death row. They appeal their case for five years but are unsuccessful in getting off death row. During that time, they try to starve themselves and write letters to various appeals organizations. They keep company with other criminals who have committed crimes like murder or rape. When the day of their execution comes, Dick is awkward around others while Perry is remorseful about his actions before he was executed.

 

Themes

1. The American Dream. The pursuit of the American Dream is the major theme in the novel. On one hand, are the sophisticated and well-to-do Clutters who live in affluence that makes others envy them. On the other hand, there are those who live on the fringes of society and try to get what the Clutters have. The American dream of Herb Clutter is almost fulfilled by his hard work. His success was envied by a few people in his community.
2. Morality. The novel shows two habitual criminals, Dick and Perry, who are paroled only to commit another heinous crime. The major motive of their family massacre is to get money.  Whereas Perry becomes violent, Dick becomes heartless and cold. Both invade the private property of the Clutters and kill them in cold blood.