Many times when one writes a literary work, the writer has a purpose of writing about an idea he/she wants the reader to grasp. When studying the nonfiction novel In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, Capote develops more than just one theme in the work. In Cold Blood conveys a true account of the Clutter family’s death by Perry Smith and Richard Hickock, the two murderers’ course in death row, and their hanging. The author’s main purpose of writing is to establish three ideas including that: the American dream is unattainable by dishonest means, one’s childhood affects who the person becomes as an adult, and capital punishment is morally injust. When studying the work, In Cold Blood’s character Herb Clutter seems to be a man living the American
