Isolation In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

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On November 15, 1959, Dick and Perry murdered the members of the Clutter family of Holcomb, Kansas. This event inspired Truman Capote to write his nonfiction novel, In Cold Blood, in which he details the murders of the family. In the beginning of the novel, Capote uses figurative language and vivid detail to describe Dick and Perry’s physical appearances in order to convey their isolation from society. Capote details Dick’s physical appearance to establish his isolation from society. He vividly describes the tattoos located throughout Dick’s body. On his right hand, he has “The tattooed face of a cat, blue and grinning” and “on one shoulder a blue rose blossomed” (30). The descriptions of the tattoos display Dick’s isolation from society.
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