Capote tried his best not to include his opinion. Blog #1

In the final chapters of this novel the death penalty seems to be a topic of concern. Capote makes sure to include that these two men were appointed lawyers after they confessed to the crimes. The lawyers that they had were appointed by the courts and they were not at all helpful to the case. What Capote seemed to have wanted for these men were that they be given lawyers that were able to manipulate the law in such a way for them the get an innocent verdict out of the jury. However, the only way that the lawyers were able to do such a thing would have been if they could have brought a better case forward. They needed to push that these men were mentally insane.

Capote makes this novel a true account of the murders but, the main point is to tell us how things happen and occur throughout his storytelling. He tries his best throughout the novel to show us that the killers were not mentally stable. This seems to be the reason why he focuses on Perry Smith as much as he did. He shows much more compassion for Perry when he makes it his duty to allows the readers to know that Perry was abused and mistreated as a child. Due to this mistreatment he is scarred; this could be the reason why he was pushed into the violent murders. He is also upset that during the trial such information is not mentioned. The decision to have disturbed individuals on death row is controversial. These individuals should be able to depend on doctors to be the judge on whether or not they are sick enough to be helped. The men are not able to win over the court and they are sent to death row.

The novel is full of information but no real details of anything, especially on how the murders actually occur. That is, until the end of the book the readers get every detail on the executions. Why would he save all of this for the end? Part of the reason why there is so much opinion, details, and sarcasm in this part of the book is that the author is ultimately negative towards the decisions that were made by the court. On page 337, when we hear about the day of the execution, “The hangman, an anonymous, leathery gentleman who had been imported from Missouri for the event...” Capote uses words such as “imported” and “event”. The words give the sense of sarcasm. The execution is far from an event but he is really talking about the people that are there. They are not affected by the death of these men. One of the other men called it, “festivities”. Capote obviously does not appreciate that they call it festivities. He makes sure that the readers know he is not happy with the decision of death. Andy is the first man to get hanged. The readers are able to experience the full account in depth. From the time he is hung to how long it took for his heart to stop beating. Here, you can tell that the author is entirely against how inhumane the hanging of a man is. At the very last pages of the novel Dewey seems like he hasn’t received the closure that he expected when the last man, Perry is hung. This recollection of the hanging is extremely visual. “Dewey now opened his eyes, and that is what he saw: the same childish feet, dangling.” All through out the book Capote was able to leave out his opinion and view but when it came to the end he made it obvious that the death penalty is an issue that he needed to include his own thoughts on.