Rhetorical Strategies
· Simile: "The sound of Dick's voice was like an injection of some potent narcotic, a drug that, invading his veins, produced a delirium of colliding sensations: tension and relief, fury and affection"(194).
· Personification: "’What is life? Is it the flash of a firefly in the night. It is a breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is as the little shadow that runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset’—Said by Chief Crowfoot, Blackfoot Indian Chief” (147).
· Imagery: “The land is flat, the views are awesomely extensive; horses, herds of cattle, a white cluster of grain elevators rising as gracefully as Greek temples are visible long before a traveler reaches them”(3).
· Repetition: “Like the water of the river, like the motorists on the highway, and like the yellows trains streaking down the Santa Fe tracks, drama, in the shape for exceptional happenings, had never stopped there” (5).
· Litotes: “The mood of a man insuring his life is not unlike that of a man signing his will; thoughts of mortality must occur” (47).
· Invective: “…Dick, who took a dim view of Willie- Jay, and called the letter ‘Just more of Billy Grahamcracker’s hooey.’ Adding, Fa***ts of scorn!’ He’s the fa***t’” (44).
Truman Capote uses rhetorical strategies in order to add a sophisticated style and a variety of tones to make his work stand out. This novel is about… When Perry Smith had been waiting for Dick Hickock, he gets feeling of nervousness and as soon as Dick arrived, “The sound of Dick’s voice was like an injection of some potent narcotic, a drug that, invading his veins, produced a delirium of colliding sensations: tension and relief, fury and affection"(194).
This strategy creates a very detailed and somewhat mystical style that reflects the drug-like effects Dick’s voice has on Perry. When Perry’s diary was found, one of the quotes written in it was, "’What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is a breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is as the little shadow that runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset’—Said by Chief Crowfoot, Blackfoot Indian Chief” (147). The little shadow is personified by running across the grass. The use of personification and imagery in this quote creates a very dream-like style. The way Chief Crowfoot describes life gives a sense of fantasy. In the beginning of the novel, Capote uses imagery to describe the setting to where the murder had taken place. He describes the Village of Holcomb as a “land [that] is flat, the views are awesomely extensive; horses, herds of cattle, a white cluster of grain elevators rising as gracefully as Greek temples are visible long before a traveler reaches them”(3). The herds of cattle and the white clusters of grain give us a image of what Holcomb looks like, thus being imagery. The use of imagery in this excerpt affects the style by giving details to the reader. It creates a scenic, detailed reference for the reader. When describing what Holcomb is not, Capote says “the water of the river, like the motorists on the highway, and like the yellows trains streaking down the Santa Fe tracks, drama, in the shape for exceptional happenings, had never stopped there” (5). What Capote is trying to say is that, the drama never reaches Holcomb. Capote is using the repetition of the words “of the” to describe the events that happen around Holcomb, but never in Holcomb. The repetition in this excerpt enhances the style in that it creates multiple images for the reader to compare.
Overall, one can say that Truman Capote uses the rhetoric to enhance his writing. With the use of imagery, repetition, simile, and personification Capote is able to create many images within the reader’s head to grasp the concept of the novel.
