The New "In Cold Blood" - 3.23.16

     Truman Capote’s non-fiction novel, In Cold Blood, is under quite the controversy for the question of, “Was it fully true?” There are several reasons for the credibility of Capote’s writing to be criticized because it was in fact journalistic, but also because Harold Nye (an investigator and/or KBI agent) had notes and documents that contradicted some of what Capote wrote about in his non-fiction novel. Obviously, journalism is not always truthful, it can be exaggerated from the truth, or it can be understated. Either way, it helps add an element to the story that was not there previously — which, in turn, helps gather more interest to the story and grab reader’s attentions. Nye’s son, Ronald Nye, claims that his father had rejected Capote’s novel and the movie. He had thrown the book at the wall after page 115, and had also walked out on the move, which shows just how much he disliked how the case was portrayed. Nye, as all investigators would, had notes about the investigation. Within these notes there was information about the “jailhouse snitch” also known as, Floyd Wells. In the novel, Capote describes it as detective Alvin Dewey had immediately acting on the tip… However, in Nye’s notes it shows that it actually took five days for Dewey to act on the tip and attempt to locate them. If they had done it earlier, the two murderers would most likely not have been able to make it out of Kansas and into Florida. The only reason that it took Dewey and his team (unless he acted alone, I assume he did not though) so long to locate the two murderers is because he thought it was just a “red herring” and that the real murderer(s) actually knew the Clutter family and had something against them. So, the real problem is plain and simple. How much was overstated and understated in Capote’s novel? Does it affect how we view the case in general? Because personally, while reading the novel I felt a sort of sympathy for Perry and Dick. At first I felt sympathy for Perry because he had such a horrible childhood and mentally unstable past. In the end I had felt bad for Dick because he honestly did not murder anyone in the Clutter family according to he and Perry’s confessions. So all in all, I do believe that the critics of In Cold Blood are justified with their problems about In Cold Blood because in a case like this if the truth is not evident enough or truthful how can we as a reader be able to make similar judgements to those that the jury and the judge made during the cases for Hickock and Smith.