In Cold Blood

Use these links to supplement and complement students’ reading of the work and to increase their overall enjoyment of literature. Challenge them to discern parallel themes, engage through visual and aural stimuli, and delve deeper into the thematic possibilities presented by the title.

Recommended Texts for Pairing

The Great Gatsby

• F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel takes place during the Jazz Age and touches on themes of the accessibility of the American Dream, the inevitability of death, and the search for happiness (i.e., paradise).
• If pressed for time, students can read the final four paragraphs of the novel (or watch the corresponding scene from the 2013 film adaptation), which encapsulates these themes.
• Consider also Nick Carraway’s sympathy for Gatsby alongside Capote’s sympathy for Perry, and whether this sympathy makes one or both of them unreliable narrators.

“Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”

• 1751 poem by Thomas Gray, partially quoted in In Cold Blood by Lowell Lee Andrews
• Connects to the theme of mortality, depicting death as a great equalizer
• Consider how In Cold Blood portrays death’s leveling effect and what appeal that effect might have to those who feel “left out” of society.

Marlboro Man advertisement, 1955

• Advertising campaign launched by Philip Morris in the 1950s associating Marlboro cigarettes with rugged American masculinity
• Connects to the theme of male gender norms
• Ask students to analyze the masculine ideal as it appears in this image and to compare it to the different kinds of masculinity In Cold Blood depicts.

“A tale of two Americas. And the mini-mart where they collided”

• 2015 TED talk by Anand Giridharadas
• Explores the lives of two men—victim and perpetrator—involved in an Islamophobic hate crime in the days after 9/11 and discusses how they ultimately reconciled with one another
• Connects to themes of the accessibility of the American Dream and the nature of evil, including the morality of capital punishment

“Howl”

• 1956 poem by Beat writer Allen Ginsberg
• Relates to themes of the American Dream and masculinity through its rejection of mainstream American culture (particularly capitalism) and depiction of homosexuality

Other Student Resources

“The Notebooks Behind Truman Capote’s ‘In Cold Blood’”

• 2019 article from the Library of Congress blog
• Discusses what Capote’s notetaking reveals about his writing process (and perhaps the authenticity of In Cold Blood) alongside images from his notebooks

“What’s the Name of Your Book”

• Scene from the 2005 film Capote
• Use to spark discussion about Capote’s journalistic ethics as well as the significance of the novel’s title (which ties into the theme of the nature of evil).

“'Cold Blooded’: New Doc Expands on ‘In Cold Blood’”

• 2018 article about a documentary centering primarily on the Clutters rather than their killers
• Use to spark discussion about what we look for when we consume true crime stories (and perhaps the ethics of doing so)
• Notes places where Capote appears to have taken liberties with the truth for the sake of a particular narrative (e.g., consider how his depiction of Bonnie Clutter relates to his broader depiction of the American Dream)

Teacher Resources

“Truman Capote Biography”

• 2006 PBS profile of Capote

“Has US literature woken from the American dream?”

• 2015 Guardian discussion of the role the American Dream has played in US literature

“Making Classrooms a Safe Place to Talk about Death”

• 2019 article from NC State discussing how to approach teaching literature that deals with mortality