impact literary non-fiction has on readers

[ellievancuren]

The term "literary non-fiction" refers to a style of writing that employs literary techniques seen in fiction writing to report on real-life events. Literary non-fiction pieces read like fiction novels but the stories told actually happened in real life. When crimes in the world are reported to the public, they are done so in a strictly factual manner. In Cold Blood differs from typical crime reporting because Capote does not write the novel from an objective viewpoint. He attempts to make the reader feel sympathy for both the Clutters and Dick and Perry while also maintaining the accuracy of the events. Capote's use of a sympathetic point of view can be seen when he describes the backgrounds of the killers like when the reader learns about Perry's difficult upbringing. Because of this, the reader begins to understand the complexity of the killers and may even begin to pity them. Capote may have written this story in this manner because he not only sympathized with the killers, but he also wanted people to learn everything leading up to this crime, the crime itself, and the aftermath. He wanted people to see that there was more to these men than just this crime. Since he wrote parts of the novel through the point of view of the killers, the readers were also able to learn about the thought process of the two men. For example when Capote describes how nervous and tense Perry was about the whole situation, it resulted in a greater insight on Perry's mentality. Capote wanted his audience to feel the same open-mindedness about the two men as he did when he decided to follow this investigation and report on it. The reader is also able to gain a greater knowledge of the crime because they are able to view the story through multiple viewpoints such as the victims, the murderers, the investigators and the townspeople which allows them to, in a sense, to experience the story first hand. Furthermore, the reader is able to establish connections with not only the Clutters but also the killers. This causes the audience to see crime in a new light and even question why society writes off criminals as psychotic and barbaric. Capote provides a new perspective on these outlaws for his readers. Moreover, Capote's more tolerant attitude to these killers may even cause the reader to begin to question how it is possible to be understanding towards them. His methods of portraying the account of this murder as a fictitious novel is told causes the reader to wonder how something so tragic could actually happen.  

[mollyfernandez]

I agree that Capote uses literary non fiction to create sympathy toward the killers. I recently watched the movie Capote and realized how deep of a connection that Capote had with Perry. He was there for him and visited him many times in prison up until the day he died. I think this personal connection made Capote want to write with more sympathy towards the killers. Capote wanted you to feel sympathy for the unworthy, he wanted you to feel attached to the emotionally unavailable, and he wanted you to feel sorrow for those who are unforgivable. Through literary non-fiction Capote makes us realize that life is not black and white and sometimes we need to learn to forgive those who we can not even imagine forgiving.