Foreshadowing

One of Truman Capote’s favorite literary devices in this book is foreshadowing. Particularly towards the end of the section, Capote adds some significant suspicion to what the reader believes will happen next. One of the key moments towards the end of the section is when Capote throws in a sentence about Bobby finding out he is a suspect soon. Rupp is described, “For Bobby, as he was to learn before nightfall, was their principal suspect” (72). This statement hints to the reader that the police will soon go after Bobby and the focus of the book may switch to him. Foreshadowing in this way almost gives away the general direction of the book, but the future still remains a mystery because we don’t know if it will come true or how it will happen. The second foreshadow Capote makes is about Dick’s immediate future with his family. Capote describes, “did not know that his dozing son had, among other things, driven over eight hundred miles in the past twenty-four hours” (74). This quote is referring to Dick’s father and what he doesn’t know. However, the tone of the section seems to shift to the face that Dick’s family soon will know what he had been doing. All of this relates back to my deciphering the titles of the book. This next section appears to be about the police trying to find the killers and if the foreshadowing holds true, it will. First, Bobby will be interrogated but it won’t really help. Near the end of the section, Dick and Perry will be caught, therefore alerting Dick’s family to what he has done.