Irony

Capote capitalizes on irony, making In Cold Blood unique because he tells the readers specifically that the Clutters are going to die, making it irresistible to put down. For example, Capote spends a significant amount of time describing how Mr. Clutter is putting down money for a large life insurance plan only hours before the Clutter family is going to get murdered. For example, Capote says, “The Garden City representative of New York Life Insurance smiled as he watched Mr. Clutter uncap a Parker pen and open a checkbook” (46). Capote has already claimed previously that the Clutter family is going to die, but he heightens the reader’s interest in the irony of it all with Capote’s clear and evident choices in describing the final hours of the family’s life. Capote creates a scary-movie type setting in which the hero of the film is unknowingly about to set foot in the scary house where the blood thirsty murderer is waiting for him, and all of the audience in the crowded theatre is screaming, “Don’t go in there, don’t do it”. The readers of In Cold Blood are watching the irony unfold, and with every unfortunate event that happens, the readers are gasping in disbelief as to how this murder is about to happen. Furthermore, Capote describes that the murderers go out to eat before they kill. He states, “They ordered two steaks medium rare” (53). It is quite ironic that the killer would be eating literally blood and flesh before they are about to murder a family.