Paranoia

In Cold Blood, as a psychological thriller, must constantly provide a sense of fear, of paranoia. The setting, in particular, is an important factor. Had this story been placed in the city, the more appropriate genre would simply be a crime thriller. This particular location adds to the fear it strikes in the reader. From the very beginning, "The village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of western Kansas, a lonesome area that other Kansans call "out there," (3). This specific setting is unexpected, and it adds to the paranoia as it hints that the events about to unfurl could and do happen to anybody, even the reader. Capote also includes a description of the average Holcomb type "The local accent is barbed with a prairie twang, a ranch-hand nasalness, and the men, many of them, wear narrow frontier trousers, Stensons, and high-heeled boots with pointed toes," (3). Once again, Capote inflicts a paranoid feeling in the reader, as he describes the average man, and many readers would consider themselves average. This sense of paranoia is held throughout the story, telling the average life of the victims, and so on. Both the setting and the people present a suggestion that the reader should fear that the upcoming events may happen to them in the future.