Rope It Up

The murders have happened.There was not sort of indication except for the few sentences that foreshadowed the end for the Clutters. All along it was known that this book is about a murder. The title pretty much says it and the subtitle does state it. Being a narrative about murder, I would have thought the author would make the actual murder the climax of the story. The events were presented in very unemotional way.

The only moment that the reader could have know or at least infered that the murder was about to happen is when the murderers are arriving to River Valley farm. It is not that they see any sort of sign that announces to the reader their exact location but the description of the trees:"The headlights disclosed a lane of Chinese eals; bundles of wind blown thistles scurried across it." (pg 57). The description of these trees has ocurred before and I thought it was very savy of the writer to focus on the description. Along with the  description of the trees there is also the directions the murderers take. Throughout the narrative, the author is constantly bombarding us with directions on how to get around Holcom. If one pays attention, most sections begin with some sort of description of the setting.
The author does not begin the blood bath by describing how the murders were commited but leaves us as if we were as lost as the characters who found the bodies. The reader might know that the murders were commited by Perry and Dick, but the actual description of the murder doe snot ocurr. It must be kept in mind that this is a narrative of an actual murder. The reasearch Capote must have conducted was from police reports and official documents that only present hard cold facts and not lengthy descriptions. Even when describing what was seen by those who testified Capote mentions that "they later said" or "recounted", which leads back to the idea of the oficial documents.

One thing that rcaught my attention, was that among the descriptions of how the bodies were found, there was special interest in the rope. Earlier on in another section it was mentioned that "Perry studied the stock, tested it. Having once served in the Merchant Marine, he understood rope and was clever with knots." (pg 37). This detail would have seemed unimportant but, all three victims were tied by a pro. The pro being Perry. Nancy was the one tied the simplest. Kenyon and Mrs. Clutter were tied a bit more intricatly with their hands and feet tied by the same chord and attached to the piece of furniture. Mr. Clutter is was the only one that seems to have been tied in a way that was for torture. Its these sort of details that the reader has to notice but I do wonder what the importance of this rope will be.