Many people have argued that Truman Capote's In Cold Blood blurs the line between fiction and nonfiction. If nothing else, Capote uses many of the literary strategies that a fiction writer would typically employ to tell his story. In your opinion, did Capote have an agenda other than relating the true story of a murdered family? What argument may Capote, consciously or unconsciously, put forth in this book? While you may see numerous potential arguments in this book, select the one that is of most interest to you.
In a 1-3 page rhetorical analysis, identify and explain one possible purpose Capote may have had in writing In Cold Blood. Use specific evidence from the text to support your analysis of this argument/purpose. Consider elements of DIDLS and SOAPSTone. In your analysis, you may want to consider how the text is structured, what Capote chooses to include and/or exclude, and how Capote uses ethos, logos and pathos. Your analysis should refer to a minimum of four specific references, whether directly quoted or paraphrased, from the book.
Due Date: Tuesday, 3/2, on turnitin.com
Friday, February 27, 2015
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
ICB: Socratic Seminar Points
Consider the following points as you prepare for the Socratic Seminar. Bring in notes with specific points, page numbers, examples, etc. that you wish to discuss.
1. What image of America and/or the American dream does Capote portray in ICB?
2. Is Capote's style of writing objective or subjective? Defend/explain.
3. How does Capote build suspense despite the fact that readers know the ultimate outcome from the beginning of In Cold Blood?
4. In what ways is In Cold Blood like a fiction novel? How does Capote report the facts and allow different voices to speak without using a journalistic style?
5. Why do you think Capote split the narrative into four sections? Why do you think he did not describe how the murders happened until Dick and Perry were caught and gave their confessions?
6. How did Capote humanize the killers? Were you surprised by how likable they could seem despite the brutality of their crime and their lack of remorse until the end?
7. Capote seems to paint Perry in a more sympathetic light than Dick. He seems sensitive and even kind at points; however, by the end you find out that Perry committed all four murders. Did that surprise you? Did you sympathize with Dick more than Perry at any point? Or did you not buy any of the kind characterizations? Did your opinion change when you found out Perry was the true killer?
8. Do you think Dick and Perry were sane? Did the psychiatric analysis of them and descriptions of other cold blooded killers surprise you? Scare you? Make you think differently about violent crime or the death penalty?
9. Did reading this book change or influence your opinion on the death penalty or the criminal justice system in any way?
1. What image of America and/or the American dream does Capote portray in ICB?
2. Is Capote's style of writing objective or subjective? Defend/explain.
3. How does Capote build suspense despite the fact that readers know the ultimate outcome from the beginning of In Cold Blood?
4. In what ways is In Cold Blood like a fiction novel? How does Capote report the facts and allow different voices to speak without using a journalistic style?
5. Why do you think Capote split the narrative into four sections? Why do you think he did not describe how the murders happened until Dick and Perry were caught and gave their confessions?
6. How did Capote humanize the killers? Were you surprised by how likable they could seem despite the brutality of their crime and their lack of remorse until the end?
7. Capote seems to paint Perry in a more sympathetic light than Dick. He seems sensitive and even kind at points; however, by the end you find out that Perry committed all four murders. Did that surprise you? Did you sympathize with Dick more than Perry at any point? Or did you not buy any of the kind characterizations? Did your opinion change when you found out Perry was the true killer?
8. Do you think Dick and Perry were sane? Did the psychiatric analysis of them and descriptions of other cold blooded killers surprise you? Scare you? Make you think differently about violent crime or the death penalty?
9. Did reading this book change or influence your opinion on the death penalty or the criminal justice system in any way?
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
ICB: Part 4 Reflection
In Cold Blood Part 4 Review
- How do Dick and Perry’s escape plans differ? Why/how is this difference significant in characterizing them?
- Perry imagines that two young men are going to try to help him escape. What do you make of these young men? To Perry’s reaction to them?
- Reread Perry’s autobiogaphical account of his own life. Consider DIDLS. What do you notice/find significant? (273-276)
- Do the same for Dick’s. (277-279)
- Reread Perry’s confession to Don Cullivan on page 290-291. What strikes you about it?
- Dr. Jones’s testimony is not permitted at trial, but Capote chooses to include it anyway. What purpose does this testimony serve?
- How do both sides use religion in their arguments?
- How does Capote’s portrayal of some of the other death row inmates compare/contrast with Dick and Perry?
- How do you think Capote feels about the death penalty? What evidence in Part 4 supports your answer? Be specific.
- Consider the very ending of the book. Why do you think Capote chooses to end the book this way? What lasting impression does it leave? Why not end with the hangings?
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Argument Essay: Tips for Revision
As you revise your essay for submission, consider the following tips:
1. Consider your audience.
-Who is your intended audience?
-Have you considered your audience in taking into account elements of DIDLS?
2. Review your thesis.
-Do you have a clear argument?
-Where do you state your thesis? Is this the most effective place? Do you give it away too soon?
3. Review your evidence.
-Do you have SPECIFIC, clear, vivid examples, anecdotes, and direct quotations that illustrate your point?
4. Consider the counterargument.
-Do you address the counterargument somewhere in your essay?
4. Consider transition words and phrases.
-How do you move from one idea to the next?
-Do you use transition words and phrases to show contrast when addressing your counterargument? (ex: however, in contrast, on the other hand, on the contrary, nevertheless)
-Do you use transition words or phrases to emphasize a point or add on additional points? (ex: additionally, furthermore)
5. Have you made intentional selections about your diction, syntax, and language? How do these choices contribute to your tone?
-What connotations do your words have?
-Have you used any figurative language? If so, to what effect?
-Have you varied sentence and paragraph lengths? Do you italicize words, use parenthesis, dashes, and/or quotation marks?
-Do you use powerful verbs, nouns, adjectives and adverbs? (Note: powerful does not necessarily mean big and fancy.)
6. Have you edited for comma rules, punctuation, capitalization, parallel structure, subject/verb agreement, pronoun/antecedent agreement, apostrophes, spelling, etc.?
1. Consider your audience.
-Who is your intended audience?
-Have you considered your audience in taking into account elements of DIDLS?
2. Review your thesis.
-Do you have a clear argument?
-Where do you state your thesis? Is this the most effective place? Do you give it away too soon?
3. Review your evidence.
-Do you have SPECIFIC, clear, vivid examples, anecdotes, and direct quotations that illustrate your point?
4. Consider the counterargument.
-Do you address the counterargument somewhere in your essay?
4. Consider transition words and phrases.
-How do you move from one idea to the next?
-Do you use transition words and phrases to show contrast when addressing your counterargument? (ex: however, in contrast, on the other hand, on the contrary, nevertheless)
-Do you use transition words or phrases to emphasize a point or add on additional points? (ex: additionally, furthermore)
5. Have you made intentional selections about your diction, syntax, and language? How do these choices contribute to your tone?
-What connotations do your words have?
-Have you used any figurative language? If so, to what effect?
-Have you varied sentence and paragraph lengths? Do you italicize words, use parenthesis, dashes, and/or quotation marks?
-Do you use powerful verbs, nouns, adjectives and adverbs? (Note: powerful does not necessarily mean big and fancy.)
6. Have you edited for comma rules, punctuation, capitalization, parallel structure, subject/verb agreement, pronoun/antecedent agreement, apostrophes, spelling, etc.?
Thursday, February 5, 2015
DIDLS: The Tone Acronym
When establishing or determining the tone of a piece of writing. readers and writers should consider five key elements.
Diction - the connotations, or associations, of word choices
Different words for the same thing often suggest different attitudes toward that thing. For example, what is the difference between happy and content? How about happy and ecstatic?
Imagery - vivid appeals to understanding through the five senses
The images a speaker/writer chooses to present suggest her attitude toward her subject. For example, if a narrator visiting a farm describes the awful smells rather than the beautiful countryside, her description would tell us something about her attitude.
Details - specifics that are included or omitted
Details are most commonly the facts given my the author or speaker as support for the attitude or tone. The speaker's perspective shapes what details are given. For example, how might child's report of details from a car accident differ from that of a parent or a police officer?
Language - 1) the overall use of language such as formal, colloquial, clinical, or casual, etc., or the use of dialect or jargon
An ambassador speaks differently than a teenager who speaks differently than a farmer who speaks differently than a soldier from the Civil War. The type of overall language contributes to the tone.
Language - 2) figures of speech such as metaphor, simile, personification, metonymy, synecdoche, etc.
A figure of speech names on thing in terms of another. The way in which a speaker compares something to something else can tell us something about the speaker's attitude. For example, if I compare her black hair to soot or to onyx, the connotation would be very different.
Syntax - sentence structure and the use of punctuation
Long, flowing sentences give the reader a different feeling than short, choppy sentences. If the narrator uses awkward sentence structures or grammatical errors, we might think that he is uneducated. The use of dashes, italics, run on sentences, short sentences, capital letters, etc., all contribute to how we read and process the information in a passage.
Diction - the connotations, or associations, of word choices
Different words for the same thing often suggest different attitudes toward that thing. For example, what is the difference between happy and content? How about happy and ecstatic?
Imagery - vivid appeals to understanding through the five senses
The images a speaker/writer chooses to present suggest her attitude toward her subject. For example, if a narrator visiting a farm describes the awful smells rather than the beautiful countryside, her description would tell us something about her attitude.
Details - specifics that are included or omitted
Details are most commonly the facts given my the author or speaker as support for the attitude or tone. The speaker's perspective shapes what details are given. For example, how might child's report of details from a car accident differ from that of a parent or a police officer?
Language - 1) the overall use of language such as formal, colloquial, clinical, or casual, etc., or the use of dialect or jargon
An ambassador speaks differently than a teenager who speaks differently than a farmer who speaks differently than a soldier from the Civil War. The type of overall language contributes to the tone.
Language - 2) figures of speech such as metaphor, simile, personification, metonymy, synecdoche, etc.
A figure of speech names on thing in terms of another. The way in which a speaker compares something to something else can tell us something about the speaker's attitude. For example, if I compare her black hair to soot or to onyx, the connotation would be very different.
Syntax - sentence structure and the use of punctuation
Long, flowing sentences give the reader a different feeling than short, choppy sentences. If the narrator uses awkward sentence structures or grammatical errors, we might think that he is uneducated. The use of dashes, italics, run on sentences, short sentences, capital letters, etc., all contribute to how we read and process the information in a passage.
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Essay of Argument
Click here for the product descriptor and rubric for the argumentative essay.
This essay is due on turnitin.com by 11:59 pm on Friday, February 13th.
This essay is due on turnitin.com by 11:59 pm on Friday, February 13th.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)