Clarke Murphy
In Cold Blood
Truman Capote
Historical Non-Fiction
Challenge
Page 78

1. I am not very far into my book yet so basically just the introduction has taken place. The main character is Herb Clutter and he is a very straight forward kind of guy. He never really messes around. The story takes place in Holocomb Kansas which is a small town that only has a population of 270. Herb runs a very large plantation or farm type organization which makes him a very wealthy and prosperous man. The beginning of the book is really just describing his life.

2. I feel pretty good about the book so far, i know that this is a book about crime and I really like how the author is giving a lot of background detail. Sometimes with these details you get to know the characters really well and you might be able to see why a character was murdered or why he or she did something, it just makes the rest of the book easier to read.

3. A major theme I have noticed in the book right now is family. As a family the Clutters are very strong together and the bonds between all the people in the family are very strong. I also feel like the way the author wrote this their family is setting an example for how you should spend time with your family and eventually your family will function very well. Also the way he has been introduced Herb would do anything to protect his family.

4. My favorite character is probably Herb. I say this because he is a very straight forward guy and it seems like he is a model person. All his values are very right and they aren't unreasonable in any way. He prefers a simple lifestyle not with too many distractions which is very neat. Also he resists drinks that have alcohol in them, I find this to be a very unique quality in a person because that just shows how mentally strong he is.

5. My least favorite character so far is Nancy Clutter.(She is Herb's daughter). I don't really like her so much because she is kind of a perfectionist. She has to be really organized and she is class president and she is the future prom queen. This is just unrealistic because there are very few people like that and it might make some people feel bad about themselves when reading about her and all of her achievements.

6. Since I have read the back of the book I know that the Clutter family is going to be murdered. There are a few things i still don't know about the murder though. For instance I don't know who the murderer is going to be and I don't know when they are going to get murdered but most importantly I don't know why they are going to get murdered it just makes no sense.