I am trying to stick with the original theme of my posts – time. From setting to passage to conceptual notions, I have been writing about all the different aspects of “when” of In Cold Blood. It’s frustrating at times and a lot of what I would like to say is rather off the topic (as you can tell from my enthusiasm in class, I am absolutely in love with this book). But I like working within the restraints – the best diamonds are produced by the most intense crucibles, right? Yea that’s another way of saying “sorry the next four blog posts from me are going to be done rapid fire this evening because I am so far behind”.
Anyway – my question is regarding the sentimental and controversial ending to the book. Is there ever an appropriate time to fabricate any portion of a nonfiction work? The two scenes I am speaking of in particular literally are the last three pages of the novel. First and foremost is the infamous Perry Smith apology. I fell a little behind in my reading and had only like ten or twenty pages to go before my dad gave me the film, Infamous, the story of how Capote wrote the book, which I decided I could not wait to watch. I viewed it with my boyfriend that night, and when it came to the actual execution scene I was white knuckle gripping the arms of my chair. I had no idea how things panned out at this point, so I was on the edge of my seat.
Honestly, I feel like Capote’s attempts to direct Smith to apologize were completely out of line. It tainted his credibility for me hardcore. I thought it robbed the work of its essence – its honesty. Love is a powerful emotion, and it makes a man do many strange and crazy things, though, and for Capote to have so willingly compromised the integrity of the rest of the work in order to possibly save Perry one last shred of humanity is absolutely insane. A shadow of doubt looms over this novel just as shadows of doubt had lingered over Holcomb, Kansas in November and December of 1959.
Several things are wrong with this, though. Capote literally begs for Perry to apologize, and yet is unable to see his sentence carried out. Truman himself is ignorant to exactly what happened at the gallows that evening from the time Perry ascended the stairs to the time he fell through the trap door. Yet he was present to see Smith say nothing – no apology, regardless of his lover’s pleas. But it still wound up in the book. How do I know this? I immediately ran to my book bag and finished reading the story. Sure enough, there the fiction was, because Capote invented it. He created this memory that most people reading this book will accept without thinking as fact. Why would you believe it not to be? The book is, after all, a work of creative nonfiction. I’m glad I saw the movie, or else I wouldn’t have ever known.
Secondly, and secondarily, is the scene including KBI Detective Dewey when he meets Nancy’s childhood best friend, Susan Kidwell, in the cemetery at the Clutters’ graves. It never happened. This was purely imagined, and I seriously wonder for what purpose. What ends do these means serve? I really didn’t see the last scene as too crucial to the plot – it didn’t wrap anything up. At this point, all the tension created by the plot had been resolved, so what does it mean?
My title basically poses the question “is there an appropriate time to include fabricated events in a nonfiction story?” I’d like to hear your thoughts. I hope that you have already been able to collect my two cents worth, given the tone and diction of this entry.
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