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Capote’s novel situates itself in the small suburb of Holcomb,Kansas. The town is, “within the Bible Belt borders, and therefore a person’s church

affiliation is the most important factor influencing his class status” (34). The suburb is

home to the lutter famil!, with "erb and Bonnie rearing 4 children. The! li#e still li#ed

at home on the famil!’s $i#er %alle! &arm. Their estates consisted of the house, three

 barns, more than eight hundred acres and three thousand more rented acres. "erb wor'edhis wa! up to to the &inne! ount! agriculture agent, primaril! as a result of his hard

wor'. long with the famil!’s rotestant wor' *thic, is its strong +ethodist faith. Thefamil! prospered from hard wor' and s'ill, and for that the! were respected. The

merican success of the lutter famil! suggests that the! were aiming to li#e in an

*arthl! aradise or as +r. lutter puts it when he remar's about the rainfall, an *den on

*arth. "erbert is a self-made man, who has achie#ed his dreams and has become so prosperous that he lets pheasant farmers hunt on his farm for free.

ne is rare to find a famil! as outstanding and be!ond reproach. This ma'es the

lutter famil!’s murder all the more tragic and meaningful. The inhabitants conclude thatthe /ob was “done b! somebod! who 'new the house inside out. But who hated the

lutters0 1 ne#er heard a word against them2 the! were about as popular as a famil! can be, ”(1*$T). The crime was lac'ing in moti#e and in potential suspects. The biggerimplications the murder has for the town are e5pressed succinctl! b! +rs. "artman,” “ if

something li'e this could happen to them, then who6s safe, 1 as' !ou0 ” (1*$T). The

murders came li'e a thief in the night, sha'ing the town of "olcomb to the point wherethe case in#estigator, l#in 7ewe!, is pressured to arrest someone as soon as possible to

rela5 the town’s uneasiness.

gent "arold !e finall! arrests err! and 7ic' in 8as %egas and after

interrogating 7ic', finall! gets a confession admitting to the planning of the crime anderr! mith 'illing all four #ictims. The town is still sha'en despite 'nowing the

murders, man! still are unable to belie#e that people who had no connections to thelutters, brutall! 'illed them in an attempt to get mone!.

f course the town is right to doubt the cause of the crime, apote does aswell during the inter#iew with the h!siatrists

“mith wrote9 1 was born err! *dward mith ct. :; <=:> in "untington, *l'o

ount!, e#ada, which is situated wa! out in the boon doc's, so to spea'. 1 recall that in<=:= our famil! had #entured to ?uneau, las'a. 1n m! famil! were m! brother Te5 ?r.

(he later changed his name to ?ames because of the ridicule of the name Te5 @ also 1

 belie#e he hated m! father in his earl! !ears - m! mother6s doing). +! sister &ern (healso changed her name - to ?o!). +! sister Barbara. nd m!self. 1n ?uneau, m! father

was ma'ing bootleg hooch. 1 belie#e it was during this period m! mother became

acAuainted with alcohol. +om @ 7ad began ha#ing Auarrel. 1 remember m! mother was

entertaining some sailors while m! father was awa!. hen he came home a fightensued, and m! father, after a #iolent struggle, threw the sailors out @ proceeded to beat

m! mother. 1 was frightfull! scared, in fact all us children were terrified. r!ing. 1 was

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scared because 1 thought m! father was going to hurt me, also because he was beating m!

mother. 1 reall! didn6t understand wh! he was beating her but 1 felt sheCDE”

“ne#er in a fit condition to properl! pro#ide and care for us. 1 run as free @ wild as a

co!ote. Their was no rule or discipline, or an!one to show me right from wrong 1 came @

went as 1 pleased - until m! first encounter with Trouble. 1 was in @ out of 7etention"omes man! times for running awa! from home @ stealing. 1 remember one place 1 was

sent to. 1 had wea' 'idne!s @ wet the bed e#er! night. This was #er! humiliating to me,

 but 1 couldn’t control m!self. 1 was #er! se#erel! beaten b! the cottage mistress, who hadcalled me names and made fun of me in front of all the bo!s. he used to come around at

all hours of the night to see if 1 wet the bed. he would throw bac' the co#ers @ furiousl!

 beat me with a large blac' leather belt - pull me out of bed b! m! hair @ drag me to the

 bathroom @ throw me in the tub @ turn the cold water on @ tell me to wash m!self andthe sheets. *#er! night was a nightmare. 8ater on she thought it was #er! funn! to put

some ointment on m! penis. ThisCDE”

“+rs. "ic'oc' remo#ed the spectacles she was wearing, polished the smeared lenses andresettled them on her pudg!, agreeable face. There6s lots more to 7ic' than what !ou

hear bac' there in the courtroom. The law!ers /abbering how terrible he is - no good atall. 1 can6t ma'e an! e5cuses for what he did, his part in it. 16m not forgetting that famil!2 1

 pra! for them e#er! night. But 1 pra! for 7ic', too. nd this bo! err!. 1t was wrong of

me to hate him2 16#e got nothing but pit! for him now. nd !ou 'now - 1 belie#e +rs.lutter would feel pit!, too. Being the 'ind of woman the! sa! she was.”

“recogniFes no form of insanit! pro#ided the defendant has the capacit! to discriminate between right and wrongGlegall!, not morall!” (3<H).

  “1 thin' that within the usual definitions +r. "ic'oc' did 'now right from wrong.”

onfined as he was b! the +’aghten $ule (“the usual defi- nitions”), a formula Auitecolor-blind to an! gradations between blac' and white, 7r. ?ones was impotent to answer

otherwise. But of course the response was a letdown for "ic'oc'’s attorne!, who

hopelessl! as'ed, “an !ou Aualif! that answer0” 1t was hopeless because though 7r.?ones agreed to elaborate, the prosecution was entitled to ob/ectGand did, citing the fact

that Iansas law allowed nothing more than a !es or no answer to the pertinent Auestion.

(33J)

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