Truman Capote's novel In Cold Blood is chilling. More frightening, however, is that it is based on a true story: an actual happening in the real-life town of Holcomb, Kansas. The protagonists of the story, the Clutter family, face an awful destiny to be fulfilled at the end of the first part of the novel, but what short time they actually spend alive, they make up for with their intriguing personalities and stories.
The family is introduced to us as Herbert, Bonnie, Nancy and Kenyon. Herbert is the father. He is a hard worker, and is a wealthy businessman thanks to his farm, the River Valley Farm. He is a stern, strict and disciplined man who is well respected in the community. Bonnie is the mother. Her illness had kept her in bed since before the novel begins. Nancy is their eldest daughter who is still living with them. She is what someone would call the "perfect" girl: she is popular, outgoing and smart. Lastly, there is Kenyon, the 15-year-old younger brother. He is an antisocial character, and mostly keeps to himself, although the reader does learn that he has a passion for cars and carpentry.
The introduction to the characters helps us to better understand the family and how they are all related, and how they represent different types of human behavior. Herbert represents correctness and maturity, while Bonnie represents weakness and fragility. Nancy represents perfection (what many aspire to be), yet Kenyon represents isolation and awkwardness. By analyzing these concepts, we can begin to see the contradictions some family members are to others. Presumably, Herbert and Nancy are quite the opposite of Bonnie and Kenyon. This presents to the reader a big idea that is integral to the understanding of the Clutters: dysfunction.
Based on the fact that Truman Capote chose this case knowing it was real, it is interesting how the Clutters can begin to represent the "All-American family". By this term, it is meant that the Clutters can be seen as the perfect, wholesome family.
