In the beginning of the story Capote uses strong descriptions of the people that live in Holcomb to set the description for the whole town. By doing this I think it helps the reader paint a very real picture of the town. When he describes the people as having a "prairie twang and a ranch-hand nasal ness- and men wearing high-heeled boots with pointed toes- it automatically makes me picture an old out of date redneck town. .
As he goes on to describe the town's size instead of telling the population right away he chooses to show the size by his descriptions. He starts out by saying "at one end of the town stands a dark stucco structure, the roof of which supports an electric sign-DANCE- but the dancing has ceased for several years- that automatically tells the reader it is out of date and then goes on to describe another old rundown building that used to be the Holcomb Bank. The bank serves as apartment housing apartments. "it is one of two apartment houses- shows that the true size of the two and also the fact that on the highway there are only two fill-up stations with both of them doubling in functions. One is as he puts it a "meagerly stocked grocery store- and the other is café. .
The town is portrayed as dirty and disgraceful and he paints that imagery by pointing stating that the depot is sulfur-colored and melancholy and people with authority pass through but never stop. He paints the picture of a dirty, redneck down filled with farmers. However, the school is modern and had a well equipped staff. This was confusing but he explains it by saying it had to do with the exploitation of their natural resources. I think he does this to show changing times.
The idea of changing times brings us, the reader, to his climax of the introduction. He uses similes like, "the yellow trains streaking down the river-, to explain how nothing of any news has ever happened in this town, except for one day.
