Residents Of Holcomb example essay topic
411 words
Using detail and syntax, Truman Capote [paints a clear picture of how he views Holcomb, Kansas in the novel In Cold Blood. To Capote, this "haphazard hamlet" is mundane, arid, and "out there". Capote's attention to detail helps the reader to fully comprehend his views of Holcomb, Kansas. Capote describes the town using various categories: the routine setting of the Old West, the plainness of the town, and how the towns two - hundred seventy inhabitants reflect their environment. Regarding detail, Capote places an emphasis on contrast between the beginning and the end of the excerpt. Holcomb, Kansas is said to be far more west than the Middle West. Holcomb has a countryside atmosphere, with "hard blue skies and desert-clear air". Capote paints a portrait of Holcomb as if the tumbleweeds roll by the expressionless town every half hour. Here in Holcomb, cattle and horses graze on the "flat, dry land". No passenger trains stop in Holcomb, for there is not much to see in this humdrum town. The streets are "unnamed, unshaded, and unpaved". This uneventful town consists of a useless congregation of buildings, some of which are dilapidated apartments with peeling paint and abandoned old buildings with broken down signs and advertisements.
There are only two filling stations in Holcomb, which double as a grocery store, as well as, a caf'e. Holcomb is characterized as a classic ranch town, and the residents of Holcomb reflect this idea. If you were to walk through the streets of Holcomb, you would see men dressed in the fashions of a typical cowboy, with high heeled boots with pointed toes, tapered frontier trousers, and Stetsons. The women of the town also wear cowboy boots, along with denim jeans, and rawhide jackets. The beginning paragraphs of Capote's excerpt of In Cold Blood contrast with the ending paragraph.
One may come to think that the people of Holcomb are not very well off, because they live in a desolate, broken down town. However, towards the end of the excerpt we come to see that the people of Holcomb have made use of the fertile farming land and resources available to them to become prosperous people. They have established schools for children, transportation to schools, and have staffed the schools with teachers. The residents of Holcomb are successful people, content with living ordinary and simple lives..
