Blog # 3: Syntax
· “Ordinarily, Mr. Clutter’s mornings began at six-thirty; clanging milk pails and the whispery chatter of the boys who brought them, two sons of a hired man named Vic Irsik, usually roused him” (7).
· “I heard him crying. I turned on the radio. Not to hear him. But I could. Crying like a child” (308).
· “ That squirrel of his, he sure misses Perry. Keeps coming to the cell looking for him. I’ve tried to feed him, but he won’t have anything to do with me. It was just Perry he liked” (308).
Capote uses unusual syntax to illustrate the mindset of the town that was attacked. At the beginning of the book, the sentences are long and structurally complicated, such as the sentence, “Ordinarily, Mr. Clutter’s mornings began at six-thirty; clanging milk pails and the whispery chatter of the boys who brought them, two sons of a hired man named Vic Irsik, usually roused him” (7). This syntax represents the thinking of the people in the town- intelligent, calm, peaceful, rational. When the murder occurred, it sent everybody into a panic. The author changed the sentence structure to mirror this change- from long and complicated, to short and terse. For example, the sentence, “I heard him crying. I turned on the radio. Not to hear him. But I could. Crying like a child,” illustrates the way people feel. Their minds are nervous, so the way they think is almost childlike and immature. The shock of the murder also plays a part in Capote’s syntax. Because the Clutters were so high up on the “social ladder,” their murder was an eye-opener to America. Truman Capote’s purpose was to present the problem of the nature of American Violence and the problems that arise after it. The town of Holcomb lost its innocence and peace because of it.
I really liked your analysis of the way the syntax changes throughout the book! I did not catch that while reading it! After going back and looking through the book, I agree that the syntax does, in fact, change from intelligent to panicky. I also feel that the syntax adds to the adds to the character of the people. Each character has their own way of speaking and it can be shown through syntax. "’...Once a thing is set to happen, all you can do is hope it won't. Or will-depending. As long as you live, there's always something waiting, and even if it's bad, and you know it's bad, what can you do? You can't stop living.’" (92) As you can see here in this quote, Perry seems like a very finicky character, in my opinion. Because he is trying to justify his position by asking a question. You can tell he is trying to calm himself and believe that the murder was not "really" his fault. The syntax can show the mindset of the character as well as emotion.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your analysis that at the beginning of the story, Capote uses complex syntax but ends the book with short and concise sentences. When Capote utilizes those terse sentences it often gives off a panicked tone due to the character not thinking straight or too caught up in the moment when witnessing something that shocks them. Just like you stated, they often have a mind set that is "childlike and immature". For example, when Susan goes up to Nancy's room and witnesses Nancy's dead body taped and tied up, she begins to think and speak in brief and concise sentences. This brings about a frightened and nervous tone as Susan has not come to terms yet of what has happened to her best friend besides the fact that she is dead. Although I agree with the purpose that you stated that Capote wanted to achieve, I wish you could have gone into more depth as to the purpose of the specific examples of syntax that you listed. Overall you made a great analysis as to how the syntax changes as the story progresses.
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