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DOCUMENTED 022 742RESUMITE 000 432By-Berbrich. Joan D.TEACHING "IN COLD BLOOD."Pub Date Sep 67Note-4p.Journal Cit- The Teachers Guide to Media and Methods; v4 n1 p12-14 Sep 1967EDRS Price MF-W25 HC-S024Descr tors-*ENGLISH INSTRUCTION. FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE. GRADE 12. LITERARY ANALYSIS. LITERARYCONVENTIONS. *LITERATURE. *NOVELS. *SECONDARY EDUCATION. SYMBOLS (LITERARY), TEACHINGMETHODS, TRAGEDY. TWENTIETH CENTURY LITERATUREIdentifiers-4n Cold Blood, Truman CapoteThe Truman Capote nonfiction novel. In Cold Blood: which reflects foradolescents the immediacy of the real world. illuminates (1) social issuescapitalpunishment, environmental influence, and the gap between the 'haves" and 'have-nots:(2) moral issuesthe complexity of man's nature, the responsibility of one man foranother, and the place of values in today's society. and (3) literary issuescatharsisand identification in the classic tragic mode, the uses of images and point of view, plotstructure, and the creation of suspense despite the reader's foreknowledge of eventsin the novel. (Discussion questions for 12th-grade English classes are included) (JB)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. EDUCATION & WILIAMTHIS DOCUMENT HAS BUNe laREPRODUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THEPERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGINATING IISTATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT0THE TEACHERS GUIDE TOOFFICE Of EDUCATIONPOINTS Of VIEW OR OPINIONSOFFICIA1 OFFICE OF EDUCATIONPOSITION OR POLICY.AND METHODSSeptember 1967 Vol. 4, No. 1ADVISORY BOARDBarry K. BeyerAss't Prof of EducationThe Ohio State University6 Feedback8 Dilemmas of a Tween-Age Teacherby John M. Catkin, Si. Things that blow up in th communicationsexplosionand how to put them back together. .TEACHINGMax BOgarYAn't Du. Div. of Curriculum & Instruc.State Dept of Educ . Trenton. N. 1.Charlotte Brooks12Supervising Du. of EnglishWash. 0 C. Public SchoolsJohn Culkin. S.J.Director. Center for CommunicationsFordham University, New York Cityby Joan Berbrich Capote's Classic in the classroom PAPERBACKS16what's left?Project Dir . Dept. of EnglishU. of Michigan at Ann Arbor21Prof. of Education and LibrarianTeachers College. Columbia U., N. Y.Morris GenSocial Studies Dept HeadNorwalk Public Schools. Coon.Philip LewisThe Sumrna Award: Nobody WavedGoodbyeKUDOS28 Bravo Fordham!A report on the Fordham (vs. Boredom) Film Conference FILMAsst. Director. Soc. Sci. ProgramGreater ClevelandPresident. InstructionalDYnamics. Inc. Chicago. IllinoisTEACHINGby Allan Harrison Science is not a "happening." Moeern learninghas a history inhabited by real people.PAPERBACKSSoperintendent of SchoolsPeter Kontos.22 The Nits in Darwin's BeardDonald KlemerHastings-on-Hudson. N. Y.How to Manufacture Tin Earsby John Rouse If traditional grammar and linguistics are thrown out.Daniel FadarSidney Formaneaching In Cold Blood30Teaching The 400 Blowsby Frank McLaughlin.FILMMarshall McLuharsAlbert Schweitzer Prof. of HumanitiesFordham University. Nem York City32 So . What's Special About TV This Season?by Ned HoopesJoseph MersendChin. of English Dept.Jamaica HS. Nem rock CityWilliam B. SanbornDir. Div. Instructional MaterialsSan Francisco Uoified Schools. Cal.35 Telelog37 Jack and Jill: A Close Readingby Arthur DaigonBortram SiegelChM. of Science Dept.Sedford Jr. HS. Westport. Cons.M. Awry WeissChinn. English Dept.Jersey Stale College, N.J.STAFFEditor. Frank McLaughlinMonmouth College. N. J.Motion Pictures. John Culkin. S.J.Fordham UniversityTelevision. Ned HoopesPace College. N. Y. C.Records & Tapes. Kirby JuddLong Meadow H S. Mass.Paperbacks. Frank RossEastern Michigan UniversityAssociate Editor. John RouseSmithtown. N. Y. Public SchoolsCommunications. David SohnFordham UniversityManaging Editor. Charles FaucherArt Editor. Alice KoethCirculation Mgr. Grace &immerseBusiness Mgr. Frances BurnettAdv. Sales Mgr. Brycs SmithPublisher. Roger earnioTELEVISIONHUMOR39 Recommended Shorts: The Summer CropFILMby William J. Sloan44 Newsworthy Paperbacksby Frank RossPAPERBACKS46Reprints Available47Earsight: A Column of Sound Observationsby Tony Schwartz.TAPES48 Teacher Feature: To Sir, With Loveby Barry RobinsonFILMCOVER The N.Y. Public Library Pkture Collection yieldedthis pre-Dewey beauty: An Irish Schoolmaster by J. S. DavisThe Teachers Guide to MEDIA & METHODS ((ormerly SCHOOl. PAPERBACK JOURNAL) is published nine times per year September through Mayby Media & Methods Institute. Inc. :24 East 40 Street. New York. N.Y. 10016.Phone: 212 MU 7-8458. Subscription: 1 per year. 4 in Canada. 2 each for20 or more to one school address. Single copy 40e. 4" Copyright. Media &Methods Institute. Inc. 1967. Printed in U.S.A. by World Color Press. Controlled circulation postage paid at Sparta, Illinois.

Teaching INCOLDBLOOD"PERMISSION TO "PRODUCE THISCOPY116111111 MATERIAL HAS KEN GRANTEDIT 9.0Ad 4. 144444.2 4.1npid'Adkaxasilhd.zalatiliti.TO ERIC AND ORGANIZATIONS OPERATING;UNDER AGREEMENTS WITH ME U.S. OffICE OFEDUCATION. FURTHER REPRODUCTION OUTSIDEME ERIC SYSTEM REOUIRES PERMISSION OFTIE COPYRIGHT OWNER."by Joan D. Berbrich-WHY TEACH ha Cold Bloodr a parent askedhotly. -It isn't literature.isn't literature'experienced when theywatched the Agamemnon story unfold in thediences musthavehutamphitheatre. .1hose spectators. 2500 years ago.it is exciting contemporary writing. It isstylistically interesting. It illustrates artisticstructuring of factual materials. It provides aknew that Agamemnon would be slain. thatOrestes would, in retaliation, kill his mother.No.basisIsuppose it.for discussionon capital punishment.that Orestes would then be pursued by avengingFuries.on environmental influences, on the haves and.thc have-nots. It suggests a reason for thepresent overwhelming popularity of non-fiction.It even parallels an almost forgotten aspectof Greek tragedy. These are the major reasons"loday's seniors know that the Clutters willhe murdered, that the killers will be pursued.that they will be captured. tried, and executed.we teach Truman Capote's In Cold Blood inHickock and Smith will he caught. hut theour senior classes.reader. too, is caught in an emotional labyrinth.He wants justice. He ICels pity for men distortedby the human condition. He experiences (butoften refuses to admit) sympathy for theIn Cold Blood should be read quickly. Capotesuggested that one read parts one and two.put the book away for a day. then read thclast two parts.' Certainly the reading anddiscussion combined should not extend beyonda two-week period. When the hook is broughtinto thc classroom it is already familiar toalmost every student. Though few have readit. all have heard about it. Almost all knowabout the Clutter murders. They even knowthe outcome. Yet. they find in the novelsuspense and drama. They gain some of thesatisfaction, some of the catharsis. Greek au-Dr. Rerhrkh is Chairman of the English Department at Mineola High School. Garden City Park.New Ifni.In both cases, the foreknowledge heightens appreciation. The reader of In Cold Blood knowspursued. In the Aeschylus tram. Orestes ispurged at the Delphic shrine and emergesabsolved. In In Cold Blood Smith and Hickockarc purged at the gallows, and they emerge.not absolved, hut understood. For Man, alongwith these two men, was indicted, and thegeneral indictment restores humanity to thetwo who had fork:kW it.High school seniors are old enough to understand that hunumity encompasses man'svicious impulses as well as his divine-like compassion. They do not grow mawkish or sentimental about the two killers. From a readingof the novel, however. they do become moreaware of the complexity of man, of the12rwcz.

IfCapote's classic poses important questions for studentsIIresponsibilit% of one man for another. of theclose and confused tie that binds all men.Cain's fatal retort. -Am I nw brother's keeper?"acquires new and terrifing significance.The general discussion that followsthereading of this novel should bc provocativeand thoughtful. It should cause some discomfortto our -safe- seniors: it should bring intothe classroom a weighing of values and theplace of values in society; it should end inquestions. not in answers. for this generationis only beginning to know what questions toask.used a% tlumgh titer are iurgical minimamew.% (p. 278). -I he words themselve% arenot unusual; the combinitions are. Why?Incongruity? Alliteration? Connotation ofviolence?5. POINI OF VIEW shifts throughout this novel.Sometimes we witness a scene throughNancy's eyes, sometimes through Smith's.sometimes through a law-ollicer's. At othertimes the omniscient author takes over.Is this variation effective? Why?6. CA POTE CAI LED In (-(Id Blood a non-lictionnovel. What does this mean? "lhe non-SPRINGBOARDS FOR DISCUSSIONI. CAPOTE IIIMSEI F implied that the title. InCold Blood. has two interpretations.2 Isofficial execution murder? Can the titlebe justly applied to both the killing of theClutters and the execution of Hickock andfiction is obvious. Do the techniques mentioned above suggest a reason for callingthis particular non-liction book a norel?7. AFTER THE CI.UTTER murders, the town'speople look at each other with new suspicion. Friends of many years distrust eachother. People lock and bolt their doors for1. CAPOTE ALTERNATES chapters about thethe first time in their lives. What doesmurderindeed, any crimedo to the by-Clutters with chapters about Hickock andSmith. This constant change of subject atstanders. to those not directly involved?What does this suggest about humanfirst irritates young readers. Why then doesnature?8. THE 1VENAGHTEN Ruff plays an importantpart in the conviction of Hickock andSmith?the author use this technique? Does thedomestic tranquillity of the Clutter homeemphasize the disordered. meaninglesslives of Hickock and Smith?3. THE MOST VIVID image in this novel isSmith's giant yellow parrot that. at regularintervals, swooped down. slaughteredSmith's enemies and winged him away toparadise. Capote uses this image on pages110. 141. 299 and 357. What is the sig-nificance of this image? Is it effective?4. THE AUTHOR frequently uses words incombinations that startle and disturb. Notethe following: like a peacock trapped in aturkey pen (p. I 35); hip-high. sheep-slaughtering snows (p. 21): land winter-strippedand as somber as theet iron (p. 199); pawsI. I 1.0.0 Frankel. -The Inthnr." tin tuning lirrirw. I:at,22. 1966. p. 37.2 In .sts ssstrnsun minted Its Ccorer Ilimpinn. reprinted intin NI H Ind. Finn . linnk lb o i u I. an lb. 19(vb. p. Pl." %II relrvm-g, An- In fin- pap-rhai k ISignet. sl.25.nrocAND 7Smith. What is the legal definition of insanity? Is it realistic? Is it moral? Whatnew problems would arise for thc courtsand for society if insanity were moreloosely defined?9. COINCIDENCE IS something We expect infiction but suspect in real life. Several incredible coincidences are described in InCold Blood. The day before he was killed.IN COLD BLOOD: THE FILMRichard Brooks. best known for his work inThe Prales.thonalA and tinter Gantry, is directing a film version of Capote's book for ColumbiaPictures. In k attempt to preserve the impact ofthe non-fiction novel Brooks is shooting in act-ual locations and has casted players more fortheir similarities to the killers. Clutters. et. al.than for their box-office draw.1310