In Part I of In Cold Blood, when Capote is describing the Clutter family, his sentences are long, descriptive, and concentrated on the beauties and wholesomeness of nature. In the following passage, he describes Mr. Clutter's breakfast:
"After drinking the glass of milk and putting on a fleece-lined cap, Mr. Clutter carried his apple with him when he went outdoors to examine the morning. It was ideal apple-eating weather; the whitest sunlight descended from the purest sky, and an easterly wind rustled, without ripping loose, the last of the leaves on the Chinese elms" (page 10).
Capote pays a lot of attention to details, such as the soft lining of Mr. Clutter's cap and the white sunlight. The images he uses are meant to evoke a picture of wholesomeness and goodness in the reader's mind, including phrases such as "apple-eating weather" and the "purest sky." Capote also includes references to nature, to connect Mr. Clutter to the purity of the natural world.
When Capote shifts to describing Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, his sentences are clipped and staccato, as in the following example:
"Like Mr. Clutter, the young man breakfasting in a cafe called the Little Jewel never drank coffee. He preferred root beer. Three aspirin, cold root beer, and a chain of Pall Mall cigarettes--that was his notion of a proper "chow-down." Sipping and smoking, he studied a map spread on the counter before him--a Phillips 66 map of Mexico" (page 14).
Unlike Mr. Clutter, who Capote refers to with the honorific "Mr.," Perry receives no name in this passage. He is referred to instead, without dignity, as "the young man." Perry is also eating breakfast, but in an entirely different way than Mr. Clutter. Unlike Mr. Clutter, who wholesomely eats an apple, Perry is consuming root beer, aspirin, and cigarettes. The sentences are clipped and even fragments, unlike the long, flowery sentences Capote uses to describe Mr. Clutter. The images Capote uses are not at all wholesome, including root beer, cigarettes, and a map of Mexico from a gas station (Phillips 66). He also uses slang such as "chow-down," which he doesn't use in the passage about Mr. Clutter.
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