exposition

Capote uses the first fifteen or so pages of In Cold Blood to simply talk about the characters. He gives very little information about the actual story, and instead just introduces many of the characters and describes them and Holcomb in detail. I think that this isn't a good strategy for entertaining a reader. If a person picks up a book called "In Cold Blood," they expect a murder story and generally want to get into the action, or at least have immediate or near immediate suspense. This brings me to think that Capote isn't just telling the story; he's trying to educate his readers about it. He introduces the characters early to allow the reader to have some idea who he is talking about. Even so, I would still think it wise to bring in some kind of action early in the story. Another reason may be that he wants the reader not only to know the story but to immerse him or herself in it. If he doesn't describe the city and its inhabitants, then the reader has no idea where it is or what is going on. Capote describes characters like Mr. Clutter on pages 5-6 with detail: "The master of River Valley Farm, Herbert William Clutter, was forty-eight years old, and as a result of a recent medical examination for an insurance policy, knew himself to be in first-rate condition. Though he wore rimless glasses and was of but average height..." Capote goes into detail not only explaining the appearance of each character but their health, and other qualities. The purpose of this I believe is to give a 3-dimensional view of each character: not just what they look like, but their place in society, and in some cases examples of how they act. This preludes the rest of the action and sets a course to be followed, and allows the reader to partially form their own opinion, but i still think Capote should have opened with something more active.