The Auction

Merely a day before the all-important trial, the Clutter family's worldly possessions are auctioned off in the largest auction western Kansas had ever seen, at least in terms of attendance. People come from Kansas and from out of Kansas to see the auction. The crowd comes for many reasons, most to bid, many to just see the Clutter estate. This auction reveals much of how the world is responding to the Clutters' murder months after it had transpired. Even though everyone does know that they were murdered, they do care, they are settling. Essentially what the auction does is to scatter what remnants remained of the Clutters' existence far and wide. People buy items and then disperse like any auction. And now "the property had been leased to an Oklahoma rancher, and henceforward strangers would live and work there." (270) It's as if the Clutters were never there. The masses, although still aware of the murder, are in general more concerned with purchasing their items, as that is what draws most of this enormous crowd. However not everyone is totally settled. One of the items up for bid included Nancy's horse, Babe. Susan Kidwell still remembers that she and Nancy "had often gone riding together aboard Babe's wide back, jogged through the wheat fields on hot summer evenings down to the river and into the water, the mare wading against the current until, as Sue once described it, 'the three of us were cool as fish.'" (271) She still remembers Nancy and Babe, and as Babe was leaving she made a gesture: "she raised her hand as though to wave goodbye, but instead clasped it over her mouth." (271) This implies to me that she is sad that Babe is leaving but is trying to get over it. In general most people seem to have gotten almost completely over their initial interest, as I'm sure there weren't as many people at the trial. But those who were close to the Clutters are still sad, although it has diminished. I find it odd that interest in the case itself is so low on the day before the trial, but people have a tendency over time to ignore events that seem bad to them. We like to throw away the bad and keep the good, although this is a much slower process for those who were the most affected like Nancy. And this can explain why no one cares as much as they did.