Sunday, December 4, 2011
ICB pp. 224-254
pp. 246-248 Present tense vs. past tense. Capote switches into present tense during the drive back to Garden City from Colorado and while he tells of the two gray tomcats (portrays of Dick and Perry?). Then he switches into past tense as he describes how the people react to Dick and Perry exiting the police vehicle and entering the police station. I wonder if the present tense relates to "Answer," for it is in this section that the detectives finally find their answers as to what happened to the Clutters. Perry's genial revelation of events opens the door to the answers, but the door quickly shuts and Capote's writing quickly shifts into past tense again with "the year's first snow began to fall." There is a change in tense, change in season--each leading us into a foreboding change as the text heads to "The Corner."
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ReplyDeleteCapote switches tenses as what was a brand new writing technique at the time. Every writer has a different style of writing in which they feel comfortable in writing with, and which others can recognize their writing as. Writing styles are just as recognizable as a person's accent or vocabulary; no matter who you talk to, everyone's writing style or accent will be different. I believe Truman Capote uses different tenses in order to confuse the reader in an effort to force them to read the text in an even deeper context, somewhat like how the movie Inception confuses the viewers in order to force them to focus on the story in a deeper, more critical context. Capote's writing style is very unique and helps readers engage in the text more deeply, and I have found it helpful to me understanding the text as a whole, forcing me to re-read and comprehend the text a little better.
ReplyDelete-CJ Juan 1B