Water Works By Doctrorow And In Cold Blood By Capote Essay, Research Paper

In E.L Doctrorow?s novel, The Waterworks, Mr McIlvaine suggests that some

stories were, ?not… reportorially possible… that there are limits to words

in a newspaper? (page 201). The character Mr McIlvaine like Truman Capote the

author of In Cold Blood are both journalists who have found stories to which

they feel newsprint, in itself would not have brought justice. Therefore to what

extent has truth in narration, and truth through journalism influenced the

writing of the novels of In Cold Blood and The Waterworks? Truth is hard to

define, the Collins English Dictionary(1992) defines truth as, ?state of being

true?, and true as, ?in accordance with the facts, exact, correct.? If we

are to strip something down to it?s bear essentials like a newspaper

?headline? we would hear that, ?CLUES ARE FEW IN SLAYING OF 4 (Page 97, In

Cold Bold) ? or in the case of The Waterworks: ?Telegram freelance reporter

gone missing after allegedly seeing dead father?. These headlines although

truthful do not tell the whole truth, so in away they misrepresent the real

truth. In trying to find the ?truth? both authors take different approaches.

In Cold Blood is written in the voice of an omniscient narrator. ?Capote was

drawn to the Clutter killings by reading a headline in a newspaper of a killing

in Holcomb, Kansas of four family members? (Stephen Harris December 1999) and

wanted to find out more than what could be transmitted through news media, he

wanted to really investigate talk to the people and find the truth. Capote

rarely alludes the reader to himself, and the investigative lengths he went to,

to get the story. Capote is able to go into such detail due to these

investigations. We are told in the, ?Acknowledgments?, that, ?All the

material in this book not derived from my own observation is either taken from

official records or is the result of interviews with the persons directly

concerned? (Page 9). In Cold Blood is told as a life narrative not as a

traditional factual account. Capote has added depth by using the narrator and

realistic imagery as a filler between real factual evidence, documents,

newspaper articles and interviews. The Waterworks is a fictional novel. Doctorow

uses the character McIlvaine, a newspaper Editor of the New York Telegraph, to

tell the story through the technique of realistic reportage of Martain

Pemberton?s disappearance, Martian Pemberton?s fathers reappearance and a

greater social evil. McIlvaine is always questioning his journalistic morals, he

defines journalism as, ?the cheapest commonest realm, the realm of newsprint.

My realm.(Page 8). MacIlvine constantly questions his own objectiveness towards

the story of the Pemberton family, ?Did that mean I found myself prepared to

put the interest of the story ahead of the lives of the people involved in

it?? (Page 200),. The conflict within McIlvaine seems true but there is no

real conflict as this is a work of fiction. When McIlvaine puts himself across

as a credible narrator the reader is able to better accept the rest of the story

he is telling. Despite this in The Waterworks there are many devices used to

make the book seem real or truthful. These will be explained latter. Did Capote

(a journalist himself), have the same moral struggle when writing the work In

Cold Blood as McIlvaine had in The Waterworks? The text never alerts the

audience to any struggle of journalistic duty between the truth and the rights

of the victims and the offenders, but there are areas in which one could argue

there was such conflict. Capote edited out certain parts of Dick Hitckock?s

letter in which, ? Hickock revealed his pedophiliac tendencies,?(Page 278).

Capote had obviously in this instance decided that the rights of Hickok?s

victims were more important than the publics right to know. whether Capote was

forced to edit out these parts of the book we will never know, because of the

style of narration Capote has chosen, but the greater question is, Has anything

else been left out because of it?s sensitive nature? Stories, which are often

as complex as the people who write them, can be altered in many ways, such as

how the writer was feeling at the time and if they felt sympathetic towards the

person or people in question. McIlvaine explains how a journalist constructs an

opinion for a reader without them realising: they (reporters) ?did not make

such a sanctimonious thing of objectivity, which is finally a way of

constructing an opinion for the reader without letting him now you are?(Page

27), McIlvaine also comments on his personal journalistic philosophy towards

involvement with an issue ?Professionally you try to get as close to the thing

as possible, but never to the point of involvement.?(Page 12). Because

McIlvaine character is very honest about how a journalist can manipulate a

story, he again sets himself up as a trustworthy narrator. Was Capote?s

connection too involved with the story to write an unbiased account of Perry and

Dick?s life?, ?Some readers have felt the relationship between Perry and

Capote was very strong?(Stephen Harris, December 1999). When Perry and Dick

are on Death Row the narrator often talks about a journalist who is Perry?s

only visitor, ??Nobody ever comes to see him except you?, he said, nodding

at the journalist,?(Page 335). Whether Capote was unintentionally or

intentionally alluding the audience to himself, has made some readers feel that

there is a lack of objectiveness to his writing therefore he might be

constructing an opinion for the readers that they don?t realise is there.

Another example of this is the use of a extended (badly hidden) metaphor about

cats, ?two grey tomcats who are always together-thin, dirty strays with

strange and clever habits? (Page 248). This comparison of the two offenders to

alley cats makes the offenders seem less harmful than they really were. Readers

who might not feel sympathy for these ?Cold Blooded? killers could feel a

sense of sympathy towards these desperate alley cats. The news of the day, is

that the day, tomorrow it is old news, although those directly effected keep

grieving long after the headlines are fish and chip paper. This is emphasis on

how quickly today?s news can become old news is illustrated through comments

made by McIlvaine in The Waterworks, ?death including our own is yesterday?s

news (page 160) or as shown by the ever increasing lack of reportage in the

Clutter family murders ?according to those increasingly brief newspaper

reports (radio broadcasters had ceased to mention the subject)?(Page 165).

Like In Cold Blood, The Waterworks is written after the events have taken place.

The duration of time effects truth in many ways, when a story is told from the

past the author is able to use the knowledge of hindsight. Doctorow uses time to

add a sense of truth to the novel. MacIlvaine constantly puts to the question

his own truthfulness over time, as a narrator, ?I?m an old man now and I

have to acknowledge that reality slips like cogs in a wheel.?(Page 228). The

Waterworks also has another depth of the past to it the author is writing the

book from the 1850?s and has to follow conventions of that era such as a,

?red lamp district?(Page 15) instead of a red light district. McIlvaine?s

questioning of his own truth as a narrator seems to affirm the reader of his

truthfulness. McIlvaine?s character realises that the time a story is released

can affect the outcome of that story, ?to print the story now or what I knew

of it , would be an intervention… a trespass of the reporter into the realm of

cause and effect… that would change every outcome?(page 200) because time

has passed since the events have taken place he feels he is now able to print

the story. If Capote had released In Cold Blood before the death of Dick Hickock

and Perry Smith, Capote might also have effected the outcome of their lives and

therefore the truth of the story. In Conclusion: The effect of the reliability

of the narrator, does effect the truthfulness of the story. To have a story

whether it be fiction or non fiction, where the narrator has a bias or is not

perceived to be truthful will greatly effect the audiences interpretation of

that story and therefore the truth. To keep a novel totally unbiased it would

have to be purely factual like a newspaper headline (as stated in the

introduction) and even newspaper headlines can misrepresent the truth. It is

often not was is said in a novel that effects the readers understanding of the

truth but what the author has chosen not to say. Capote uses the all seeing all

knowing narration style, there is never any question within In Cold Blood of his

reliability as a narrator and his journalistic approach, the reader is not told

how he conducted his interviews where or when, everything is told as fact.

Through this style of narration Capote is saying this is the truth, but this

forces the reader to question this truth. The Waterworks is a fictional novel

but even a fictional novel must have elements of truth to keep the readers

interest. McIlvaine is always questioning his own morals as a journalist and his

own narration, this constant questioning is used to make the audience (reader)

feel that McIlvaine is a real person who is worried about how others perceive

the truth as he sees it and because of this McIlvaine presents himself as a

truthful narrator.

Bibliography: Capote, Truman, In Cold Blood, published by Penguin Group 1965

Collins English Dictionary and Thesaurus, published by HarperCollins, London

1992 Doctorow, E.L, The Waterworks, Published by Pan Macmillan Publishers 1994