This thesis is going to attempt at the analysis of the characters of the Clutter family murderers, Richard 'Dick' Hickock and Perry Edward Smith, revolving its focus around the non-fictional, documentary character of the novel that provides the reader with insight into murderer's mind. Not only is the novel a stunning and thorough study of the crime itself as well as the impact it had on the community, but above all it provides one with the direct insight into the mind and persona of the killers, allowing the reader 'to understand them as deeply damaged human beings' (Davies, 2012). Having been considered 'a pioneering document in the history of American nonfiction' and 'a true crime narration' (Voss, 2011), In Cold Blood was a peak of Truman Capote's literary career and the examplary work of creative nonfiction writing. Keywords: film adaptation studies, cultural studies, hero, alter ego, nonfiction novel. Taking adaptation studies and cultural studies as my central theoretical perspective, this paper aims to demonstrate not only how the figure of Perry Smith both stands as Truman Capote's alter ego and is transformed into that of a protagonist in the book, but also how Richard Brook's motion picture reassures and even elevates the murderer's position to that of a hero. Reading closely between the lines of the book, we may notice that Capote's empathy with the murderer has been filtered to the point of victimizing and stressing the importance Smith in a project that was initially designed to portray the neighbors' reaction of the crime. In the meantime however Capote started to build a close relationship with Smith, acknowledging his weight in the book: “unless I could establish close contact with this half-Irish, half-Indian young man, I would have to abandon the project” (Capote 2007, 267). Hence, the novelist's main intention was to illustrate how the townspeople reacted to such a horrid event. After the capture of Hickock and Smith, Capote researched the case thoroughly, spent weeks talking with the prisoners, jurors, police, friends of the slain family and neighbors of Holcomb trying to unearth why such an abominable act was committed and what should have been the society's response. Sharing the same plot, both novel and film were published and released respectively with only a one-year difference. After the book was published, Capote chose director Richard Brooks to “act as intermediary between book and screen” (Capote 2007, 274) out of a great number of directors and producers. Truman Capote was the creator of a milestone in popular culture: In Cold Blood (1966), a ‘nonfiction’ novel based upon the real murder of the Clutter family committed by Dick Hickock and Perry Smith in the town of Holcomb (Kansas), 1959. The highlight of the study is how Narrative Journalism is applied in Capote's In Cold Blood. Unlike other authors his objective was in showing the mindset of the murderers while committing the crime. Capote's purpose of writing this novel was to let the readers know about the prior planning, thoughts and purpose of the crime by the murderers that would not be shown in a typical news report. And the story is told from two alternating perspectives the thought of the murderers and the people affected by the crime. He also took extensive detail and simultaneous triple narrative. Here Capote brings out the true crime story for which he interviewed local residents and investigators assigned to the case and took thousand pages of notes. Then he decided to travel to Kansas and write about the crime with his fellow author Harper lee who has also written a few non-fictions. Capote learned of the quadruple murder in The New York Times, before the killers were captured. In a simple definition, Narrative Journalism is a technique and stylistic strategy traditionally associated with non-fiction, and also it is at times used interchangeably with creative non-fiction. To demonstrate the literary techniques of the novel, Capote applied Literary Journalism. The author is forced to yield a serious new art form in Literature through Narrative Journalism. This paper deals with how Narrative Journalism influences the novels in literature with special reference to the non-fiction In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.

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