Truman Capote (1924 - 1984) was an American author which works included Breakfast at Tiffany's. He's a narcist. He's not humble, he fell in love with himself and his works. He partied with his friends and talked about himself a lot. He loved to be the center of attention. He drank.
He's a unique personality, though. He was openly gay; not the muscularly macho typed, but the one who spoke in high pitch with strange pronunciation of vocals and dressed unconventionally: he would wore a feminine scarf, something that would potentially be laughed at when the wearer was a man, at that time.
One day in 1959 he read the newspaper and found an article about a murder of the whealty Clutter family and declared that he himself would do the research on that event, then made the story his next nonfiction novel. Accompanied by his best friend, Harper Lee (the author of To Kill a Mockingbird), he went to find the Clutter's family friend who found them dead, did some interviews and got underestimated by local police but finally with his charm and money grabbed the access to meet the suspects and unlimitedly visit them in prison.
Then he began to stuck in a strong bonding with one of the inmates, Perry Smith.
They figured out that they had a similar background as a child, shared stories about the past. Truman regularly visited Perry and gave Perry his writings. But there was one thing Perry wouldn't tell Truman: the detail of the murder.
It was all about the book, and not their relationship. Perry who had taken Truman as a close friend, got disappointed when Truman stop visiting him and went to Morocco and Spain with his partner instead to write the first three parts of the book. The disappointment was more emotional than material, for he thought the friendship was unconditional and sincere. He felt betrayed by the author.
Eventually, Perry agreed to tell Truman the detail of the murder. How he was told that there was 10.000 dollars inside the house, how he considered that Mr. Clutter was a nice gentleman right before Perry cut his throat and killed the rest, how he felt ashamed of himself, and how he only got forty or fifty box from the house. He said it all with no villainous look of a murderer; a frustrated, ordinary human instead.
When finally the execution day arrived, Truman was nothing but heartbroken. Perry had sent letter to Truman to visit him for the last time, saying goodbye. Truman did come on the last minute, unable to hide his pain over loosing Perry.
Truman watched Perry's hanging.
The next day Truman was seen in an airplane, looking at photos and writings inside Perry's private diary, and some drawings that Perry made, including a drawing of Truman's face.
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After the movie, Capote (2005). Truman Capote's book about the murder, In Cold Blood was published 1965. It was his last book.
Some had speculated that the relationship between Truman and Perry was actually romantic. The picture shown above is from
Capote when Truman and Perry were in the police station, taking a mug shot of Perry (
image source).
The movie quoted Truman's words after the execution:
"More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones."
I've been living here in my neighborhood for nearly twenty years. I grew up walking the streets, watching my neighbors renovated their houses, seeing those kids who played in the field changing uniforms from year to year, and noticing the trees grew bigger. A friend said that those trees also surely noticed me grew, as I went to school everyday passing them, biking as a kid and sometimes driving as a grown up - which is true, I guess.
I never really know how it feels to grow up. Maybe I'm not even the same person anymore.
"This house was made without drawings! I myself built this," he proudly said. He's no architect. He's no contractor. He's the stone man, a worker. You probably can not see the beauty of this house from my sketch for my style in drawing lines, but this house is really a good one; it's a big house but humble, earthy colors, green garden, big windows. Seems comfortable, and livable. The stone man himself made this house without drawings.
Soon after Novel arrived, we went to Museum Fatahillah's front yard. Unfortunately, it was the brightest time of the day, I guess. The glare of the sun dazzled our eyes. So..... I didn't sketch Museum Fatahillah. Instead, I did Museum Wayang and it's neighbors, under the tree.
