The murderous men in these novels operate outside of society s norms, representing the abnormal, both in their evil acts and in their sexual natures. Capote and Cullen, through the involvement of the text with the murderers, their histories, and their motivations, render the binary of good and evil outdated and primal. This characterization, therefore, suggest a realistic view of good and evil, that of a spectrum, rather than a stable binary. The involved, dynamic, and at times sympathetic characterization of the murderous male pairs destabilizes the binary of good and evil that Capote and Cullen first establish. The authors do so in the beginning of their narratives in order to later deconstruct the binary and complicate normative beliefs of morality and justice. By doing so Capote and Cullen immediately establish the presence of a binary in the novel, good and evil, appealing to a conventional and simple sense of morality. Both texts open in dramatic fashion: a picturesque description of two towns that will soon be penetrated by the forces of evil.

Murder, particularly when committed by a team of men, is hard to understand and hence these murders invite complex literary treatment, even though at first the crimes may appear to be utterly black and white. Therefore, the murders committed by these men raise peculiar and perplexing questions about motivation, identity, and ethical categories.

These texts are particularly of interest considering the stereotypical murderer in American culture is that of the lone killer. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed twelve students and one teacher before killing themselves. Columbine investigates the 1999 school shooting in Littleton, Colorado at Columbine High School. The former documents Dick Hickock and Perry Smith s 1959 murder in Holcomb, Kansas of four members of the Clutter family. Through this perspective, the texts pose difficult questions for society amounting to: how do we treat different manifestations of evil, especially those that result from the experience of early tragedy? If we continue to robotically characterize men as either good or evil at the expense of true understanding, we risk losing what makes us human: empathy.Д¤ Pledger 4 I: Introduction Truman Capote s In Cold Blood and Dave Cullen s Columbine provide accounts of brutal murder performed by a pair of men. This stance taken by the authors is supportive of a spectrum of good and evil, rather than a strict binary. The deep exploration into each of the killers character, lives and sexuality furthers the deconstruction of the binary by establishing one man as sympathetic and the other as an embodiment of true evil. In the event of the murders these two seemingly opposite entities merge, the beginning of the deconstruction of the good and evil binary. These narratives open with the cities in which these murders occur juxtaposed with descriptions of the killers. The texts recount true murders in the history of the U.S.: the murders of 4 Clutter family members by Dick Hickock and Perry Smith in 1959 in Holcomb, Kansas and the school shooting massacre at Columbine High School by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold in 1999 in Littleton, Colorado. of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyДў Pledger 2 Table of Contents Abstract 3 I: Introduction 4 II: Establishing the Binary of Good and Evil 5 III: Deconstruction of the Good and Evil Binary 14 IV: The Spectrum of Good and Evil as Illuminated by the Murderous Pairs 17 V: Sexuality 38 VI: Conclusion 46 Bibliography 50ДЈ Pledger 3 Deconstructing the Binary of Good and Evil: An Exploration of In Cold Blood and Columbine Abstract: This thesis explores the representation of the good and evil binary through the analysis of Truman Capote s In Cold Blood and Dave Cullen s Columbine. Pledger English Departmental Honors Thesis University of Colorado at Boulder Defended ApThesis Advisor Dr. 1 Deconstructing the Binary of Good and Evil: An Exploration of In Cold Blood and Columbine Jamie R.

In cold blood binary