Comparison Essay: Killers in The Green Mile vs. the Killers In Cold Blood

I assume most of you guys have already read these best-seller novels. For those of you who haven't, In Cold Blood is written by Truman Capote and is a non-fiction book about two convicts who killed a family in Kansas. The killers are Dick and Perry and the novel focuses on their past history and what made them criminals. They are realistic criminals because they actually exist!

The Green Mile, written by Stephen King, on the other hand, is a novel which takes place in a penetentiary with different types of murderers. Some convicts in the story are: Delacroix (raped little girls and then burned them down to hide evidence. He killed five others in the fire), Willy Wharton (commited numerous crimes, natural trouble maker, shot many civilians, raped girls), Chief (killed a person when he was drunk at a bar), Arthur aka The President (convicted of killing his father in an insurance-fraud scheme) and another woman who killed her husband becase he cheated on her.

My assignment is:
How do Stephen King's fictional characters (killers) compare to Truman Capote's depiction of real-life killers, Dick and Perry? Does Stephen King create believable killers? Consider the level of violence and the nature of each crime. Use specific examples to support your analysis.

Thanks a lot! This site has always been a great help.

What exactly do you want help with here? You have pretty clear instructions. So, start writing your essay, get a draft done, and post it here for feedback.

I guess I kinda forgot to put my question on lol. I was wondering if someone could help me come up with a thesis. I couldn't come up with any points. I was thinking to compare Delacroix with Perry and Willy Wharton with Dick.

Just wondering, have you read the books Sean? If so, do you think that the killers are believable?

I've read the Green Mile, but not Cold Blood. I don't know any killers, either, so I can't really say if King's characters are realistic in that sense. I can say, though, that King is great at characterization, and that I found his characters believable. He provides background information that gives his characters a texture lacking in most horror novels. Bear in mind that King's characters don't have to be exactly like the ones in Cold Blood to be realistic -- people are very different from one another, and I imagine that killers differ a lot from one another too. So, you can argue that they are realistic (your thesis) as long as you have enough points of comparison to back it up. So, if you can find three points of similarity, you're good to go, even if there are also clear differences.