Character analysis
Susan Kidwell
in In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Susan Kidwell is Nancy Clutter's closest friend and one of the first outsiders to witness the aftermath of the Clutter murders in Truman Capote's In Cold Blood. A teenager from Holcomb, Kansas, Susan is introduced early in the story as a confidante to Nancy—the two girls share secrets, creative interests, and the everyday experiences of small-town youth. This foundation of normalcy makes Susan's role as a witness to tragedy all the more heartbreaking.
On the morning of November 15, 1960, Susan arrives at the Clutter farmhouse with Nancy's boyfriend, Bobby Rupp, after Nancy fails to show up at church. It is Susan who opens the door and, with Bobby, uncovers the eerie stillness of the house before a neighbor ultimately finds the bodies. Capote paints this scene with a sense of quiet dread, and Susan's presence highlights how the murders shattered the innocence of the entire community, not just one family.
Susan's journey is one of grief and resilience. She mourns Nancy openly and honestly, standing as a testament to who Nancy was beyond being a victim. Capote revisits Susan near the end of the book, showing her visiting Nancy's grave with Nancy's horse, Babe—a tender, vivid moment that serves as the novel's emotional farewell to the Clutter family. Susan is depicted as perceptive, loyal, and quietly strong, embodying the community's collective loss while avoiding easy sentimentality. Her role may be small in terms of page count, but it carries significant emotional weight, anchoring the human cost of the crime.
Connected characters
- Nancy Clutter
Susan is Nancy's best friend and the relationship is the emotional core of her role in the narrative. Capote depicts their bond through shared daily life—school, horses, conversation—making Susan the primary human witness to who Nancy was. Susan's grief after the murders, and her final visit to Nancy's grave with Babe, serves as the novel's most intimate elegy for Nancy.
- Herb Clutter
As Nancy's closest friend, Susan was a regular presence at the Clutter farm and knew Herb as a warm, authoritative patriarch. Her discovery of the silent house the morning after his murder places her in direct, traumatic proximity to his fate.
- Bonnie Clutter
Susan knew Bonnie through her friendship with Nancy, though Bonnie's fragile, withdrawn nature kept her somewhat distant from the girls' social world. Bonnie's death is part of the larger loss Susan must absorb.
- Kenyon Clutter
Kenyon is Nancy's younger brother and a peripheral figure in Susan's world. His death completes the annihilation of the family Susan loved, deepening the totality of her grief.
- Alvin Dewey
Dewey leads the KBI investigation into the murders that define Susan's loss. Though they do not share extended scenes, his eventual resolution of the case provides the justice that frames Susan's mourning.
- Truman Capote (Narrator)
As narrator and interviewer, Capote shapes Susan's portrayal entirely. He chooses to give her the novel's closing emotional image—visiting Nancy's grave—signaling his authorial regard for her as the keeper of Nancy's memory.
- Perry Smith
Perry is one of Nancy's killers, and though Susan never meets him, he is the agent of the destruction that defines Susan's grief and permanently alters her life.
- Dick Hickock
Dick is the co-perpetrator of the murders. Like Perry, he exists in Susan's story only as an absence and a cause—the force behind the loss she carries.