Five Stages of Grief

According to Elisabeth Kubler there are five stages of grief that most people experience when they lose a loved one or have to pass through a rough experience. The five stages consists of:

1. Denial
2. Anger
3. Bargaining
4. Depression
5. Anger 

In Cold Blood Nancy Ewalt finds the other Nancy dead and goes crazy. But still she is able to control herself and even go back into the house with the Sheriff. The Sheriff had never seen any of the Clutter´s family members, therefore he needed for someone to go in with him and identify each body. Just as the Sheriff says, “Is this Nancy Clutter? —he´d never seen the child before” (62). This, in my opinion, can be considered as one of the hardest tasks any one could pass through. Isn’t it shocking enough to know that an entire family has been murdered? What would it feel to see your loved ones dead covered with blood? As Capote states, “She´d been shot in the back of the head with a shotgun held maybe two inches away. She was lying on her side, facing the wall, and the wall was covered with blood” (62). I don’t even relate with Nancy Clutter, but I wouldn’t be able to see one of my friends lying dead on the floor. Was Nancy Ewalt still on the phase of denial where she still couldn’t believe they were all dead? 

As Capote keeps describing how each family member was found dead in different places I started thinking what each placed meant. At the same time I want to know why they were each shot at a different spot of their heads. Just as Capote describes, “…but she´d [Mrs. Clutter] had been shot point-black in the side of the head, and the blast—the impact—had ripped the tape loose” (63). Then he says, “…the one that looked must like himself [Kenyon]—even though he´d been shot in the face, directly, head-on,” and last, “But probably he was dead before he was shot. Or, anyway, dying. Because his throat had been cut, too”(64). What did Dick and Perry had against this family? It seems that they wanted for the Clutter´s to suffer before they died. If they had wanted them only to die they could have done it in a simpler way. Why go through all the trouble of tying them up and taping their mouths? There´s more to it than only death. Just like Nancy questions herself, “But why? To torture him? I don’t guess we´ll ever know. Ever know who did it, or why, or what went on in that house that night” (65).

Lets go back to the beginning of my blog where I stated the five stages of grief. From what I understood Nancy passed from denial straight to acceptance. Did she not care at all for the Clutter´s? All the time she was trying to prove herself that it just couldn’t be true, but she ends the chapter by saying, “They were dead. A whole family. Gentle, kindle people, people I knew—murdered. You had to believe it, because it was really true” (66). So she jumped straight from denial to acceptance. She never showed an act of bargaining or depression. Is she going to break up Elisabeth Kubler theory and create her own stages?