Pages 131-134: “Until Perry was five…I ever had, really sensitive and intelligent…” This passage when Capote begins to introduce Perry more in depth. From his childhood to later on in his life. Perry’s way of life as a child was a tough one, in which his mother put him in a “catholic orphanage. The one where the Black Widows were always at me. Hitting me. Because of wetting the bed…They hated me, too.” Capote’s use of short sentence syntax creates the effect of emphasizing the horrible and dramatic conditions Perry had to live with. Also, the nuns of the orphanage are described as “Black Widows,” a metaphor, to make it seem like it was truly terrible. The color black associates with death and when metaphorically used to describe a nun, it creates sympathy for Perry. Later in the passage, capote creates a short narrative of Perry’s experience in war. “Perry, one balmy evening in wartime 1945…” The storytelling helps understand more about Perry in the way he thinks and acts. The atmosphere of this passage is a sad mood. It talks about the terrible childhood and early life of Perry. It is clear that no one ever cared for Perry and it affected him dramatically. Pages 30-31 “The two young men had little in…the art contrived by Honolulu and Yokohama masters.” When first describing Dick and Perry, Capote describes dick as “an athlete constructed on a welterweight scale. The tattooed face of a cat, blue and grinning, covered his right hand…More markings…ornamented his arms and torso.” The metaphor comparing Dick to a welterweight athlete gives the perception that Dick is a mean looking guy. Basically, what a stereotypical criminal looks like; and that is exactly what Dick is. At the end of the passage, after describing Dick’s car colli... ... middle of paper ... ...ds the tree…And Jesus, I don’t know how to fight a snake.” Capote’s use of the metaphor comparing Perry to the tree. The dream clearly represents Perry’s struggle in life and how he wants to reach his goals, but finds it difficult to do so. Also, the imagery when describing the tree is magnificent. “It’s beautiful to look at—it has blue leaves and diamonds hanging everywhere. Diamonds like oranges.” The imagery combines with the metaphor that Perry wants to reach the diamonds, but is unable to because of something stopping him. In the passage, Perry also talks about another dream about a bird saving him from being beaten. “A warrior-angel who blinded the nuns with its beak, fed upon their eyes, slaughtered them as they ‘pleaded for mercy…’” This gruesome diction shows how what Perry was thinking on the inside. It reveals the crazy part of him. The psychopathic part.
Dick was 33 years old and he did not have the best character. Dick was one who
He used imagery in many different ways the one that was the easiest to catch on to was tactile imagery. Capote uses this as he describes each man to convey an image how he sees and wants his reader to see the men. In In Cold Blood, Capote wanted to make Richard Hickock look as though he was a monster and a bully. Some of this imagery was given indirectly like Richard’s father describes him as, “An outstanding athlete-always on the first team at school. Basketball! Baseball! Football! Dick was always the star player.”(Capote, Pg. 250) This puts the picture of a star athlete and he hopes the reader has a perspective of how athlete are always bullying for the smaller kids and being all around jerks. Another description of Richard given by his father who said, “Concussed his head in a car smash-up.”(Capote, pg.251) This contributed the earlier statements about how Richard was messed up in the head and gave the reader an image of him with a dented head or a lopsided nose. Capote also uses imagery to describe Perry, but in contrast to Richard he makes Perry look as a kinder and a much more approachable man who doesn’t really mean harm to anyone. He did this by saying that Perry was a small man, but very muscular in his upper arms and chest. His feet and legs, however, are small and delicate. Trying to push that Perry really was an approachable
Most people believe that everyone gets what they deserve. That all bad actions deserve consequences. To many, that is what the so-called “justice” system is for. Criminals are supposed to be punished by the law, but is it always fair to the criminals? What if one of those criminals had an awful life growing up and just was unable to stay out of trouble? It is just this question that Truman Capote addresses in his book, In Cold Blood. Throughout the book, Capote creates sympathy for Perry Smith while claiming the justice system is flawed in the way it punishes the wrong people.
and at one point, had a gun pointed to his head. Also there appears to be
Madness, madness, madness. It is but a word, yet those who possess it are capable of doing the most amazing or terrible of things. According to the Merriam-Webster's online dictionary, madness is defined as “a state of severe mental illness.” Perry Edward Smith is the best individual that depicts this characteristic. Throughout Truman Capote's novel “In Cold Blood” the main character, Perry Smith, as Dr. Jones says “... shows definite signs of severe mental illness” (Capote 296). There is no coincidence in the definition and Dr. Jones' description because the truth is that Perry is utterly, and unconsciously mad. Perry, in his madness, commits acts so inhumane that chill as well as perplex the reader. However, it is essential to understand what Perry's madness was and how his previous experiences can possibly justify his actions.
The main purpose of In Cold Blood by Truman Capote is to offer insight into the minds of the murderers of the Clutter family, Dick and Perry. However, asking an audience to be open-minded about men who have committed such heinous crimes is no easy task. Capote instead methodically and rather artfully combines imagery, parallel structure, and perspective in two separate passages found between pages 107-113 to contribute to his characterization of Perry and Dick where the former is deserving of sympathy and the latter, disgust.
The whole “robbery” was planned by Dick, the drive was planned by Dick, and even the cover up process was his idea. Although he wasn’t the one who pulled the trigger, Dick is equally responsible for the Clutter family murder as Perry. It would take a horrible person to murder a family, but it takes a vial beast to plan, examine, organize, and operate the murder. Dick grew up with loving parents who were no poorer than any other family in the neighborhood. According to both him and his parents, he was a good kid who did well in school and lettered in nine sports. Similar to Perry, he feels cheated in life and is willing to do anything he must to get what he deserves. Along with this, he has zero insight on how to life a normal life. Dick is the type of person to act on his impulses. He 's likes to have a good time and live in the moment. His aspirations are easy money and easy women. With this, he seems to have no ability to weigh the consequences of his actions, and he will do whatever it takes to get his way. This type of momentary reaction is prone to lead a life of “poor decision.” If he’s in need of money, he will write a few bad checks or maybe steal from a store. If this jig wasn’t plentiful enough, he hitches a ride with a stranger to basically rob and kill everyone in the car. Dick was known for being a terrible person as one man stated, “Dick Hickock! Don 't talk to me about
Truman Capote put-to-words a captivating tale of two monsters who committed four murders in cold blood. However, despite their atrocities, Capote still managed to sway his readers into a mood of compassion. Although, his tone may have transformed several times throughout the book, his overall purpose never altered.
Even though Capote’s book is a master piece of non-fiction novel, his behaviors during his research to write the book are not ethical. He has crossed the line by lying others, pretending to be someone’s friend, and doing some inhuman behavior while Perry waits on death row in order to get a personal testimony of the night of the killings.
In Cold Blood, a nonfiction novel by Truman Capote, follows the 1959 case of the Clutter family homicide. The Clutters are introduced as, what seems to be, the perfect American family in a close knit town that were believed to be the least likely of families to be murdered. As the case proceeds with the findings of the Clutters’ corpses, Dick and Perry, the murderers, soon flee to Mexico. There aren’t any leads for the case until Floyd Wells tells the police of Dick, who told Floyd that he would murder the family with Perry while Floyd and Dick shared a cell. By the time Floyd tells the police, Dick and Perry have returned back to the States and are quickly caught by the police when they
Capote's structure in In Cold Blood is a subject that deserves discussion. The book is told from two alternating perspectives, that of the Clutter family who are the victims, and that of the two murderers, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. The different perspectives allow the reader to relive both sides of the story; Capote presents them without bias. Capote masterfully utilizes the third person omniscient point of view to express the two perspectives. The non-chronological sequencing of some events emphasizes key scenes.
In 1966, Truman Capote published the novel In Cold Blood that pierced the boundaries of literary genres, as he narrated the events of the 1959 Clutter family massacre in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas and the quest that took place afterwards through the perspectives both the murderers and those looking for them. As Capote bends these genre normalities, he ventures with the killers and the detectives and describes the murderers’ lives in-depth to further characterize Dick Hickock and Perry Smith--their psychological states and the possible contributing factors to their undeniable personality disorders. The two killers are ultimately diagnosed by a mental health professional with mental illnesses rather than chronic personality disorders,
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote features Perry Smith. A tragic character who was recently released from prison after murdering an African-American. Aside from having a troubled pass, Perry has a very troubled and conflicted present. In this passage on page 21, Perry is described as a stocky man with scars that riddled his legs. A tattoo of a snake hugging a dagger adorns his chest and a tiger lay on his bicep.
In the book in Cold Blood Dick Hickock is a good example of the nature debate presented in Capote's novel. Mr Hickock was one who was brought up in a good family, with parents who loved and cared him. It is mentioned a couple several times that he was talented and gifted in sports and his parents loved him very much. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with his childhood, but he grows up to be an cold-hearted killer and criminal. After Dick Hickock was told he wouldn’t be able to attend college his whole world flipped upside down. Mr. Hickock said when he was talking to agent Nye says, “I guess Dick resented it, not getting to go to college” (166). In the story clearly states Dick wanted to go to college so badly, that when he didn’t
Some people house two distinctly opposing personalities, one moral and upstanding, and the other evil and heartless. Most of the time, one personality prevails over the other. Perry from In Cold Blood exemplifies someone who houses both of these personalities. When Perry talks to Dick about the murder of the Clutter family, he says “there’s got to be something wrong with somebody who’d do a thing like that” (Capote 108). Perry clearly feels strongly repulsed by the murder, as any person would. His morally upstanding personality comes out when he really thinks about what he had done but, still eludes his mind. Although his moral personality has shown slightly, his heartless personality is more prevalent because, in the end, he still committed