Gender Roles In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

Although In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, the book appears to be mainly concerned with the murder of the Clutter family, one of the hidden themes of the book is gender and how Dick and Perry correspond to the gender roles. The book also puts forward a rather interesting question regarding masculinity, is masculinity a legitimate scale to judge a person or is it just another absurd social standard which is created to categorize people?
In Dick’s case, the reader can safely assume that he plays the “man” role in the relationship with Perry. Dick is considered the traditional masculine figure, “Dick was very literal-minded, very—he had no understanding of music, poetry,” (p.18). Dick represents the famous American macho figure with “his literalness” and “ his pragmatic approach to every subject” . He does not need to know music or poetry but he possesses the masculine and benevolent essence that makes people respect and even trust him completely. That is the reason why Perry is greatly

Perry is often referred by Dick as “baby”, “honey” and “sweetheart.” This signifies that not only the reader can obviously division of gender role in their relationship but even the men themselves can see it. Dick is the “husband” and Perry is the “nagging wife.” And like any relationship, Dick soon became tired of Perry, “Dick was sick of him—his harmonica, his aches and ills, his superstitions, the weepy, womanly eyes, the nagging, whispering voice. Suspicious, self-righteous, spiteful, he was like a wife that must be got rid of.”(p.247). But unlike Dick, Perry has a great obsession with masculinity. His whole life, Perry is always trying to look for masculinity. Being greatly influenced by his father, a self-proclaimed “jack of all trades,”(p148), Perry sees himself inferior to a man with his malfunctioned legs and his problematic sleeping