Holcomb's Murders In The Book 'In Cold Blood'

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Recommended: Impact of mass media coverage in a society

Jill Mountford
Ms. Taylor
H. English III
September 1, 2017
Part 2: Examine the immediate effects of the murder on both the town of Holcomb and the murderers. What psychological trauma is experienced and how has it shaped the outcome of this section of the story? In the true crime book "In Cold Blood" the murder committed by Perry and Dick has immediate effects on the Clutter's town of Holcomb and on the murderers themselves. In such as peaceful town as Holcomb, no townsperson could have even a imagine a small crime taking place not to mention a gruesome murder of an entire family. Citizens of Holcomb were shocked and stricken with panic. Schools closed the next day, so kid could attend the funeral. Gossip circulated the town, rumors of a hired killer. This murder was a turning point for the town of Holcomb, this crime threatened the towns record of a peaceful …show more content…

Perry and Dick are both conscious of what they have just done to this family and the town. However, these killers coped in different ways, displayed in their eating habits following the murder. "Dick ordered another hamburger. During the past few days he'd known a hunger that nothing—three successive steaks, a dozen Hershey bars, a pound of gumdrops—seemed to interrupt. Perry, on the other hand, was without appetite; he subsisted on root beer, aspirin, and cigarettes. 'No wonder you got leaps,' Dick told him. 'Aw, come on, baby. Get the bubbles out of your blood. We scored. It was perfect," (224). Dick seems to be mellow about the situation and not effected however he is. Dick is exhibiting his insecure nature by continually reassuring Perry that nothing had strayed from the perfection of his plan, while stuffing his face with food. Perry on the other hand is nervous, and as he reads about the killing in the paper his anxiety shoots up. Perry's eating habits also show his inability to eat as an effect of his

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