In Cold Blood Research Paper

882 Words2 Pages

When a person acts intentionally with willfulness, deliberation, or planning, they are charged with first-degree murder, which, in most states, leads to a death sentence on Death Row. In Cold Blood, Truman Capote reconstructs the case of Richard “Dick” Hickock and Perry Smith, what led to them being captured, put on trial and executed, as they murdered the Clutter Family. Mr. Clutter, Mrs. Clutter, Nancy Clutter and Kenyon Clutter are in a town named Holcomb, and the murder had a toll on the town people. Ultimately, the authorities justly penalized Dick for the crime, but on the other hand, they unjustly charged Perry with first-degree charges instead of second-degree murder. This might have been because the justice system wasn’t fair, as revenge …show more content…

Clutter having a safe and him being considered rich. Floyd Wells was a previous cell mate of Dick while in prison, eventually as they talked, Floyd told Dick about Mr. Clutter and the wealth and descriptions of Mr. Clutter, Floyd recalls that “Next thing I knew, Dick was talking about killing Mr. Clutter. Said him and Perry was gonna go out there and rob the place, and they were gonna kill all witnesses — the Clutters, and anybody else that happened to be around. I’d hardly believe it. just like how Dick said it would happen” (Capote,162). Captoe uses the tone of shock of “How Dick said it would happen” as it shows how it was an actual surprise that how Dick described what he would have done to the Clutters of going to the house, robbing them, and then tying them up and This highlights how the murderer intentionally carried out the act of going to the Clutters’ house, robbing them, tying them up, and shooting them to death. Dr. Jones, a physician, had studied Dick for the trial as it was state ordered, and he had been brought to trial to testify about his conclusions about Dick. But he wasn’t allowed to elaborate much about his findings by the attorney, if he had been allowed to, Captoe states that he would have claimed, “Hickock does show signs of emotional abnormality.He knew what he was doing and still went ahead with it. He is a …show more content…

While getting interrogated, Perry describes when doing the robbing, Perry’s job was to tie the family members so that Dick was able to go look around, then it came to Mr. Clutter, Perry wanted them alive but then remembered the bitterness between him and Dick as he knelt down beside Mr. Clutter and stated “I thought of the goddam dollar. The shame of the sham. Disgust. I am a snob. And they’d told me never to come back to Kansas. But I didn’t realize what I’d done until I heard the sound. Like somebody drowning in the water. Screaming under water.” (Capote, 244) Capote uses the auditory imagery of “Like somebody drowning. Screaming under water” to make the visualization of the sounds that were heard as Mr. Clutter’s throat was being cut by the knife Perry was holding. This conveys how Perry was barley conscious as to killing Mr. Clutter, it was much unintentional, but his own thoughts of self loath and shame of doing these malicious actions had taken over and then couldn’t go back. Also when Dr. Jones studied Perry and was asked to testify his research; he didn’t have an opinion on whether or not Perry knew his rights from wrongs in the involvement of the crime, Dr. Satten looked into Perry and Capote claimed that

More about In Cold Blood Research Paper

Open Document