Insanity In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

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Truman Capote presents the world with the complex character of Perry Smith in his book, In Cold Blood. As the book reaches its close the reader is presented with the question concerning the validity of Perry’s sentence: was the court right in sentencing Perry smith to death even though he has the characteristics of a mentally insane person? Although this question starts out somewhat simple it branches out, creating new questions that must be answered in order to correctly determine the validity of Perry’s punishment. In order to answer the question concerning Perry’s punishment, one must first answer questions concerning the meaning of insanity when it comes to criminals, along with what were, if present, characteristics of Perry Smith that …show more content…

Throughout the book Capote provides evidence to support the claims made by those who evaluated Perry’s psychological health given by Dr. Jones and Dr. Satten. Capote makes the point to point out the fact that it appears “that by independent paths, both the professional and the amateur analyst reached conclusions not dissimilar” (302). Capote provides another evaluation by Dr. Satten concerning Perry’s mental stability: “when Smith attacked Mr. Clutter he was under a mental eclipse; deep inside a schizophrenic darkness, for it was not entirely a flesh-and-blood man he "suddenly discovered" himself destroying, but "a key figure in some past traumatic configuration’”(302). Dr. Satten puts a name to the symptoms and characteristics discovered by Dr. Jones, stating that Perry has the markings of a paranoid schizophrenic person. This disorder is given traction in Perry’s confession when he said “I didn't want to harm the man. I thought he was a very nice gentleman. Soft-spoken. I thought so right up to the moment I cut his throat" (302). This point is further confirmed in Perry’s conversation with Donald Cullivan when Perry said “they [the Clutters] never hurt me. Like other people. Like people have all my life. Maybe it's just that the Clutters were the ones who had to pay for it" (302). With all of that being said one can efficiently begin to form an understanding of whether the court ruling was

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