In Cold Blood by Truman Capote takes a brave deviation from the mainstream of murder or crime novels in that the author frequently takes the perspective of the perpetrators of the crime in question. Dick Hickock and Perry Smith were two particularly perverse individuals who were hung for the murder of the Clutter family. Capote gives a well researched account of the murder and events following November 14th, 1959 in such depth that the reader may even begin to sympathize with the duo. Capote portrays the murderers through a journalistic and mostly impartial description that enhances the reader's understanding of the two by going into trivial details. Dick and Perry are two individuals from conflicting origins and attitudes. Hickcock lives
Capote introduces Dick and Perry after they had passed into Mexico from Dicks perspective. A description is given of Dicks relative enjoyment of Mexico and its food while he snacks on a tortilla. However, Perry cannot overcome images of the Clutter family in their final moments and was questioning his own mental state. To Dick’s dismay, Perry makes an admission of his outlook on the two of them: "I think there must be something wrong with us" (106). Dick is annoyed by Perry’s statement, mostly because he is uninterested in dwelling on what they had done to the Clutters, but also because Dick thought much higher of himself than he did of Perry, after reviewing what he had known of Perry and his peculiarities, Dick remarks, “Deal me out, baby, i'm a
Perry thinks in a self deprecating way, he reflects upon his childhood, his siblings, and the Clutters. Perry cannot shake an unrelenting guilt and is driven to the conclusion that in order for two men to commit an act as grisly as theirs, they must have had some form of mental instability. Dick becomes incredibly irritable at the mention of what him and Perry had done and demonstrates a lack of concern for what it takes for two men to butcher a family of four they had never known. Though Capote seldom breaks an impartial journalists perspective in the novel, within this passage Capote seems to intentionally frame Dick and Perry in negative and positive lights. Dick’s syntax always contrasts to Perry’s, but within this passage he is even more aggressive and dismissive than he usually is. In one such instance, Dick challenges Perry’s story of how he bludgeoned King to death with a bike chain, asking Perry whether or not he actually had murdered the former roommate of his. Dick does this to get Perry of the topic and then proceeds to bluntly tell him to “just shut up!”. Capote deepens the negative view his the reader has towards Dick by ending the passage with him running down a stray mangy dog with his car simply for the joy in doing
Capote tells the story in a way that makes you feel you are being told about the characters by a close acquaintance of each individual character. When you aren't hearing the voices of the characters as they tell their own stories, we hear, not the voice of an author, but the voice of a friend who knew the characters well. (Before saying her prayers, she always recorded in a diary a few occurrences... Perry didn't care what he drank... etc.)
He tries to show his readers that Perry was a killer brought about by his environment and upbringing. Whether that justifies Perry’s action or if the justice system should have lessened his sentence is what Capote leaves to the reader. Dick who was born with his need to kill, was a complete sociopath by nature. Using interviews from Dewey specifically brings about a perspective which is purely objective, and his use of complex and literal diction makes for a more emotionally detached novel. The short and concise syntax makes it seem as though Capote is confused and unable to make his own decision on Perry. All of these various things bring about the novel which is In Cold
During his childhood, Perry experienced and was marked by brutality and lack of concern on the part of both parents (Capote 296). Dr. Jones gives a very detailed description of Perry's behavior. He says that Perry, who grew up without love, direction, or m...
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.
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.
Though both of these killers seemingly have a lack of remorse, Smith ultimately apologizes for his actions in his final statements, and shows a pattern of remorse throughout the novel. Smith displays this remorse for the murders, saying that “it would be meaningless to apologize… even inappropriate” but he does. Hickock, however, makes it very definite that he does not regret his actions and even sees himself as innocent. To illustrate his innocence, Hickock comments on capital punishment, claiming he is “not against it” and that “revenge is all it is,” so long that he “is not the one being hanged.” Conveying the differences between the two men, Capote intentionally includes the disturbing final words of both of the murderers. Hickock claims, as he stands inches away from the rope that would hang him in minutes, that he does not “have any hard feelings…” and that the hangers are “sending [him] to a better place.” Despite this being the true final statement, Capote alters the words a bit, alleging that Hickock said the hangers are “sending him to a better place than this ever was,” and concluding his words with “nice to see you,” with “you” referring to the people who had condemned him to death in the first place. Capote has purposefully altered this
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
Capote’s structure throughout the entire book created an excellent backbone to tell the two alternating perspectives of the book that is of the victims; the clutter family and the murders; Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. This allowed Capote to not have a bias towards the accounts being told. The pattern of victims then the murderers causes an attractive puzzle where the reader collects an amount of information leading to the climax of the actual slaughter. He actually contin...
Although Perry lives a complicated life and it’s hard to explain the way he thinks, Truman Capote utilizes rhetorical devices such as imagery and metaphors to make clear his past life, thus relaying what drives him to make the choices he makes.
Dick had a good life going, he just didn't feel like it went the way he wanted it too. He was popular, smart, an athlete just wasn't enough for him. On the other hand, Perry had a bad life. He was between foster homes, and even had his siblings and father commit suicide while his mother drank herself away. Putting all that together i learned that, Nurture plays the biggest role in life. It has the ability to determine weather you turn a good life into and complete wreak such as Dick Hickock had. In a way it also applies to Perry considering his life was a wreck all the way
In the book “In Cold Blood” we meet Perry Edward Smith one of the men accused of killing the Clutter family. Perry is a unique man for how he see the world and how the world sees him. Although the townspeople and those who had heard of the murder only saw Parry as a murder. There is however one man who sees Perry more than he appeared to be and that man was Truman Capote. Perry had an interesting life from how he was raised, becoming friends with Richard Eugene Hickock, to the murder of the Clutter family, all the way to Capote writing about him and the trail he and Dick must face. It was Capote who brought the idea that Perry was not a bad person persa but rather he made a mistake that has caused him to spend the rest of his life behind the bars of a jail.
Unable to conform to society’s norms, Richard Eugene Hickcok is raised by his parents who are modest farmers. In spite of his family’s hardship Dick’s childhood is pretty typical, he is popular throughout high school, plays sports, and he dreams of going to college. Due to his family’s lack of resources, Dick is unable to fulfill his dream of attending college. In spite of Dick’s unfortunate drawbacks Dick lives an average life, he marries has three children, and becomes a mechanic. Dick lives a typical American life, but soon after his third child is born Dick has an extramarital affair which ends his marriage. Shortly after his divorce from his first wife Dick remarries, but his second marriage ...
...ionship with Smith during his time on Death Row, making his unbiased writing biased. By the time Smith and Hickock are hanged Smith is portrayed in the role of misunderstood good guy in the good-guy/bad-guy literary device. Capote was not apposed the death penalty, he used the double handing as the dramatic ending to In Cold Blood. Thought out the third section of In Cold Blood whenever Hickock is contemplating or in gagging in a sexual act Smith reacts in an angry or jealous way. Capote repeatedly interprets Smith’s actions towards Hickock as showing his morality, where Hickock is voiced has having none. Capote voices that Smith prevents the rape of Nancy Clutter on Moral grounds. Capote shows this again in the scene in which Hickock has a prosttsuite in the room during their time in Mexico.
Perry Smith was a short man with a large torso. At first glance, “he seemed a more normal-sized man, a powerful man, with the shoulders, the arms, the thick, crouching torso of a weight lifter. [However] when he stood up he was no taller than a twelve-year old child” (15). What Smith lacked in stature, he made up in knowledge. Perry was “a dictionary buff, a devotee of obscure words” (22). As an adolescent, he craved literature and loved to gain insight of the imaginary worlds he escaped into, for Perry’s reality was nothing less than a living nightmare. “His mother [was] an alcoholic [and] had strangled to death on her own vomit” (110). Smith had two sisters and an older brother. His sister Fern had committed suicide by jumping out of a window and his brother Jimmy followed Fern’s suit and committed suicide the day after his wife had killed herself. Perry’s sister, Barbara, was the only normal one and had made a good life for herself. These traumatic events left Perry mentally unstable and ultimately landed him in jail, where he came into acquaintance with Dick Hickock, who was in jail for passing bad checks. Dick and Perry became friends and this new friendship changed the course of their lives forever. Hickock immediately made note of Perry’s odd personality and stated that there was “something wrong with Little Perry. Perry could be such a kid, always wetting his bed and crying in his sleep. And often [Dick] had seen him sit for hours just sucking his thumb. In some ways old Perry was spooky as hell. Take, for instance, that temper of his of his. He could slide into a fury quicker than ten drunk Indians. And yet you wouldn’t know it. He might be ready to kill you, but you’d never know it, not to look at it or listen to it” (108). Perry’s short fuse and dysfunctional background were the two pieces to Perry’s corrupt life puzzle that soured and tainted the final “picture”.
In the nonfiction novel, “In Cold Blood” by Truman Capote, the author tells a story of the murderers and victims of a slaughter case in Holcomb, Kansas. Instead of writing a book on the murder case as a crime report, the author decides to write about the people. The people we learn about are the killers, Dick and Perry, and the murdered family, the Clutters. The author describes how each family was and makes the portrayals of Dick and Perry’s family different from the Clutters.The portrayal of the Clutters and of Dick and Perry’s families, was used to describe what the American Dream was for each character. In the beginning we learn about what type of family the Clutters were and how they represented the American Dream for the people of Holcomb.