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Crime and punishment, excerpt
Crime and punishment, excerpt
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Portrayed as Evil was He
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.
Perry was born on October 27th, 1928 to two rodeo performers who would later separate when he was still a child. Perry would be raised by his mother who would battle with an addiction with alcohol his entire childhood. Before Perry could reach the age of adulthood his mother would die leaving him in the hands of a Catholic Orphanage. Where Perry was constantly abused both physical and emotional for wetting his bed, while would become a lifelong problem. In his teens Perry would go to live with his itinerant father. Within these years two of Perry’s sibling would end up killing themselves while his only living sibling would cut off all contact with Perry.
In World War II Perry would serve with the U.S. Merchant Marines, while serving he would visit other continents such as Asia. Perry would many skill that he would later use in his life. Not only had Perry served his country in World War II he was also a decorated Korean War veteran.
Perry had an unyi...
... middle of paper ...
...anger problems and was lead astray.
Works Cited
Blanco, Juan I. "Perry Edward Smith | Murderpedia, the Encyclopedia of Murderers."Perry Edward
Smith | Murderpedia, the Encyclopedia of Murderers. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2014.
Hoffer, Steven. "Richard Hickock, Perry Smith, 'In Cold Blood' Killers, Exhumed From Mount
Muncie Cemetery." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 18 Dec. 2012. Web. 09 Mar.
2014.
"Kansas Memory." Perry Edward Smith Inmate Case File -. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2014.
Reporter, Daily Mail. "Police Exhume Bodies of Killers from Truman Capote's In Cold Blood to
Collect DNA Evidence in Connection to 1959 Quadruple Murder of Florida Family." Mail Online.
Associated Newspapers, 19 Dec. 2012. Web. 09 Mar. 2014.
"Salon." Salon.com RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2014.
Capote, Truman. "Part 2,." In Cold Blood. N.p.: Random House, 1965. 244. Print.
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.
Perry Smith did not live the happy childhood that he deserved, abandoned by his family at a young age he was forced to live at a terrible orphanage. “The one where Black Widows were always at me. Hitting me. Because of wetting the bed...They hated me, too.” (Capote 132). In this specific orphanage, Perry was beaten by the nuns that own the place. The short sentences within this quote truly emphasize the dramatic and horrible conditions that Perry had to live with in the orphanage. Sympathy is created ...
Richard Mulcaster, a British instructor of English, once wrote, “Nature makes the boy toward, nurture sees him forward.” Mulcaster recognizes that both genetic and environmental factors determine the type of a person one becomes. Truman Capote’s nonfiction novel, In Cold Blood gives the reader an opportunity to see prime examples of how nature and nurture influence one’s character. Capote’s novel, In Cold Blood introduces the reader to two men; Richard Eugene Hickock known as Dick throughout the novel, and Perry Edward Smith whose lives of crime are almost identical; although both Perry and Richard come from very humble backgrounds, their childhood particularly their family life, has very little in common. It is not until later in their lives that we begin to see similarities between the two men. Despite their differences, Perry’s upbringing and Dick’s genetic disposition allow both men to share a disregard for life, which becomes apparent on the night they gruesomely burglarized and murdered four innocent members of the Clutter family.
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...
Truman Capote finds different ways to humanize the killers throughout his novel In Cold Blood. He begins this novel by explaining the town of Holcomb and the Clutter family. He makes them an honest, loving, wholesome family that play a central role in the town. They play a prominent role in everyone’s lives to create better well-being and opportunity. Capote ends his beginning explanation of the plot by saying, “The suffering. The horror. They were dead. A whole family. Gentle, kindly people, people I knew --- murdered. You had to believe it, because it was really true” (Capote 66). Despite their kindness to the town, someone had the mental drive to murder them. Only a monster could do such a thing --- a mindless beast. However,
Being defined by nature or nurture. Isn't enough to make finally decisions about one person. But for some it just might be. Perry Smith had an abusive past. It seems to still haunt him when he looks back on it. But that justify his crimes in anyway. Perry seems to have handles himself very well about the past ,but that isn't enough. Perry Smith on the night of November 15, 1959 was at a point where he made a choice that would affect him for the rest of his life. Perry deep down believes Mr. Clutter is a nice gentlemen and even says so. Yet his actions were done out of the natural nature to him. He then ends up cutting his throat, followed by shooting the rest of his family brutally. In this case, it clearly shows Perry smith as someone who takes up in the naturally
The film Capote, based on the how the writer of “In Cold Blood” did his research to write his book, a masterpiece of literature, has portrayed Capote’s behavior during his research vividly. Capote’s behavior during the years Perry waits on death row in order to get personal testimony of the night of killings is a controversial topic. Some argue that what Capote did was absolutely necessary for an ambitious writer to create such a master piece while other argue that human ethics is more important than the creation of an ideal “non-fiction noble” and the paths he took to get there are morally ambiguous. Even though he gave the world a milestone in literature, his behaviors seem unethical because he lied, pretended to be a friend of an accused murderer who was in a death row, and did not have any empathy to him.
To establish the idea of an impressionable Perry, Capote needs an example of Perry conforming to Dick’s values. This opportunity arises when Dick questions the validity of Perry’s past killing. Perry has described that he had, “picked up this bike chain… hit him across the face… kept right on… left him there” (Capote 112). Vulnerability is exemplified by Perry’s anecdote, because he, “was not a gifted liar, or a prolific one” heavily implying that Perry has not killed before the recent murders (Capote 112). Capote’s inclusion of this fallacious anecdote reveals the truth about Perry’s moral obligations, namely that he has none. Perry simply grasps the moral values which appear closest at hand and clings on to them for dear life. In this case Perry’s true morals are synthesized into Dick’s, proving how evil can infest mentally defenseless people.
In Truman Capote’s non-fiction novel In Cold Blood, the Clutter family’s murderers, Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, are exposed like never before. The novel allows the reader to experience an intimate understanding of the murderer’s pasts, thoughts, and feelings. It goes into great detail of Smith and Hickock’s pasts which helps to explain the path of life they were walking leading up to the murder’s, as well as the thought’s that were running through their minds after the killings.
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.
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.
In the book In Cold Blood by Truman Capote he writes about the Clutter family, how they were brutally murdered and the jury process of the criminals. The parents Herb and Bonnie and teens Kenyon and Nancy, are a happy, prosperous, church-going family living on their farm in Holcomb, Kansas. The narrator follows the Clutters through the ordinary events of their last day on earth. Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, the killers, slaughter them late that night after not finding a same that was filled with money. Perry and Dick flee after the murders and make it to Mexico. Kansas authority Alvin Dewey and his four special agents lead the manhunt for the killer or killers. They 're eventually led to Perry and Dick by Floyd Wells, an inmate serving time
When one kid pushes another kid, the immediate response is to tell the kid to apologize. Although the child may apologize, he is not actually sorry for his actions. This may seem childish, but there may be some legitimacy behind the fake apology. Too often, when people err, they do not understand what they did, why their action was wrong, or why it is okay for others to repeat a similar action. In the same way, in Truman Capote’s nonfiction novel, In Cold Blood, when Perry Smith murders four members of the Clutter family, he has little to no remorse. It becomes evident to the reader that Perry Smith is truly a “cold-blooded killer”.
In 1965, Truman Capote created the infamous tale known as “In Cold Blood”. The book created the illusion of fantasy while based on reality. Many people were floored at the brilliance Capote demonstrated within the pages. The book took the literary concept of a novel with the literary elements of designed scenes, characters, a story formed with an introduction, rising action, climax and resolution to the real events surrounding the murder of the Clutter family.
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote features Perry Smith. A tragic character who was recently released from prison after murdering an African-American. Aside from having a troubled pass, Perry has a very troubled and conflicted present. In this passage on page 21, Perry is described as a stocky man with scars that riddled his legs. A tattoo of a snake hugging a dagger adorns his chest and a tiger lay on his bicep.