Thursday, October 29, 2009

Perry Over Dick; A Clear Author's Choice

In the movie, “capote”, it is clear that Truman favor Perry over Dick. There were faint signs of why he chose to pay close attention to Perry, but in In Cold Blood, the reasons for his choice are described clearly in Capote’s writing. Capote believes that there is more than just an absent minded killer in Perry. In contrast, Truman Capote convinces the readers that Dick’s actions are closely linked with his name. Capote shows wants the readers to comprehend that Dick is actions have know thought behind them, and he kills for pleasure. Capote wants readers to draw the conclusion that Perry has rich layers of feelings, thoughts, and emotions, not just blood thirsty. To represent Perry’s complexity, Capote writes, “Nevertheless, if he had not missed Willie-Jay, if they could have been together for even an hour, Perry was quite convinced- just ‘knew’- that he would not be loitering outside a hospital waiting for Dick to emerge with a pair of black stockings” (46). Capote shows that Perry in fact doesn’t want to kill, however is lost, in need of a friend; lonely. This represents a thoughtful man, instead of a sloppy pig, who doesn’t want to even wear black stockings over his head when killing, shown in Dick. Capote want the readers to realize that Perry doesn’t really want to go on with this murdering plan, but is so lost that he will do anything out of sadness. Capote uses the words, “black stockings”; this suggests that Perry covers up his sadness in the stockings with killing, in black. Furthermore, how Capote describes both Perry and Dick’s tattoos show the readers the complexity of Perry. While Dick has a random, and sloppy assortment of tattoos, Capote writes about Perry’s, “While he had fewer tattoos than his companion, they were more elaborate-not the self-inflicted work of an amateur but epics of art contrived by Honolulu and Yokohama masters” (31). This express’s that Dick is very elementary when it comes to thought; he doesn’t think why he is killing, or putting “dragon with a human skull” tattoos, but just likes to do it for the sake of doing it. Capote once again describes to the readers that Perry is thoughtful of every action, whether good or bad he does.

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