ICB Part 2: Loving

In In Cold Blood we have many themes revolving around the concept of love and with the Dick and Perry we get a look into their lives through their loves and how they differ in them. Dick, unlike Perry, seems to have had love and then lost a need for it. He was in love with people, like his family, “There were those Dick claimed to love: three sons, a mother, a father, a brother—persons he hadn’t dared confide his plans to, or bid goodbye, though he never expected to see them again—not in this life” (106). Dick used to love his family before but, something must have changed since now he could care less if he saw them again. They are worthless to him and he leaves them with no notice making them worry and fear for what happened to him. This cold-hearted side of Dick gives him an eerie, even disturbing, appearance, more so than the picture we get of Perry. With Perry we see a different love, not one of people but one that still continues. Perry shows this love through an object, “It was a tight fit for the passengers: Dick, who was driving, and Perry, who sat clutching the old Gibson guitar, his most beloved possession” (106). Perry represents love that is not mere people but an object, his distrust of people probably led him to have to adore a guitar. Even though it is a nice guitar it does not seem worth it to shove away others, like his sister, to treasure most in his life. Although this love is of an item, it does give Perry a more sensitive side than Dick because he loves it and does not let it go, for he is “clutching” it, but Dick lets go of his family willingly.