The Trial

Even during the trial, Capote makes the reader pity Perry. By describing the attire of the court, particularly Dick and Perry, he is able to show the misfortune of Perry. Capote contrasts the attire of the court, "All four of the lawyers sportednoe suits...Hickock too, was sharply dressed in clothes provided by his parents...ONly Perry Smith, who owned neither jacket nor tie, seemed sartorially misplaced. Wearing an Open-necked shirt...and blue jeans rolled up at the cuffs, he looked as lonely and inappropriate as a seagull in a wheat field," (272). This epitomizes the misfortune of Perry, showing he has nobody to turn to, even for clothes. It also describes the isolation that Perry felt while being held in the woman's prison. Capote uses another history, this time autobiographical, to describe Perry's troubled past, but in comparing it to Dick's autobiograpy we can see the favoring of Perry again. He compares the two saying, "Hickock did not write with his companion's intensity. He often stopped to listen to the questioning of a prospective juror, or to stare at the faces around him," (276-277). This suggests, as as revealed later, that his past is not as troubled or worth writing about. The size of the two histories are both quite length, but Perry's has a full page more than Dick's. Once again, he makes the reader pity Perry for his misfortune and troubled past.