Descriptions of Perry and Dick

In "In Cold Blood" Truman Capote switches from talking about the Clutter family to talking about Dick and Perry. He does this by first describing the Clutter family first and then the next chapter he would switch to Dick and Perry. However, the way that Dick is described is different then the way Perry is. Truman describes Dick as " very literal-minded, he had no understanding of music, poetry"(Capote 16). In this quote Truman is describing Dick as being "literal minded" which means that he is not sophisticated and does not understand the deeper meaning of things. Also since he had no understanding of poetry and music, it also says he does not read much, or listens to classical music. The second way Truman differentiates the two close friends is by describing their tattoos. Dick has many tattoos such as a cat, a skull, a gremlin, a dragon, a flower and another flower. These tattoos were scattered around Dick's body, however, Perry's tattoos are " not the self-inflicted work of an amateur but epics of the art" (31). This quote describes Perry's tattoos as being more complicated, and actually done carefully by a professional, not like Dick's amateur works. This again shows that Capote describes Perry as much more complicated and sophisticated then Dick.