In In Cold Blood part three, Capote gives us a hint of what is going to happen next by using Nancy Clutter because she somehow knows that things are going to end badly. while Dick and Perry are in the Clutter house about to discover the upstairs, Nancy hides her gold watch in her boot for two reasons, she doesn't want the robbers to find it and she knows that there is a possibility that she might die. When Dick and Perry come up the stairs to the second level of the house they find Nancy already dressed like she was ready to start the day. I believe that she got dressed because she new somehow that things weren't going to end easily. Capote uses this action to show what is going to happen next isn't going to be Dick and Perry leaving and the Clutter's going back to sleep. He points this out to specifically warn us that Dick and Perry are not going to leave them how they found them.

In the third section of Truman Capote's non-fiction novel, In Cold Blood, entitled The Answer, once separated and questioned, Dick and Perry almost immediately turn on each other. Each one blames the other for taking the lead in the murders. While both tell similar stories, Dick blames Perry for all four deaths, acting as though he was just sitting on the sidelines. Capote writes of Dick that, "Hickock said, 'Perry Smith killed the Clutters'...'It was Perry. I couldn't stop him He killed them all" (230). Perry says that Dick was the leader, and that he killed the two women. Perry claims he tried to leave before they even went into the house; Dick never mentions this.

The third section of of Truman Capote's non-fiction novel, In Cold Blood, is entitled The Answer. This section is called The Answer because the K.B.I. detectives investigating the Clutter murders find out who killed them. Once Floyd Wells comes forward he provides the final connection and the investigators are able to put everything together. The detectives then learn more about Dick and Perry; where they have been and what kind of people they are. Then the investigators, once Dick and Perry are in captivity, take the last bits of evidence needed to convict them of the Clutter murders along with getting their confessions.

Sympathy

Because of the description Perry offered of the murders, it causes the reader to feel a large amount of sympathy for the Clutters; as they are presented as good people. As Perry describes what happened the night of the murder he keeps mentioning how Mr. Clutter was telling them please don't hurt my wife and she is an invalid. When you read about Perry quoting Mr. Clutter like he was trying to be polite while trying to save his wife makes everything he does makes you feel more sympathy for them. As Perry is telling the story of that night i believe that he feels sympathy for them also because Mr. Clutter was almost acting like he was on Perry and Dick's side when he was telling his wife that they just wanted money and then they would leave her alone.

Everything Has a Flaw

In In Cold Blood Capote proves that the even most perfect things is haunted by a flaw that one can’t, no matter how hard they try, conceal it. For example, it seems as though Perry’s sister lives the perfect life. When describing Mrs. Johnson’s garden, capote states, “the small back garden; her husband-by profession an insurance salesman, by inclination of a carpenter-had built around it a white picket fence…” (180). Capote uses this passage to show the close connection between Mrs. Johnson’s garden, and the Clutters. The Clutter’s had a beautiful garden that can be represented as what the town thought of them. The Clutter’s were presented to the town of Holcomb as perfect, but internally were not as they were described. The town’s view can be represented in the old Clutter’s garden, the “Garden of Eden”, but even what seems to be the most perfect garden that God creates, has a flaw. This flaw is Mr. Clutter’s finger, which represents that he is not in love with the person he marries, but someone else. In Perry’s sisters’ yard; it is quite similar. Capote purposely describes the Johnson’s garden similarly to the Clutter’s to show how picturesque her life seems on the surface. Her husband is even described as a carpenter, like Jesus Christ. They look like the perfect family, but in the Garden of Eden, there is a flaw. Mrs. Johnson’s flaw is her brother Perry. She is haunted by her brother, and like the Clutters, Mrs. Johnson doesn’t want anybody to find out. For example, she states, “What did upset her was the prospect of having guests arrive to find her being questioned by detectives” (181). This proves that she doesn’t want the public to know her imperfections, just like the Clutters. The Clutters hid the truth from the town, and Mrs. Johnson wants to do the same. Unfortunately, the detectives uncover her flaw; Perry.

Dick did not have many friends and he was not very nice to those friends he did have because they are better than he is. The reason that Dick has practically no friends, except for Perry, is because of the horrid way that he treats other people that are essentially, better than him. For example, the book is telling about a time when Dick was a child and the book states, “As a boy (Dick) he’d so envied the son of a neighbor who had gone to the Gulf Coast on holiday returned with a box of shells-so hated him-he’d stolen the shells and one by one crushed them with a hammer.” This is a violent act because Dick was extremely jealous of this boy because he got to go to the Gulf Coast. To show his anger toward him he crushed the one thing that he brought back from the Gulf Coast. Another example is when the book states what Dick’s enemy is, and the book says, “Envy was constantly with him (Dick); the Enemy was anyone who was someone he wanted to be, or who had anything he wanted to have.” This quote shows why he is vicious towards many people because the fact is, a lot of people are what Dick wants to be, or has what he wants to have. And this is why Perry and Dick are friends, because Perry is not better, and Perry does not have anything that Dick wants and this cause a friendship between Perry and Dick.

As the story progresses, the author provides subtle hints, which seem to suggest that Perry is unsure of his sexual identity. Although Perry has dated several girls and nearly married one, his behavior towards Dick seems to imply that he is attracted to Dick in a more than a friendly way. When describing his partner in crime, Perry uses words that suggest a physical attraction such as “Smooth. Smart” (97). Perry repeatedly uses these kinds of words leading the reader to conclude that Perry admires Dick in a physical or sexual way. In addition, Capote encourages the reader to think of Perry in a sexual manner when he continuously references Perry’s feminine, quiet voice and his loopy and neat handwriting. At one point Capote describes the detective’s reaction to Perry’s signature: “The ornateness of it, the mannered swoops and swirls, surprised him” (176). While Perry is a mysterious cold-blooded murderer he also seems to have an artistic, feminine side. This feminine side allows for a connection to be made between Capote and Perry. While both men are manipulative they also both posses a soft and feminine side.

In In Cold Blood, the color blue seems to be a reoccurring symbol connected to violence. It is associated with the murderers tattoos, Dick’s eyes, the sky and articles of clothing. Capote makes two references to the color blue in the scene where Dick and Perry plan to catch a ride and kill the driver. The first reference is when Perry is unfastening his belt, to use it as a weapon: “ He unfastened his belt, a Navajo belt, silver-buckled and studded with turquoise beads; he took it off, flexed it, placed it across his knees” (173). Capote uses the color turquoise, a type of blue, to describe a weapon that will be used in a violent act. About five sentences later, the color blue is referenced again: “Later, along some quiet side road, use would be made of the belt with the sky-blue beads” (173). Again, Capote references the color blue in association with violence. Capote, uses the color blue to foreshadow violence by having it appear in situations where violence is happening or is about to happen.

In the last 15 pages of this third section, Capote once again makes allusions to and uses metaphors from texts and cultures in history. Time and again, Capote makes an allusion to the Egyptian culture. This time it comes when Dick and Perry are taping Mrs. Clutter, and she is wrapped, “like you’d wrap a mummy” (243). This is interesting because only the pharaohs and more important people in the Egyptian culture actually had the honor of being mummified. By using this metaphor, we not only can visualize what they did, but Capote puts an image in our heads that the Clutters are like the Pharaohs of the town of Holcomb and by murdering them, Dick and Perry have done something terrible. Along with Egyptian culture, Capote also takes a page out of Shakespeare’s book in his use of birds, referring to Dick as a crazed woodpecker in order to show how much of a lunatic he is. However, more important is that Capote also uses the motif of unnatural things happening when people are murdered. In both Julius Caesar and Macbeth, we are told that unnatural things occur after a murder, like horses eating each other or the sky begins to rain fire. Capote uses this same idea, but with actual feasible weather patterns. Throughout the book, there has been mention about the oddity of the Indian Summer that Kansas is having. Now that doesn’t seem that strange and there is not much of a mention of weather again until the murders are caught. As they enter the courthouse, the first snows fall of the year, which is sometime in January. As Capote closes the section with this image, it seems like the unnaturalness of the Indian Summer ceases as soon as the world will be put back in order and Dick and Perry punished for murdering the ‘royalty of Holcomb.’

Truman Capote uses the introduction of pressure in order to teach us more about Dick and Perry. A large part of what goes on in the third section is the interrogation of the two murders. The detectives begin by leading Dick to believe that he has only been pulled in for a parole violation. Soon enough Nye says, “I guess you know why we’re here” to which Dick “Hickock’s mouth straightened-his posture, too” (222). All this time Capote has led us to believe that Dick is a ‘man’s man’ and is not scared by much. However, his reaction tells us that Dick does quite poorly under pressure, despite what he claims. It seems that Dick is all talk. We continue to learn about Dick after he has been left alone when he begins to panic. Dick ponders, “Floyd wasn’t half as dangerous as Perry. Perry, if he lost his nerve and let fly, could put them both in The Corner” (228). Throughout the book we have known Dick to blame a lot on Perry, but when he is so paranoid of him and even thinks that he should have killed Perry is proof that he is cracking under pressure. One can also come to the conclusion that his paranoia is actually about himself, but he just doesn’t want to admit it. Dick knows that they are caught, but refuses to accept that fact and proceeds to blame it all on other people. We also learn a lot about Perry, particularly that he is not as weak as we always thought. Perry persistently sticks to his alibi that he and Dick invented despite the detectives poke many holes in it. Even when he is accused of murder, his legs begin to hurt but he doesn’t lock up the same way Dick does. However, as they continue to accuse, silence condemns Perry. Dewey thinks, “an innocent man… would, at any rate, say something. But Smith sat quiet, squeezing his knees” (226). Dewey’s description shows how Perry has started to break down a little bit in disbelief of being caught. However, at this point, he doesn’t seem to break down into paranoia as Dick believes he will or does so himself. From this we can conclude that although Perry allows himself to be taken advantage of, he is strong willed. On the contrary, Dick is revealed to be only a big talker.

In In Cold Blood, Truman Capote writes of Dick’s uncontrollable envy that leads to destruction as a way of making Dick’s anger unjustifiable whereas Perry’s anger comes from a long history of misfortune. When Dick’s parents are talking with Mr. Nye, Dick’s father explains to him the normality of Dick’s childhood. Dick’s father describes his son’s youth as being, “ ‘An outstanding athlete—always on the first team at school….Dick was always the star player. A pretty good student, too, with A marks in several subjects….After he graduated from high school—June, 1949—he wanted to go on to college. Study to be an engineer. But we couldn’t do it. Plain didn’t have the money” (166). As his father recalls, Dick’s only major setback in life is that he could not further his education into a college level, as the price is too high. Even though one would think the near-perfect childhood would give a young boy strong character, Dick proves that this is not the case. Capote describes the major character flaw of Dick as he writes, “Envy was constantly with him; the Enemy was anyone who was someone he wanted to be or who had anything he wanted to have” (200). Capote personifies the concept of envy by giving it a name, “the Enemy” (200). In one particular situation, “the Enemy” is an old childhood neighbor. Capote describes the scene as, “As a boy he’d so envied the son of a neighbor who had gone to the Gulf Coast on holiday and returned with a box full of shells—so hated him—that he’d stolen the shells and one by one crushed them with a hammer” (200). The only reason Dick gets so frustrated with his neighbor is that he is jealous of his vacationing. This is not a legitimate reason to destroy his neighbor’s belongings considering the anger felt about his neighbor is simply jealousy. There is not a long line of misfortune leading to the fury like there is with Perry. Whether beat by nuns in an orphanage or traveling the country with his father in hopes of making a living, Perry’s childhood is full of disappointment and loneliness. Perry spends his youth witnessing the happy lives of strangers surrounding him while he is stuck in a homeless or destructive environment. Willie-Jay, dear friend and former prison mate describes Perry’s flaw as, “ ‘Explosive emotional reaction out of all proportion to the occasion…unreasonable anger at the sight of others who are happy or content’ ” (43). Though destruction of any kind is frowned upon, Perry’s violent anger originates from a past of neglect; therefore it is possible to understand the reasons behind his rage. Due to the detailed descriptions Capote gives of Perry’s pitiful childhood and Dick’s ordinary boyhood and hospitable family, Dick’s anger seems to have no justification to it since there is no depressing past leading to his destructive anger. The longer wretched accounts of Perry’s childhood compared to Dick’s give Perry’s violent anger a rationale the reader cannot find for Dick’s savage behavior.

Dick’s Façade

Although Dick gives Perry the impression that he is hard core and tough, this is a façade that Dick hides behind in order to appear as though he is a normal man, when in fact he is neither tough nor normal.

Dick, who believes that showing signs of sensitivity or weakness is not what a real man does, shows none hiding behind his true personality. Though Dick is seen as the tough guy, the guy Perry uses to appear as though just as tough, Dick himself is not as stable and tough as it seems. Growing up in a stable environment, Dick had a good life, with parents who spoke highly of their son. As though like Nancy Clutter, Dick was an all around guy, his parents explain, “An outstanding athlete—always on the first team at school, Basketball! Baseball! Football! Dick was always the star player. A pretty good student, too, with A marks in several subjects. History. Mechanical drawing. After he graduated from high school—June, 1949—he wanted to go on to college. Study to be an engineer” (166). Capote uses this quote to show similarities between Dick, Nancy, and Kenyon, in order for Dick to appear not only normal, but as though he is a child with a bright future (18, 36). Dick knew himself that he had a bright future, but did not get his chance at the future he imaged for himself. Dick regretting this becomes jealous of the successfully prosperous people around, but attempts not to show his sensitivity towards the subject; for it is unmanly. Around Perry, Dick hides his sensitivity well. While out he becomes severely jealous of a successful young man he sees, hiding it from Perry it is said, “All that belonged to him…Why should that sonofabitch have everything, while he had nothing…Big-shot bastards…had better be careful…might open them up…let…their luck spill on the floor…Dick’s day was ruined. The beautiful blonde rubbing on the suntain oil had ruined it. He’d said to Perry, Let’s pull the hell out of here” (201). Dick thinks angrily on his life, how his future had been taken away from him when his parents would not afford to send him to college. He hides this from Perry only to prove that he is a normal man, tough, and always will be. Dick also hides his weakness from Perry, believing that if anyone knew it would be the end; he would no longer be looked upon as a real man. Coming to the conclusion that his weakness for raping young girls was not normal, Dick decides that it is safer to keep his private pleasures concealed from those that he knew. Dick thought often of this abnormality and while in Florida with Perry, it is said, “He was sorry he felt as he did about her, for his sexual interest in female children was a failing of which he was sincerely ashamed—a secret he’d not confessed to anyone and hoped no on suspected…because other people might not think it normal” (201). This proved that Dick had an abnormal side, but did not share it with anyone because of his fear of what others may think of him. His strive to be well thought of as normal corresponds with his strive to have the best. Only the normal and over achievers, him during his childhood, could succeed, gain wealth and social status, but knowing that he was no longer a complete normal man nor an over achiever he wallowed in jealous, all while hiding under a fake façade.

Childish Perry

Through much of "In Cold Blood," Perry is represented quite childishly, connecting with other child characters, making him seem harmless. Along with an old man Dick and Perry pick up a 12 year old kid with whom Perry really seems to connect. Perry quickly spots the two before Dick does, which implies that there is some connection between the two. Dick suggests kicking them out of the car, because the old man could present a threat if he died while in the car. Perry, on the other hand decides, “‘Frankly, I don’t give a damn. You want to put them out? Then by all means…’ ‘Go ahead. Put them out. But I’ll be getting out, too,’”(209). Since Perry remembers traveling with his old man, he shares a connection with the two hitchhikers. These memories put the image of a child Perry in the reader’s mind. This is also combined with his reaction to Dick’s suggestion that the hitchhikers get kicked out. When Perry says he would get out if they got out, it seems like a rather childish response (if they’re gonna do it than I’m gonna do it to). This childish response suggests that Perry is in some ways still a kid at heart. The reader is also reminded of Perry’s addiction to “treasure hunting”. Dick, Perry, and the kid are all collecting bottles at the side of the road; “Nevertheless, the game generated a treasure-hunt excitement, and presently he [Dick], too, succumbed to the fun, the fervor of this quest for refundable empties,” (210). Perry is reduced to a kid playing games, going on quests to find bottles. This kid like behavior (inspired by the hitchhiker) makes Perry seem kid-like, and therefore more innocent and harmless. Once again, Capote excellently makes Perry act at two ends of the spectrum, kid and murderer.

Similarities between the Victims and Their Murders

Throughout In Cold Blood Capote shows similarities between Dick, Perry, and the Clutter’s, doing such to prove that Dick and Perry, though convicts, are in fact regular people with pasts that lead them in the wrong direction.

Dick and Perry, although very different from the Clutter’s, are shown to share unique similarities with the family members. The first of many similarities that can be noted is very unique similarity between Nancy and Dick. Both had been beautiful, well rounded, smart, and had been raised in an overall good home. The two were both adored by their parents, when describing Dick his parents say, “An outstanding athlete—always on the first team at school. Basketball! Baseball! Football! Dick was always the star…with A marks in several subjects” (166). When Nancy is described it states, “…always winning prizes…a straight-A student, the president of her class…” (18). Dick and Nancy both shared the concept of stardom and good grades, an outstanding thing for two young people to achieve, when already doing extra things around their school. Dick also shared another similarity with Kenyon; the two both enjoyed the concept of engineering, fixing things up on their own free time. Kenyon who spent most of his time in the basement of his house, also known as the playroom, had personally fixed up the furniture himself. Kenyon enjoyed his building many things and it is said, “…free to bang, saw, and mess with his inventions…an elderly wind-up Victrola that he was restoring to service” (38) Dick had a passion for restoring things as well, these things being cars. He was had a dream to become a successful engineer, his father backs up this fact, saying, “…Mechanical drawing. After he graduated from high school—June, 1949—he wanted to got to college. Study to be an engineer” (166). This was one of the two things that Dick and Kenyon had in common, another being their enjoyment of rabbit hunting. Kenyon had rabbit hunted with a close friend and Dick who had rabbit hunted with his brother, it was said for Kenyon, “Equally intoxicating, and more profitable, were the rabbit roundups the two boys conducted: Kenyon was a good shot…”(39). When Dick’s father speaks about Dick’s gun he mentions, “That’s his gun. Dick’s. Him and David go out once in a while. After rabbits, mostly” (170). Perry shared similarities with the Clutter’s as well, the first notable was like Nancy, Perry enjoyed music and writing. (18, 57,133,146). The similarities between Dick, Perry and the Clutter family show that Dick and Perry are not completely inhumane.

In the third part of In Cold Blood Capote shows how Dick is truly a sick and twisted individual. Dick’s obsession with young girls is apparent throughout the course of the novel, but primarily in the third section of In Cold Blood this concept shines through. “ You’re my baby girl . My little sweetheart.” But she objected. Her hand, held by his , twitched like a fish on a hook, and he recognized the astounded expression in her eyes from earlier incidents in his career”(201). This quotation truly portrays how Dick takes advantage of adolescent teenage girls for his own desires. Dick as stated in the quotation has taken advantage of young girls before. This concept also applies in the relationship between Dick and Perry, and how Perry is like a young adolescent girl that Dick wishes to manipulate. It can also be inferred that Dick is not a normal person whereas in earlier in the novel Dick states that he is in fact the “normal” person between him and Perry. Yet a normal person does not try to seduce girls half their own age .

Dick and Perry are portrayed as cats because like felines, they look nice from a far but in reality they are predators. A scene of two cats meandering through the streets of Holcomb is described at the end of part III. These two cats are illustrated as strange but clever animals that are always together. The main actions of their day are preformed at midnight, where they go looking for dead birds and they go where the best chance of finding birds is. The description continues with the detail that they use their paws as instruments to get every last morsel out of the birds (246). Ever since the murder of the Clutter’s Perry and Dick have been inseparable, just like the cats are portrayed to be. Perry and Dick are also undoubtedly strange people, both in their looks at personality, but they are also somewhat clever. Although it may not be moral correct they have found a way to live for a considerable amount of time without any income. Also besides the set of footprints left behind Dick did a remarkably good job in planning the murder of the Clutters. Dick and Perry have always gone where they thought they could get money, a motivation, which in turn led them to the Clutter’s ranch. Also just as the cats do their scavenging at this time, Dick and Perry’s greatest misdeed, the murder of the Clutters was done in the dead of night. In describing the cat’s claws as instruments the reader is drawn back to where the gun in the back of Perry’s car was called his other instrument. These things, although completely different in look, are instruments of destruction. Dick and Perry are again portrayed as cats through the soles of their shoes: “We had the boots, both pairs, and the soles- the Cats Paw and the diamond pattern” (216). Dick has left his “paw print” at the scene of the crime but so has Perry. Perry’s soles have a diamond patter, diamond like the shape of a cat’s eye. Expressing Dick and Perry as cats shows that they must have similar qualities to cats. And indeed Dick, Perry and Cats all look friendly enough from a far, but in reality they are predators with the instruments to kill.

Dick's Pervertiness

Dick’s behavior makes him seem unscrupulous, while Perry frowns upon his behavior, thus making him seem more ethical. Dick is cast as not only a murderer, but also a pervert and a rapist. This is evident when Dick is on the beach, courting a young child, “He took the child’s hand and said, ‘You’re my baby girl. My little sweetheart.’ But she objected. Her hand, held by his, twitched like a fish on a hook, and he recognized the astounded expression in her eyes from earlier incidents in his career,” (201). Dick’s interest in young girls gives makes him seem more crooked than before. Whereas previous to this event, we only saw Dick as a murderer and…a dick, now we see this perverted and creepier side of Dick. Such vile behavior casts poorly upon Dick, even when he tries to make it seem normal; “That, to be sure, was something he was certain he was—‘a normal.’ Seducing pubescent girls, as he had done ‘eight or nine’ times in the last several years, did not disprove it, for if the truth were known, most real men had the same desires he had,” (201). This adds yet another level of creepiness to Dick. Not only is he a pedophile, but he also justifies it. This makes the reader like Dick less than before. In addition to making Dick look bad, Capote also seizes the opportunity to make Perry look good. Perry frowns upon Dick’s behavior; “Perry, still reclining under the blue umbrella, had observed the scene and realized Dick’s purpose at once, and despised him for it; he had ‘no respect for people who can’t control themselves sexually,’ especially when the lack of control involved what he called ‘pervertiness’—‘bothering kids,’ ‘queer stuff,’ rape,” (201-202). Capote’s excellent manipulation of the text, leads the reader to favor Perry, once again. He makes Perry seem like he has a moral compass. While he maintains all of these characteristics about Perry, he also still reminds the reader that Perry (and Dick) have committed the most heinous of crimes, murder.

Dick is the Man

In, “In Cold Blood” Dick and Perry have a relationship, and in this relationship it is clear that Dick is the dominant person of the two. There are many actions that the book contains to prove this. While a fierce storm was occurring Dick and Perry were running for shelter, and the book states, “his (Perry) legs were shorter, and he was lugging the suitcase. Dick reached shelter-a barn near the highway-long before him.” This quote shows that even though Perry was a slower runner, he had to carry the suitcase, which the less dominant would do. Another example is when they were under the barn freezing; they only had gum to eat. The book states, “each chomping on two and a half sticks of Doublemint, Dicks favorite flavor, (Perry preferred Juicy Fruit).” This quote shows that Dick is obviously the dominant person because even when they have no money and nowhere to go, the gum that they chewed was his favorite flavor, not Perry’s favorite flavor. And the dominant person of the two people would pick the kind of gum, and this person was Dick. After it is established that the problem is the money, the book states, “Their utter lack of it had led Dick to decide that their next move should be what Perry considered “a crazy man stunt”-a return to Kansas City.” This quote shows that Dick is the person in charge of what they do, and when they do it, no matter what Perry thought, and the person that would decide these things is the dominant person, and in this relationship, Dick makes all of these decisions.

As time passes the town of Holcomb begins to heal from the loss of the Clutters but when Dick and Perry are brought back to Kansas, feelings of anger and contempt toward the killers return. Bobby Rupp, Nancy’s boyfriend is able to remember Nancy in a positive way. Nature itself begins to remind him of the lively Nancy he once knew:

“Well, he couldn’t explain it, but whenever he looked at the Arkansas, it was for an instant transformed, and what he saw was not a muddy stream meandering across the Kansas plains, but what Nancy had described- a Colorado torrent, a chilly, crystal trout river speeding down a mountain valley. That was how Nancy had been: like young water- energetic and joyous” (205).

As the river provokes these memories in Bobby, he does not break down but is able to appreciate what time he had spent with the Clutters. Bobby is now able to remember the good things about Nancy’s life when previously he recalls, “That he was really ill, that grief had made him so, that grief had draw a circle around him he could not escape from” (203). Time had somewhat healed him so that Bobby is now able to remember the Clutter’s lives, not wallow in their absence. The weather shows this new look on life reflected in the whole town of Holcomb: “The weather was remarkable. Even for western Kansas renowned for the longevity of its Indian summers, the current sample seemed far-fetched—dry air, bold sun, azure sky. Optimistic ranchers were predicting an “open winter”(205). Weather is often used as a symbol and in this case reflects the mood of the town. People are no longer so worried for their safety, things have calmed down and some are even “optimistic”. Knowing Capote, it is also no coincidence that he used the phrase “Open winter”. Right after the murder was committed the people of Holcomb locked their doors for the first time. Now in a sense they are beginning to reopen their doors, reopen their minds to the thought that everything could be okay. However, the mood changes again when Dick and Perry are brought to the town square: “As long as the sun lasted, the day had been dry and warm- October weather in January. But when the sun descended, when the shadows of the square’s giant shade trees met and combined, the coldness as well as darkness numbed the crowd” (248). Right before Dick and Perry are driven through the town the warm air suddenly becomes cold. Dick and Perry, coming back to Holcomb have brought with them all the horrid memories of slain bodies and the grief that the murderers planted into every person in Holcomb when they murdered the Clutters.

Cats

Capote uses cats as a way to represent Dick and Perry and their sly moves in life. Dick and Perry are both underdogs in life and never accomplished anything. Where as Mr. Clutter, a prosperous man, seemed to be an over achiever that could get anything he wanted. Mrs. Ashida is astounded by Mr. Clutter and says to him, “I can’t imagine you afraid. No matter what happened, you’d talk your way out of it.” (36). Mr. Clutter always held his composure in any situation but the night of the murder it doesn’t work out for him. Capote continually brings up cats and their mysterious ways. Capote says, “ The family cat had attacked the cocker spaniel that lived across the street, and now it seemed as if one of the spaniel’s eyes might be seriously damaged.” (163). It’s rare for a cat to beat a dog in a fight but it can happen. Since Dick and Perry were two scrubs who were always in prison, Capote uses the analogy to show Mr. Clutter as the dog who was beaten by the cat. Even Marie, Dewey’s wife had viewed Dick as a cat. Capote says, “Marie, transfixed by Hickcock’s eyes, was reminded of a childhood incident- of a bobcat she’d once seen caught in a trap, and of how, though she’d wanted to release it, the cat’s eyes, radiant with pain and hatred, had drained her of pity and filled her with terror.” (164). When Marie sees Dick she sees him as a cat. Dick was a man who brought terror to her just by the look of his eyes. Through this representation of Dick being a bobcat, Capote also uses Dick and Perry together as cats in the end of the third part. The last chapter starts off with Capote saying:

Among Garden City’s animals are two gray tomcats who are always together- thin, dirty strays with strange and clever habits. The chief ceremony of their day is performed at twilight. First they trot the length of Main Street, stopping to scrutinize the engine grilles of parked automobiles…Using their paws as though they are surgical instruments.” (246)

Dick and Perry’s representation of being cats seems to show two sneaky people. When Capote says the cats use their paws like surgical instruments its just like Dick and Perry uses weapons to kill the Clutters. Capote does a good job describing the two as sneaky because they did get away with a murder for a good sum of time. Capote says after everyone has left, “leaving the cold square to the two gray cats.” (248) Dick and Perry, the cats, are now alone in the world and have nothing left to offer to the world. Dick and Perry share the qualities of cats who beat the dog but in the beginning but by the end ultimately the cats lost.

In the third part of In Cold Blood, Truman Capote writes of the two grungy hitchhikers, an old man, Johnny, and his young grandson whom Dick and Perry pick up as they see them walking along the highway. Capote describes the young boy as an innocent child forced to live in poverty and homelessness with his ill grandfather as of way of reminding the reader of Perry’s childhood of loneliness and neglect so that when Perry is forced to talk of the murder, which he inevitably will, the reader empathizes with him.

Earlier in the story, Perry remembers his childhood in the orphanage and the constant moves with his father. Perry recalls the time with his father in Alaska as he exclaims, “ ‘Christ, it was cold…Dad and I slept hugged together, rolled up in blankets and bearskins. Mornings, before daylight, I’d hustle our breakfast, biscuits and syrup, fried meat, and off we went to scratch a living’ ” (133). Perry and his father used to dream of finding gold in the “sandy beds of snow water-streams” in Alaska, however this dream never becomes a reality (133). Whether trying to establish an inn for tourists or hunting for gold, Perry and his father were always searching for the next big money making scheme, while at the same time trying to stay alive with little food and shelter. Similar to Perry and his father, Johnny and his grandson find an easy approach to make a small amount of money that goes a long way as it ultimately feeds them through their travels. While riding in the back of the Chevrolet, the boy sees four empty Coca-Cola bottles on the side of the street and demands that Dick stop the car. The kid explains to Dick that, “ ‘there’s plenty of money in bottles....I guarantee you we can pick us up a big piece of change. That’s what me and Johnny been eating off. Refund money’ ” (209). Both Perry and his father, and the boy and Johnny find ways to get by even in their homeless state. By including the small episode involving Johnny and the boy in the long story of Dick and Perry roaming the country, Capote uses the pity the reader feels for the boy to remind them that Perry’s childhood is just as heartbreaking. Once captured by Alvin Dewey, the detective for the Clutter case, Dick and Perry confess to the killings and explain to him exactly what happened on the night of the murder and the nights leading up to it. After hearing the account Perry tells Dewey, Capote describes Dewey’s reaction. Capote writes, “And Dewey could not forget their [the Clutter’s] sufferings. Nonetheless, he found it possible to look at the man beside him without anger—with, rather, a measure of sympathy—for Perry Smith’s life had been no bed of roses but pitiful, an ugly and lonely progress toward one mirage and then another” (246). Dewey realizes that from the story Perry tells him, Perry’s life is full of unfortunate events that get Perry into serious trouble that he has no control over. Dewey understands the events that lead to Perry’s present ordeal, and the reader also understands the unfortunate irony of Perry’s life. As Perry would describe, Willie-Jay, his wise and brilliant friend from jail offers to meet up with him. Perry tries to connect with him but misses him at the bus stop by only a couple of hours. Since Perry missed Willie-Jay, he meets up with his old prison-mate, Dick, who then persuades him into joining him in quick ten-thousand dollar money making scheme. Dick’s plan wins them a set of binoculars, a portable radio, $40-$50, and a death sentence. If Perry had met up with Willie-Jay as he hoped, Perry would not have met up with Dick and participated in the murders. The reader senses this irony and feels pity for the unfortunate man, which is exactly what Capote wants.

Partners?

Dick and Perry's relationship in In Cold Blood is full of distrust and manipulation. Dick in this case is the manipulator. He takes advantages of Perry in a variety of ways. He is the one that sets the tone for what the two do during their day. Even though Perry believes that he and Dick are partners Dick sees Perry in a different light. “Dick was sick of him-his harmonica, his aches and ills, his superstitions, the weepy womanly eyes, the nagging, whispering voice, self righteous, spiteful, he was like a wife that must be got rid of”(215). This quotation shows how Dick sees Perry now as a meddling annoyance that he just wants to get rid of. Dick wants nothing to do with a overbearing dramatic figure that follows him around. Dick truly only needs Perry for means of getting money and companionship, yet if Dick was given the opportunity to leave Perry from the readers stand point he would gladly do so. Dick truly is not a reliable and trustworthy partner to Perry, yet Perry is oblivious to the manipulation that Dick uses on him. Perry is easy to manipulate also due to the fact that at times he can be a very sensitive almost female like individual. Dick is a mastermind at using his words and his eyes to get what he wants from people or get them to do what he wants. As it is portrayed earlier in the novel Dicks eyes are “serpentine” this portrays how Dick can be compared to a snake which is an animal that is commonly used to portray despitefulness and treachery.

Dick Hickock is a fine example of the "nature" side of the natures vs. nurture debate presented in Capote's novel. Dick was raised in a good family, with parents who loved him. It is said several times that he was talented in sports and that his parents loved him very much. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with his childhood, but he grows up to be a cold-hearted killer and criminal. After Dick was told he wouldn’t be able to attend college his world flipped upside down. Mr. Hickock when talking to agent Nye says, “I guess Dick resented it, not getting to go to college” (166). Clearly Dick wanted to go to college so badly, that when he didn’t get the chance to attend his world was completely thrown upside down. This causes a serious downhill progression for Dick as he is constantly in debt and has a gambling problem. This is a fine example of the nature vs. nurture argument. Dick grew up nurtured and with a pretty good childhood, this was all until he didn’t go to college and this is when he begins to walk on the nature side of the argument. After Dick doesn’t get what he wants, all of his actions become irrational. He makes his decisions without thinking and has no regard for other people, especially those who attended college. Dick Hickock transforms from a standout athlete and good student to a deranged and irrational individual in society. 

Secretly Married?

Perry viewed Dick as a masculine person, when Perry himself carries many feminine traits but Capote does this to allow the readers to feel sympathy for Perry and not see him as a monster. Capote even says at the beginning of the book, “…the primary reason Perry had been attracted to him, for it made Dick seem, compared to himself, so authentically tough, invulnerable, totally masculine”(16). Perry seemed to lack masculinity and Dick took advantage of it. Perry looked to Dick as someone he could look up to for what he didn’t have. Dick took account of this and in the third part says, “Merry Christmas honey,” (199) The way Dick talks to Perry is as if he is his wife. He treats Perry like a young child. A few pages later when Dick is trying to seduce the little girl he says, “You’re my baby girl. My little sweetheart.” (201). The way Dick talks to the girl is the type of words he says to Perry all the time. It’s as if Dick views Perry as more of a womanly figure rather then a man and someone he can take advantage of if needed. Perry is very sensitive, like how he was considerate to put the mattress box down for Mr. Clutter before he killed him (241). Dick and Perry’s relationship is close to the status of a married couple. Capote says, “Dick was sick of him—his harmonica, his aches and ills, his superstitions, the weepy, womanly eyes, the nagging, whispering voice. Suspicious, self-righteous, spiteful, he was like a wife that must be got rid of” (215). Capote blatantly comes out and acknowledges the fact that he is like his wife. Perry and Dick share a odd relationship, where it seems Perry is merely following Dick’s orders. It was Dick’s idea in the first place to kill the Clutter family. When the two got to the scene Perry was willing to leave without killing the family. Perry asked himself the night of the murder, “Why don’t I walk off?…I sure Jesus didn’t want to go back in that house.” (240). It wasn’t Perry’s prerogative to kill the family that night but Dick drove him to it. Dick kept saying they couldn’t have any witnesses and that they had to kill everyone but in the end Perry did it. Capote portrays Dick as the selfish, uncaring, mean spirited man who just takes advantage of bossing around Perry who is the more feminine of the two killers. Capote wants the audience to feel sympathy for Perry and not see him just as a monster.

As the reader learns more about Perry Smith, Perry's innocence is portrayed. When Perry enters the interrogation area special agent Nye was fascinated by Perry's feet who were, “as small as a child's” (Capote 224). Perry being compared to a child shows he is innocent. Children are usually refereed to as being innocent and naïve, so if Perry is compared to a child, he is innocent and naïve. The second instance where Perry's innocence is displayed comes from another one of special agent Nye's observations. Before the interrogation began Nye believed that Perry “was still a virgin” (Capote 224). By saying that he is a virgin, again shows his innocence. Before one has had sex they are believed to be pure, that is why children are believed to be so innocent. However, once a man or a women has had sex, their innocence is ripped away from them and they are no longer pure. By making Perry seem so innocent, the author has the reader connect with Perry almost as much as connecting with the Clutters. Capote uses the same technique; Capote makes the Clutters the perfect family to make us connect with them. He uses uses that same technique to have us connect with Perry. With the reader being emotionally connected to Perry, it makes him seem like less of a monster and begin to slowly forgive him for his crimes.

Influenced From Childhood

In part three of In Cold Blood, I think that Perry has the guts to do something bad and Dick doesn’t because of their childhood. Dick finds Perry useful because Perry told him that he killed a man once. Dick needs Perry because Dick came from a good home and had a good childhood and has never done anything this big before. Dick’s parents described him as a good guy and a good athlete and was never influenced to do bad things when he was young. They were implying that he would never kill someone and they were right. He didn’t kill anyone because he never intended to. Whereas Dick probably figured with a life like Perry’s and certain experiences Perry should have no problem doing something like this. Perry’s parents were all over the place in his childhood and he seemed that he didn’t know half the time what was going on and the other half didn’t like what was going on. His childhood was bad so he wanted to do bad things to make up for it. It is almost like he had a habit of doing the wrong thing from his childhood.

Dick's turning point

Dick has many events that occur during his life that cause him to be what he is. Although, there are many things that has happened to Dick, the event that turned his life around was the lack of money Dick’s family had, therefore causing him not to be able to attend college. Before this event occurs he is a model student and athlete. When asked about Dick, Dick’s father, Mr. Hickock, said, “An outstanding athlete-always on the first team at school. Basketball! Baseball! Football!! Dick was always the star player. A pretty good student, too, with A marks in several subjects.” This quote shows the fantastic achievements Dick had before he was told he could not go to college. He was an outstanding athlete and student and this is clearly a kid that nobody would predict Dick to become a killer. After he was told he could not go to college his attitude changed completely about life. Mr. Hickock says, “I guess Dick resented it, not getting to go to college.” This quote shows that it was clear he was upset about not going to college. Dick continues on in life to get married and later divorced. Dick was constantly in debt, had a gambling problem, and of course killed four people. It is clear that Dick not going to college changed his approach to life and went from being a model student and athlete, to a problem in society all because his family did not have the money to send him to college, and it is obvious he never forgot this.

Perry, A Negative Effect on Dick

As a contradictory view on Perry and Dick’s partnership, Dick’s parents see Perry as a bad influence. Capote includes a part that puts Perry as the bad guy and Dick as the good one, Perry is seen as the evil for one of the first times. Even though Dick leaves his parents without a good-bye they still feel that he is a good kid. Mr. Hitchcock says, “That boy has plenty of good inside him. If ever you seen him on a football field; if ever you seen him play with his children, you wouldn’t doubt me” (167). Besides stating the fact that he is good the quote shows Dick as kid and as a caring adult. Perry is usually seen as the kid however, Dick playing football is something he did when he was young. Moreover, Dick appears to love his children but this is not the case because previously he says when talking about his children and family “…they didn’t ‘make him happy or do him any good’” (98). The parents might be confused but also seem to know Perry and blame Dick’s wrongdoing on Perry. Mrs. Hitchcock charges Perry by saying, “‘that friend of his. That’s what happened’” (167). Perry is now verbally illustrated as persuading Dick to commit the crime even though the entire plan was Dick’s and he just manipulated Perry into helping. There may be an opposition with Capote and the Hitchcock’s but Capote seems to be switching the roles of the characters in his confrontation with the Hitchcock’s.

Though Dick plays an important role throughout In Cold Blood, Capote merely uses Dick’s character to make Perry appear feminine causing the readers to be more sympathetic towards Perry’s character.

Although the relationship between Dick and Perry is displayed as close, Dick only uses manipulation on Perry ultimately bringing out Perry’s feminine mannerisms and giving readers a reason to feel sympathy for Perry’s character. Many times throughout In Cold Blood Dick uses charm, flirting with Perry, to receive what he wants. Dick, apparently knowing Perry is sexually confused, uses this to his advantage. Perry admits that he uses Dick as well, but for a different reason. Perry was drawn to Dick for his masculine ways, hoping that, with someone masculine and tough by his side, he too would appear as such. As this is explained, it is stated, “…the primary reason Perry had been attracted to him, for it made Dick seem, compared to himself, so authentically tough, invulnerable, totally masculine”(16). Perry’s femininity shows through this one sentence. Though Perry did not consider himself as tough he could have still considered himself masculine, but he does not and chooses to be around Dick for the purpose of his masculinity. Dick realizes Perry’s ways and flirts slyly with Perry to get what he needs from him. Dick is seen at one point, before the murders, using his charming technique to convince Perry into leaving Mexico and returning to America. Dick doing this, states, “Honey, I’ve had it. We got to make it out of here. Back to the States” (124). Honey indicates Dick’s sly way of flirting with Perry. Eventually Perry gives into Dick’s pleas, which always include the words baby or honey. At one point Dick even admits that Perry is like a woman in many ways. Dick, when pointing out Perry’s multiple feminine qualities, explains that he is sick of Perry and plans to leave him. As this is described, it is stated, “Dick was sick of him—his harmonica, his aches and ills, his superstitions, the weepy, womanly eyes, the nagging, whispering voice. Suspicious, self-righteous, spiteful, he was like a wife that must be got rid of” (215). Dick clearly compares Perry to a female, saying, “…he was like a wife”, causing the readers to recognize Perry’s feminine ways and strive for masculinity. While Perry and Dick progress in their relationship it becomes clear who is in charge. Perry takes orders from Dick, giving readers the sense that Perry is forced to do many things that he does not wish to do. When telling about the night of the murders Perry explains that he wished to leave, but Dick, being proud, made him stay to search for money that the Clutter’s never had. When saying this Perry, says, “There isn’t a safe, so let’s get the hell out of here. But Dick was too ashamed to face it. He said he wouldn’t believe it till we searched the whole house. He said the thing to do was tie them all up, then take our time looking around” (239). Perry gave into Dick and ultimately killing the Clutter’s partially unwillingly. As Perry describes the night of the events he even tells how at one point he wished to leave, but there was something holding him back. After describing the whole night to Dewey, Dewey says, “Nonetheless, he found it possible to look at the man beside him without anger—with, rather, a measure of sympathy—for Perry Smith’s life had been no bed of roses but pitiful, an ugly and lonely progress toward one mirage and then another” (256). Dewey reminds the readers of Perry’s past and also includes it with the misfortunate action that Perry did not, in many ways wish to commit. Thus the readers have much sympathy for the feminine man that is ordered around by another man who pretends to deeply care.

Perry as a Child

Truman Capote depicts Perry as a child to show that he didn’t know what he was doing when he murdered the Clutters. Perry is consistently viewed as physically small. Capote describes him as a, “little fellow, not much over five feet high” (168). Not only is his physical appearance show how he is still a child but so do his actions. Perry goes about his life wanting to have fun. In part III of In Cold Blood Perry reminisces his purse snatching fun when he was younger. He said it was something that cheered him up. Then Capote says, “Things hadn’t changed much. Perry was twenty- odd years older and a hundred pounds heavier, and yet his material situation had improved not at all. He was still (and wasn’t it incredible, a person of his intelligence, his talent?) an urchin dependent, so to say, on stolen coins.” (193) Perry is re living his child hood as a way to make himself happy. He’s still the same boy he was ten years ago; his acts have just became more violent. Perry and Dick murdered four people but Perry still portrays a child. He asked the lady he was staying at to a hold a box for him and in the box he kept his pink baby blanket (178). A man who isn’t still dwelling on his childhood wouldn’t mind letting go of a piece of cloth from fifteen years ago. In the previous parts of In Cold Blood Perry is continually talking about how it isn’t normal for them to go and kill people. It’s questionable how such a young minded spirit can take account for what he did to the Clutter family. Capote portrays Perry to be an innocent man who may not of understood his actions when he was murdering the Clutter family.

Perry

As In Cold Blood progresses, the reader learns the story of Perry’s life and surmises possible reasons for his nasty actions. Perry, similar to the author, Capote, had a rough childhood. Abandoned and neglected, Perry was beaten and abused as a child. Raised by an alcoholic mother, Perry and his siblings are given little chance for a normal upbringing. Perry’s unusual ways result from his childhood. In the scene when the two travelers (Perry and Dick) catch a ride on their way back from Mexico, Perry demonstrates reckless behavior. Dick has devised a plan to kill the driver giving them a lift and then steal the money and sell the car. While on their way, Perry becomes irritated with the driver and suddenly has an urge to kill him at that moment: “He thought he might vomit, or faint; he felt certain he would if Dick delayed “the party” much longer. The light was dimming, the road was straight, with neither house nor human being in view-nothing but land winter-stripped and as somber as sheet iron. Now was the time, now.” While Capote often describes Perry using artistic and childish descriptions, he also suggests that the murderer has the ability to be dangerous and malicious. Perry’s spontaneous desire to kill others is a result of his childhood situation. A lack of structure and an inability to trust others during Perry’s childhood creates this impulsive behavior, which ultimately leads to his final demise.

Within the third part of Capote’s In Cold Blood the reader gets a true sense of how Capote wants to portray Dick in the book. So far most background of life as a child has been focused on Perry. Dick has been left out and abandoned in the book. Capote does this to more dehumanize Dick and to give the reader the sense of how Dick is evil and cunning. “Think of him,” she said, placing a finger against the front-view portrait of the blonde young man. “Think of those eyes. Coming towards you.”….. I wish you hadn’t shown me”(165). This quotation shows how Capote manipulates the reader’s limited knowledge of Dick to show him to be a monster. Due to prior to this quotation Capote goes into detail about Perry’s picture and his eyes and how Alvin Dewey’s wife doesn’t see them as totally evil whereas with Dick she just sees meanness. Later in part three of in cold blood as Dick and Perry go back to Kansas and Perry is left to wash clothes when it is time for Dick to pick up Perry from the laundry mat Perry gets second thought about working with Dick. Capote portrays these feeling to show the reader that even Dicks own partner wasn’t in full trust with him.

How deep is Perry?

Capote once again compares Perry to Dick, making Perry seem more sophisticated and deep, and Dick cold. He also makes the reader connect and pity Perry. Alvin Dewey comes home after learning the identity of the murderers, and as he shows his wife the photograph of Perry, she notices, "the lips and nose seemed nicely made, and she thought the eyes, with their moist, dreamy expression, rather pretty-rather, in an actorish way, sensitive. Sensitive, and something more: 'mean,'" (164). It is unlikely that Mrs. Dewey actually thought these thoughts but more likely that Capote himself noticed these details. Regardless of the owner of these thoughts, Capote uses Perry's eyes to stimulate the feelings in the reader that Perry is more that flesh-deep. A deep character is an interesting character, and while it is well established that Perry is deep, Capote continues to drive the point of how profound Perry is. It is even more clearly distinguished from Dick's personality when Mrs. Dewey (or capote) noticed, "...something more: 'mean.' Though not as mean, as forbiddingly 'criminal,' as the eyes of Hickock, Richard Eugene," (164). Here, Capote implies that Dick does not have the deepness of Perry, but is simply more villainous. This clear-cut comparison is clear evidence of Capote's affection for Perry. The words "moist, dreamy expression, rather pretty," would only be warranted by someone who has a tenderness for the character (164). In addition to making Perry seem so deep, Capote makes Perry seem sophisticated. Harold Nye looks down at Perry's signature at the motel and notices, "The ornateness of it, the mannered swoops and swirls, surprised him- a reaction that the landlady apparently divined..." (176). This level of sophistication adds once again to the deepness of Perry. Capote seems to give this level of profundity only to Perry. Contrasting to the previous examples, capote also makes Perry seem childish and lonely when describing he box of junk kept in the motel, "True, it was valueless stuff even to a clue hungry detective. Still, Nye was glad to have seen it; each item-the palliatives for sore gums, the greasy Honolulu pillow- gave him a clearer impression of the owner and his lonely, men life," (178). Capote couldn't have more bluntly given the reader reason to pity Perry. He outright says that Perry's life is lonely, that his childhood was hard. This gives the reader more of an answer of why Perry would have committed the crimes he did. Someone with such a deeply troubled life would be more justified (while the crime is still heinous) for murdering an entire family, as opposed to someone who is just shallowly bad (i.e. Dick).

Throughout part 3 of Truman Capote's non-fiction novel, In Cold Blood, Dick and Perry continue to be motivated by greed, and make stupid mistakes as a result. First, Dick and Perry return to Kansas City, after they have committed, "the most vicious [crime] in the history of Kansas" (160) because Dick believes that he will be able to steal a good deal of money very quickly there. In Iowa, on their way to Kansas City, Dick and Perry steal a car that they find in a barn. In order to disguise the car, they steal license plates from one of Dick's former employers. Later, when Dick passes more fake checks, he doesn't even bother to use a fake name. After this, Dick plans to steal more in Las Vegas, "by writing worthless checks right around the clock, he expected to haul in three, maybe four thousand dollars in a twenty-four hour period" (214). More mistakes on the parts of Dick and Perry ultimately help to lead to their capture as they pull up to a place where perry used to live.

Perry, along with all his siblings are shown as classic heroes, having tragic flaws and subject to fate, to enhance a feeling of pity toward Perry. In reminiscing about her family members Perry’s sister, Barbara recalls that each one had a specific flaw that ruined their life. Her sister Fern, despite her mother dying from alcohol, drinks too much and it is with a drink in hand that Fern “falls” from a hotel window. Jimmy, Barbara and Perry’s older brother is courageous and graduates at the top of his class. Yet he eventually commits suicide because of his single flaw, jealousy (185-186). The fact that each member of Perry’s family is cursed with a flaw enhances the sense of pity for Perry that has already been established throughout the book. If it is not only him, but Perry’s whole family that has flaws then it cannot be Perry’s fault. Perry’s violent reactions are something that he is born with, something that he cannot prevent showing that it is not his fault that he snaps and kills the Clutters. Thinking about the depressing events that occur to her siblings, leads Barbara to the thought that her family: “Shared a doom against which virtue was no defense” (185). No matter how good or virtuous they may be, fate has doomed the Smith family and there is nothing they can do to prevent their tragic flaw from taking its toile. If the flaws that run through Perry’s family are caused by fate then they are inevitable and Perry cannot be blamed for what fate as brought him to do.

In In Cold Blood, Truman Capote continues to describe the tragic flaw of Perry Smith as a way of making the pitiful murderer seem magnificent, similar to the grandiose of a Greek hero. After killing the Clutter family, Perry reminisces on his time in jail with his closest friend and savior, Willie-Jay. The “brilliant” Willie-Jay points out the tragic flaw of Perry as he tells him:

‘You are a man of extreme passion, a hungry man not quite sure where his appetite lies, a deeply frustrated man striving to protect his individuality against a backdrop of right conformity. You exist in a half-word suspended between two superstructures, one self-expression and the other self-destruction. You are strong, but there is a flaw in your strength, and unless you learn to control it the flaw will prove stronger than your strength and defeat you. The flaw? Explosive emotional reaction out of all proportion to the occasion. Why? Why this unreasonable anger at the sight of others who are happy or content, this growing contempt for people and the desire to hurt them?’ (43).

Willie-Jay starts off by discussing the incredibleness of Perry such as his great intellectual mind and caring personality. Similar to Perry, numerous Greek heroes and gods are described as unbelievable, but they always have one small thing wrong about them, which eventually leads to their great downfall. The Greek hero Achilles and his weak heel is an example of a “larger than life” figure with one problem that leads to death. As Willie-Jay states, Perry has “explosive emotional reaction of all proportion to the occasion…at the sight of others who are happy or content” (43). Capote makes Perry’s impulse for violence as his tragic flaw as it leads to the killings of the Clutter family, which ultimately ruins his life, and thus explains to the reader the reasons behind the troubled man. This flaw appears again much later while Dick and Perry are hitchhiking to Nebraska. They end up riding with a nice truck driver named Mr. Bell who they intend to eventually kill. Before carrying out their murderous plan, Dick bonds with Mr. Bell as Capote writes, “Their [Dick and Mr. Bell’s] laughter irritated Perry; he especially disliked Mr. Bell’s outbursts—hearty barks that sounded very much like the laughter of Tex John Smith, Perry’s father. The memory of his father’s laughter increased his tension; his head hurt, his knees ached” (174). As Willie-Jay predicted it would, something as simple as another’s man’s laugh and sound of joy irritates Perry to an extent that he aches from the thought of someone else’s happiness. Perry’s next thought is that it is time to kill Mr. Bell. Willie-Jay is absolutely right as he suggests that Perry seeks violence after witnessing happiness. Capote’s way of making uncontrollable anger Perry’s flaw makes the reader feel pity for Perry as he is the murderer with a troubled past and holds no control of his explosive emotions. Capote builds Perry the way he wants the reader to see, which is an innocent man, great in all aspects of life, similar to a Greek god, but because of his need for violence after seeing other’s contentment, is left with a doomed future.

In this third volume of In Cold Blood, Capote continues his development of Perry as perpetually weak and feminine and Dick as brutish and cold. The volume starts with a man who was in jail with Dick and knows him quite well. He recalls a conversation about their past jobs and how Dick was, “full of brag about… nurses and all what he’d done with them in the back of the ambulance” (161). This image from a close friend of Dick’s shows Dick to be cold and uncaring about anyone but himself. Whether it is true or not is irrelevant because the only reason Capote included it is because he wants to create a bad image about Dick in order to put most of the blame for the murders on him. Capote does this again when Alvin Dewey receives mug shots of the murders. His wife, Marie, takes one look at them and compares their eyes, “the eyes, with their moist, dreamy expression, rather pretty-rather, in an actorish way, sensitive… Though not as mean, as forbiddingly “criminal,” as the eyes of Hickock” (164). This description of both Dick and Perry adds to the reader’s perception of the both of them. Marie’s description of Perry adds to the idea that he is a bit effeminate and weak. By doing this, the reader almost refuses to acknowledge that Perry was the one who actually pulled the trigger of the shotgun. Dick’s depiction makes it blatantly clear how Capote would like us to see Dick, as a ‘criminal.’ Capote does this same comparative description in an ex-employer of Dick’s recollection of how close they were. Once, the man had Dick and Perry over for dinner, after which, “ He [Perry] played the guitar and sang some songs, and him and Dick entertained everybody with a weight-lifting act” (168). Once again, the depiction of Perry shows him to be sensitive, compassionate, soft and everything else that is associated with guitar playing. By doing this, Capote encourages the reader to almost smile when they think of Perry because he is caring and plays beautiful music to entertain people. On the contrary, Dick is shown to be everything that is associated with weight lifting, that is, brutish and strong, but not very bright. Although Perry participated in Dick’s act, it shows that although he is strong, but we know him to be kind and intelligent. After only about ten pages, Truman Capote continues to force us to keep our assumptions about Dick and Perry so that the idea of the murders can be blamed on Dick, and Perry gets let off the hook a little bit.

Capote makes sure that in the third part of In Cold Blood, the reader knows that Perry Smith is the one who initiates the murders. Perry describes the final moments leading up to the murders as very tense and a kind of showdown between himself and Dick. “He was holding the knife. I asked him for it, and I said, ‘All right, Dick. Here goes.’ But I didn’t mean it. I meant to call his bluff, make him argue me out of it, make him admit he was a phony and a coward. See, if was something between me and Dick. I knelt down beside Mr. Clutter, and the pain of kneeling . . . the shame. Disgust. . . . But I didn’t realize what I’d done till I heard the sound. Like somebody drowning. Screaming under the water” (244). The friction between the two of them begins to escalate, a development which is probably based at least partly on the men’s actual experiences while traveling together. The reader can then interpret this scene, thinking that  the rivalry between the men literally exploded and resulted in the deaths of the four Clutters. The reader clearly knows that Perry Smith is the one who made the decision to kill the Clutters, but when Perry talks about this moment, of life or death for the Clutters, he gives the reader reason to think that the action to kill was automatic and that he made it unconsciously. This decision was carried out while Perry was deep in a trance of shame and self-loathing. He was loathing himself for everything that had happened in his life until this point. This corresponds to the main reason for the visit to the Clutter’s house, robbery. This robbery makes Perry feel more helpless and despicable than he has ever felt in his life. 

Truman Capote makes Barbara Smith’s life and family seem just like the life of the Clutters. She has almost everything that she could want or need and is very well liked by her friends. This correlation shows that these are both 2 families that have been drastically affected by the actions of Perry Smith. He ruthlessly murdered the Clutter family, and Barbara’s family lives in fear of ever seeing him again. Barbara dreads the intrusion of the other world that Perry represents. Perry’s lives in a world of crime, resentment, poverty, and self-destruction. Perry and Barbara are divided on the topic of their father, Tex John Smith. Barbara has grown to respect and admire Tex John over the years while Perry shows a lot of resentment towards his father, blaming him for the lack of childhood that he so desperately needed and the lack of growth intellectually. Perry tells Capote that, “I happen to have a brilliant mind. In case you didn’t know. . . But no education, because he didn’t want me to learn anything, only how to tote and carry for him. Dumb. Ignorant. That’s the way he wanted me to be” (185). The fact that Perry missed the chance to grow intellectually, and missed his chance to have a normal life leaves him bitter and frustrated. The fact that Barbara does not miss out on these opportunities had allowed her to settle into a lifestyle much like the Clutters, two people/families that Perry is very jealous of. This association between Barbara and the Clutter is established in a thoughtful moment of Perry’s, “One fine day he’d pay her back, have a little fun—talk to her, advertise his abilities, spell out in detail the things he was capable of doing to people like her, respectable people, safe and smug people, exactly like Bobo” (194). This thinking shows that Perry is so resentful for the lack of childhood he received, that he is willing to do anything to harm those people that got everything that he didn’t. 

The After Math of Holcomb

Capote proves that what was the sweet, innocent town of Holcomb morphs into an unsafe place, where nobody feels comfortable, all because the people of the town believe that if it happens to such a perfect family in a such perfect family in such a picturesque town, then it can happen again. For example, Capote describes a hunt in Holcomb after the deaths of the Clutters. He says, “…a car load of pheasant hunters from Colorado- strangers, ignorant of the local disaster-were startled by what they saw…windows ablaze, almost every window in every house, and, in brightly lit rooms, fully clothed people, even entire families who had sat the whole night, wide awake, watching, listening” (88). This proves that a town that once left their doors wide open at night, will never recover and restore to what Holcomb was before the murders. The fact is that even if this crime never happens again, people will lay wide awake, listening for gun shots, because Holcomb’s innocence is shattered, and the town is unable to pick up the pieces; the crime is too serious to forget and simply go back to the ways things were before. Furthermore, with the true belief, “It might happen again”, no one in the town can ignore the murder; the risk of it happening again is too high (88). Next, a school teacher describes the after math. She says, “Feeling wouldn’t run half as high if this happened to anyone except the Clutter’s. Anyone less admired. Prosperous. Secure…and that such a thing could happen to them, well its like being told there is no God. It makes life seem pointless” (88). This shows that the Clutters represent the town of Holcomb. If this happens to any other town, other that the secure, sweet, Holcomb, it will not have this affect on people. Many towns admire Holcomb’s safety previously. If such a thing happens to this town, it is like saying there is no God. The town of Holcomb has simply lost faith. The Clutter’s are very closely related to the God of Holcomb; with them being murdered, it is like being told that there is no such thing as an innocent, clean town in this country anymore. The idea that the town was once an innocent, happy, place is pointless because nobody cares what Holcomb was, people are scared.

Perry and Dicks Relationship; Not a Two Way Street

Perry listens and respects Dick, while Dick shuts Perry’s dreams down for laughter; this relationship is clearly not reciprocal. Perry literally killed for Dick. Perry only murdered to start a new life, the life he has been fanaticizing about for some time now. For example, Capote describes Perry at a diner, he states, “Perry felt elatedly tall- now Mexico, a new chance a ‘really living’ life” (99). Perry clearly only agreed to murder the Clutter’s in order to start fresh, give himself a brand new beginning, and leave all of his sadness behind him, and start living in Mexico, like Dick said that they would. Perry kills for Dick because he wants to, but Dick is a hypocrite, doesn’t go on his word like Perry did with the murders, and laughs in Perry’s face about Mexico. Capote describes, “Dick had only been pretending, just kidding him” (100). Perry would never do the same thing as Dick did to him. When Perry says he will do a “score” he does it, no matter if he really did want to kill the Clutters or not, he does it because he made a vow, and he believes to never go back on his word. Perry only murders the Clutter’s because he believes that after the murders are over with, he can start a new life; in a way, the murders were closure for him to his life that he wanted to leave behind. However, Perry did it for nothing; Dick’s word was a complete fallacy. This is a clear representation of their relationship.

In, In Cold Blood, Perry constantly tries to impress Dick, while not pissing him off because of the insecurities that Perry has. And even though Perry is not a killing type, the reason that he takes part in killing the Clutters is because he wants Dick’s approval. Perry tells Dick stories about things that he feels proud about in the hope that Perry will be awarded with Dick’s approval. The first story that Perry tells Dick is the story of when he killed a colored man for no apparent reason. The book states, “When he’d told Dick that story, it was because he’d wanted Dick’s friendship, wanted Dick to “respect” him.” This shows that Perry only told Dick the story of Perry killing because of the respect that Perry was looking for from Dick. After the killing, Perry thinks a lot. He wonders how he could have done such a bad thing and got 100% away with it. He also wonders if he is “right” in the sense of mental stability. Dick does the opposite of what perry does. Dick says, “I’m a good.” And this shows that he doesn’t at all regret what he did or have any remorse about it. These two things show that Perry is constantly tru=ying to get Dick’s, and by the actions of the two killers after the killing, it is obvious that Perry accompanied Dick in killing the Clutters was another attempt to gain Dick’s approval and be looked as “masculine” towards his friend, Dick.

In the second section of In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, entitled Persons Unknown, Alvin Dewey is obsessed with solving the murder of the Clutter family. He goes over and over each tiny clue, pursuing each lead with determination, "In the days to come, Dewey was to spend many hours examining these photographs, hoping that he might 'suddenly see something,' that a meaningful detail might declare itself" (83). He is so consumed with the case that he takes gory crime scene photographs home, and goes over and over them looking for any small clue. In one scene in part two, instead of sleeping Dewey is sitting at his kitchen table mulling over the photographs trying to find hidden clues or something he missed before. Dewey's wife at one point asks him, "Do you think we'll ever have a normal life again?" (105). Dewey is so immersed in the Clutter murders that it interferes with his and his families' lives.

ICB Part 2: Incompetence

Dick and Perry is the non-fiction novel In Cold Blood in the formulating and aftermath of the crime are portrayed as incompetent and were blinded by some other feelings. In the beginning and construction of the crime they clearly didn’t know what they were doing as a rumor in Hartman’s Café states, “In the opinion of a good part of the café’s clientele, Mr. Jones and his family, not the Clutters, were the murder’s intended victims… ‘Taylor Jones, he’s a richer man than Herb Clutter ever was’” (113). If they had studied or observed the workings of Holcomb they would have known this fact making it a more worthwhile endeavor for them in part and a smarter one too. They aren’t too bright and robbed the wrong house to gain the most profit. They do not seem to be that clever or anywhere smart enough to escape even if they had succeeded in robbing the right house. The other point I must bring up is the reaction of Perry after they committed the crime. Perry says, “‘I think there must be something wrong with us. To do what we did’” (108). This is a great realization but a little too late. He should have realized this before shooting and killing four innocent people. Perry and dick aren’t that smart