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.