Thirst for Knowledge

Perry may be a killer and a follower, but he has a deep desire for knowledge and without money and commitment enough for an education was never able to get that comprehension before his death. Perry meets Andy and from then on can’t stand him for having a better education. It also doesn’t help that Perry gets angry easily. When first meeting Andy: “Perry…imagined himself more learned than most of his acquaintances, and enjoyed correcting them, especially their grammar and pronunciation. But here suddenly was someone—‘just a kid!’—constantly correcting him” (317). Perry liked being the one that knew everything, enjoying his one small advantage and power when dealing with others. When Andy comes along and starts to correct him, Perry is shown what his dream would be, but to never get the chance upsets Perry and makes him feel inferior. Andy is “the one thing in the world Perry wants to be—educated. And Perry couldn’t forgive him for it” (333). Now, with his anger rising, Perry seems as though he could kill Andy as he did the Clutters. His lust for knowledge overpowers him even more than anything else previously could.

Perry IS a Monster

Capote literarily illustrates Dick as the evil that caused the death of the Clutters, but as we know it was Perry that truly kills them and in the trial we can see that Perry is in fact a monster. Perry is unfeeling for the Clutters and has no real motive for killing them. When talking to Don Perry says “And it wasn’t because of anything the Clutters did. They never hurt me…. Maybe it’s just that the Clutters were the ones who had to pay for it” (290). Perry tells Don that he had no motive to harm the Clutters and that all his anger and rage from his early life was to be forced onto the Clutters. Perry at this point seems relatively insane for committing the murder. Moreover, what he says quickly after does not help his case against a mental illness. Perry then says “Am I sorry? If that’s what you mean—I’m not. I don’t feel anything about it. I wish I did. But nothing about it bothers me a bit” (290-291). His heartlessness is also a sign of his madness because he killed an entire family, shot them with a shotgun, and later that same night he and Dick are laughing about it. Perry is a monster no matter how much Capote tries to cover it up.

Perry as a Female

Perry throughout the book is described as a child-like girl, sensitive and innocent, however, at first it looks to be Capote making look nicer there are also parts that Capote can’t change that still imply his feminine side to be prominent. One of the earlier encounters with Perry we see him as feminine when they are caught and put into jail cells, “Far as I know, Perry Smith was the first man ever stayed in the ladies’ cell” (252). Perry is put into the women’s cell which is in the Undersheriff’s house, which in turn makes him appear less dangerous. Perry is emotionally a girl, but also physically has concerns of the average women. Even stuck in a cell he does things a girl might, “But he found things to do: file his fingernails with an emery board…and comb his lotion-soaked and scented hair” (254). The fingernails and the hair are both a glimpse into his womanly side. Filing his nails is feminine, and although everyone uses shampoo, his use of lotions in his hair appears also to be feminine. Perry is womanly and Capote doesn’t just include those parts for himself.

Dick is a Hypocrite

Dick under pressure, and slightly afraid of what will come becomes a hypocrite, and shows us that he is not as tough as he tries to portray himself as. Dick starts out being strong and clever at the beginning of the book but he is now slowly letting his tough outer shell peel off. Now, even Perry is sensing this and is scared he might brake under the questions. Perry thinks to himself, “Dick was smart, a convincing performer, but his ‘guts’ were unreliable, he panicked too easily” (227). Perry would never have doubted Dick for a second before, but now there is uncertainty. The uncertainty hits both almost simultaneously, because in the other cell Dick is thinking almost the exact same thing about Perry. Dick agonizes over the fact that Perry might already have left it out. Then he becomes angry and says, “Perry, if he lost his nerve and let fly, could put them both in The Corner. And suddenly he saw the truth: It was Perry he ought to have silenced.” (228). He seriously considers, however late, that he left a loose end and Perry would give them both up. He thought of him as a friend and partner now his fear leads to paranoia and then his judgment on what to do becomes murky with other thoughts. Dick is a hypocrite that tries to justify his situation with blaming someone else.

As Dick and Perry become further apart they soon realize the way they truly feel about each other, finally recognizing their differences. Dick and Perry growing up under completely different circumstances realize that they are not one in the same, sharing no common traits. As Dick realized his distaste for Perry he became more annoyed with the thought of him. While planning his escape in from jail he came to the conclusion as to where he would run off to. As he thought about his glorious future place he made a note to himself that he did not wish to share this luxury with Perry. When thinking about exactly this, he states, “…head to Colorado mountains, and find there a cabin where he could hide until spring (alone, of course; Perry’s future did not concern him)” (263). Dick has completely lost interest in Perry now that he has used Perry to his benefit. Perry, not knowing that Dick has turned on him entirely, turns on Dick as well because he realizes that Dick cannot be trusted. Perry, though at first was determined to continue his life with Dick, showed no sign of caring for Dick after he came to his senses. As Perry plans his escape, he states, “What about Hickock? All preparations must include him” (265). Being naïve he still should signs of affection for his only friend, but he soon saw the light and grasped the fact that Dick was ultimately not truly his friend. Perry soon begins to put down Dick and shows no remorse for him. When he talks about his statement, he says, “I wanted to fix Dick for being such a coward” (255). This shows that Perry no longer has remorse for his so called friend and the two have completely turned on one another.

Dick Manipulating Perry

Dick is undeniably a creepy figure capable of manipulation to get whatever he wants. This, combined with Perry’s reliability on others proves to be his ultimate downfall. Perry is a capable person, but still has to rely on others, and in this case Dick. Perry is described as, “[Perry] was still (and wasn’t it incredible, a person of intelligence, his talents?) an urchin dependent, so to say, on stolen coins” (193). Perry probably could have done the crime himself had his need for people not gotten in his way. Therefore his life depends on the “stolen coins”, or in other words he needs others to live or else he would die. Although Perry is dependent on others, Dick can manipulate him very easily. Dick power came from a smart use when the situation called for it, “Dick was a ‘blowhard’; his toughness, as Perry had come to know, existed solely in situations where he unarguably had the upper hand” (193). Dick controls Perry with the precise use of his power when he has the advantage. The malevolence of a person who would do this to someone else is appalling; especially for the partners they appear to be. Then finally Dick knows that he is in control, and doesn’t really consider Perry on equal ground with him. As a representation of his power we see that, “Dick grinned, and said, ‘Come on. We’re eating again’” (194). The grinning is the first sign that he knows who has the power; it becomes visible physically to the reader that the smile is creepy and meant to be more of a smirk. And secondly the way he talks to Perry. His diction is of a command to do something. Perry still follows without question. Dick is a master of manipulation like Capote himself.

The Trial: Part II

Capote uses Dick's former cellmate, Floyd Wells, and Dick's lawyer, Harrison Smith, effectively to cast a dark image on Hickock. His well-rehearsed story reveals an "established premeditation of great degree," (283). (Premeditation of murder qualifies it as murder in the first degree in American courts). This casts quite a poor light on Dick, as not only a murderer but premeditated murderer and burglar. Capote's quick and effective use of this bit of information makes the reader continue to dislike Dick. Dick's snappy lawyer also makes us dislike Dick a bit more. He snaps questions at Floyd such as, "Don't they call you 'Squealer' now? or do they cal you 'Snitch'?" and, "Some of those times for lying, were they?" (284). His accusatory tone does not bode well in the readers eyes. It makes the reader dislike the layer, and in essence Dick. Floyd's calm and measured responses make us cheer for him. Capote not only uses the characters themselves, but those who have connections to them to change the reader's feelings about the characters.

After Dick and Perry go to jail, they change very little. After they are put in jail Capote continues to make the reader like Perry, but not Dick. Dick stays to be what he always has been, a cold-hearted middle-aged man with no regrets, while Perry continues to be a caring person. Both prisoners make a plan to escape, while Dick is explaining his plan, Dick states, “alone of course; Perry’s future did not concern him.” This shows that he blames Perry for being caught and is another way Capote makes the reader not like Dick after he is arrested. But when Perry is telling what his plan is to escape, Perry states, “What about Hickock? All Preparations must include him.” This is Capote making Perry seem like a good person and to make the reader feel bad for him. Another example of Capote making the reader sorry for Perry is when he is kept in the ladies jail. This was the first time that any man had ever been kept in the ladies stall and Capote does this because of all of the other references to Perry being a woman, and for the reader to feel bad for him. While Perry and Dick are in Jail, Capote continues making you feel bad for Perry, while making you dislike Dick because of their ideas about escaping and where Perry is put while in jail.

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.

As Perry’s desire for friendship increases he appears more pathetic, causing even more to have sympathy for lost man. Perry, after being captured and taken back to Kansas for a trail, was separated from the one person he truly believed was his friend, Dick. As the separation between the two became continuous, Perry missed Dick and felt as though he had no companion. He yearned for a friend as he sat alone in the women’s cell. He did whatever he could to pass the time, but seemed not to be able to. While writing in his daily journal one day he caught the sight of a squirrel and from then on that squirrel became his only friend. Mrs. Meier, the undersheriff’s wife, described Perry’s interaction with the squirrel, saying, “Perry taught him several trick: to play with a paper ball, to beg, to perch on Perry’s shoulder” (254). This interaction between the squirrel and Perry showed a longing for friendship. It became even clearer that Perry was friendless when he finally realized his fate. As he wrote about his fate he stated, “The rich never hang. Only the poor and friendless” (257). Perry has now realized that he is friendless and will be for the remainder of his life. Mrs. Meier becomes sympathetic towards Perry as she recognizes his depression and lonely demeanor. She continuously showed him sympathy, one her many ways being making him Spanish rice, Perry’s favorite dish. At one of the trails the one person that was least expected to have sympathy for Perry did, Mrs. Hickock. After hearing multiple things that had gone on throughout Perry’s life and about his attempt of changing his statement for her family’s well being, she became sadden for the man. She stated, “And this boy Perry. It was wrong of me to hate him; I’ve got nothing but pity for him now” (288). In the end Perry’s friendless and terrible fate caused more to have deep sympathy for him.

Mr. and Mrs. Hickock, continuing to believe Dick is still their wonderful and talented little boy, become blind to the fact that their son has become a threat to society. As the Hickock’s continuously attempt to reassure themselves on how well they raised their son, they fall deeper into denial. When hearing of the situation that his son has gotten into, Mr. Hickock, though on his death bed, urgently goes to care for his son. While there he listens to Dick’s side of the story and feeds off of his every word, truly believing his son’s account. As he speaks to reporter, he gives thoughts about the circumstances, stating, “I seen Dick…We had a long talk. And I guarantee you it’s not like people say…Those boys didn’t go to that house planning to do violence. My boy didn’t…Smitty’s the one. Dick told me he didn’t even know it when Smitty attacked the man” (259). Mr. Hickock, being naïve to his son’s manipulation, believed his son’s account without question. Mr. Hickock even looks pass the fact that his son planned on robbing the hard working family; thus causing the murder in the Clutter home to even take place, but only takes in full account the fact that Dick did not commit the actual murders. Mr. Hickock continues to disbelieve that his son is any danger, although evidence given that proves it is true. Mr. Hickock, an observer at the trail held against his son, sits through testimonies, but still attempts to blame others for Dick’s fate. During Richard Rohleder, the photographer who took pictures of the Clutter’s dreadful state, testified, so to prove that Dick and his companion are monstrous. The picture contained a bloody foot print left by Dick and although this was shown Mr. Hickock was still in disbelief, not believing that his son to be a monster. Instead of allowing himself to believe the worst in his son, Mr. Hickock blames the judge for being prejudice against his son and continues to say, “No sense. Just no sense having a trail” (281). Mr. Hickock’s emotions and phrase showed a double meaning he was convinced that his son was not guilt, but believed that this son was ultimately doomed. Mrs. Hickock, who was not as blind as her husband, but truly smitten over her son, could not see pass reality, still picturing Dick as a boy. Like her husband, she too was spoken to by a reporter. While speaking to the reporter she had spoken continuously about her son as a child. As she spoke, Mrs. Hickock stated, “Dick was the best-natured little kid…There’s a lot more to Dick than what you hear back there in the court room” (287). By failing to see that her son is no longer that child that she still images him being, she also fails to see that he is no longer the same person, but a dangerous asset to society.

After Dick and Perry were arrested for murder, there was an elected jury to hear their case and decide whether or not the death penalty should be issued to them. The jury is picked on the idea that Perry and Dick should be executed because of the kinds of people that are elected to be jurors. While electing the jury, the book states, “another twenty won dismissal either because they opposed capital punishment or because they had admitted to having already formed a firm opinion regarding to the guilt of these defendants.” Both of these reasons that some people were dismissed are because of the fact that the state believes they will hold back the death penalty. Either because they opposed it, or because they had already made a decision, and therefore wouldn’t pay attention to the evidence presented and this is where the prosecution wants to show they deserve the death penalty. Therefore, they believe that all twenty will not issue the death penalty, so in return they are not invited to be jurors. Another example of the state picking people that will issue the death penalty is when the book is describing the people picked for the job. The book sates, “They were all family men, and were more affiliated with one or another of the local churches.” First, this quote shows that the people picked for the jury are family people, and Dick and Perry killed a family, so the state is hoping that these people will have no mercy toward the killers. Second, this quote says that everyone was affiliated with the church, and even though it says that the preacher of the church was still against the death penalty, neither Dick or Perry were very religious, and therefore the state is hoping this is another way the jurors will have no mercy toward the killers. The state obviously wants Dick and Perry to be killed, and the way that they pick the jurors is in a way that will give them the best chance to have Dick and Perry executed.

Their Plan to Escape

Perry continues to portray Dick as a heartless while portraying Perry as kinder and more thoughtful. Both of their plans to escape are vastly different. Dick chooses a quite a violent, but not very well thought out plan. While in his cell, he creates “‘Shiv,’ an instrument very like an icepick—something that would fit with lethal niceness between the shoulder-blades of Undersheriff Meier,” (263). Here Dick’s brutal plan to kill the undersheriff does not seem to be very well thought out. There is no evidence of further planning, just where he will go when he escapes. Perry’s plan however seems much less violent and better thought out. He draws maps, plots the best places at “which a ‘getaway car’ could most advantageously be stationed,” (265). He also has concerns about the two men whom the plan depends on. On the back of the map he writes, “But do you realize the consequences if you get caught (nod your head if you do)? It could mean a long stretch in prison. Or you might get killed.” (265). His plans show that Perry is more thoughtful about what happens to those involved in the escape plan. He doesn't want the two innocent men he keeps seeing outside the window to get in trouble. Dick's plan also makes him seem heartless. He plans on going to the Colorado mountains, "alone, of course; Perry's future did not concern him," (263). He seems to be thoughtless about Perry's well being. For one half of a pair that has just spent so much time together, to not care about the other half is quite cold-blooded. Capote makes Perry once again seem kinder and more thoughtful where it is concerned with Dick. On the back of the map, he notes "What about Hickock? All preparations must include him," (265). The kindhearted Dick feels that it is necessary to include his partner-in-crime to his more thoughtful plan of escape. Capote once more makes Perry seem the better of the two.

Family

Perry comes from a rough child hood whereas Dick had the support of his family when he was growing up which makes an immense difference on the character of a person when they grow up between a murderer and someone who just wants attention. When Dick and Perry have to write a diary entry to the psychiatrist Dick’s background story differs from Perry. Dick initiative was more about going to rape the young Clutter girl and he writes, “I think the main reason I went there was not to rob them but to rape the girl. Because I thought a lot about it. That is one reason why I never wanted to turn back when we started to. Even when there was no safe.” (278). Dick’s motive in the whole scandal wasn’t about the money or killing the family but more the fact that he needed to fill his sexual desires. Dick’s entry to the psychiatrist described his young life as pretty normal. He was a varsity athlete, managed his grades pretty well, and his parents rarely argued. Instead of having a rough family life, he emphasized more on the idea of his girlfriend and how he never touched her. Dick also talked about his marriage then went down the drain (278). Perry’s story talked his mother cheating on his father and how they use to fight all the time. His father use to beat him and he was always scared. He wrote “I was fightfully scared because I thought my father was going to hurt me.” (274). Perry didn’t have stable relationships growing up like Dick. When Dick was growing up he was focused on school, sports and girls like the average teenager. Perry spent his time worried about when he would get beat up by his parents, fighting in the wars and where was going to live. In the end though Dick doesn’t end up killing the Clutters but Perry does. The role of having a family and where you are brought up defines a person when they get older. Perry was use to violence where Dick just needed someone to build his self esteem.

Who's stronger?

Throughout In Cold Blood Dick was initially the one pushing the idea of killing the Clutters, acting like the stronger person, but underneath it all Dick is in actuality the weaker one of Dick and Perry by the end of the book. Perry had always been the more sensitive of the two throughout the story and took the role of the woman. When he is separated from Dick in jail he misses him. Perry looked to Dick when he didn’t know what to do but Perry had begun to see through Dick. In Perry’s diary he writes, “Dick was not the ‘hardrock' he'd once thought him: ‘pragmatic,’ ‘virile,’ ‘a real brass boy; he'd proven himself to be a ‘pretty weak and shallow’ a coward”(259). This really showed through on the night of the murder when Dick wouldn’t kill the Clutters. Before the murder Perry would never have called Dick a coward or shallow. Now Dick was more into raping girls, like Nancy, then killing the family. Even the psychiatrist noted, “His self-esteem is very low and he secretly feels inferior to others and sexually inadequate.” (295). Throughout the whole book we get the persona that Dick is a murderer with no soul when really he’s just a very shallow person looking for love from others. Dick use to be a role model for Perry, someone he could look to for answers but now Perry seemed to be stronger. I’m not sure I would call him stronger but more braver of the two. Perry has a lot of personal issues, but so does Dick. Dick finds it necessary to rape girls to make him happy and Perry only killed the Clutter family to prove to Dick he was a strong person. Dick and Perry both show signs of weakness but Perry looked to Dick as a criminal, someone who didn’t give a care in the world what he did, but now he saw Dick as a weak person.

Mental Stability

Throughout In Cold Blood Perry continually is asking himself how could a normal person kill people and by the end of the book the psychiatrist announces Dick as normal and can’t put an answer on Perry showing that Perry may not be blamed for the murder. In the earlier parts of the book always tells Perry he’s normal. He says, “I’m a normal.” (93). Dick doesn’t feel any guilt wanting to kill a family whereas Perry can’t believe he would do such a thing. Perry says, “Deep down, way, way rock-bottom, I never thought I could do it. A thing like that.” (111). Perry can’t believe what he’s done, it’s like reality escaped him at the time of the murder and he got way into his actions then actually thinking through what he was doing. The fourth part of In Cold Blood spends an ideal amount of time discussing the psychiatric state of Dick and Perry. In the trial when the psychiatrist is asked if Dick is normal he says yes (294) and he says he doesn’t have an answer for Perry (296). The psychiatrist says, “Perry shows definite signs of severe mental illness. His childhood, related to me and verified by portions of the prison records, was marked by brutality and lack of concern on the part of both parents. He seems to have grown up without direction, without love and without ever having absorbed any fixed sense of moral values.” (297). Perry was never taught right from wrong and the psychiatrist thinks it could have an affect on why he killed the Clutters. Overall the rest of the note from the psychiatrist notes many problems for Perry whereas Dick knew what he was doing when he killed the Clutters. The reality of the matter is that Dick didn’t actually kill the Clutters and Perry did.. Perry couldn’t be blamed for the murder because he is mentally unstable and Dick pushed him into a situation he didn’t want to do in the first place. Perry knows there is something wrong with him and Dick knows he’s completely normal. The diagnosis from the psychiatrist was given the first time Dick called himself normal and the first time Perry second guesses killing the Clutters. Capote is always trying to find ways to show Perry as more of an innocent person.

In the fourth part of In Cold Blood, during the trial, Capote makes the murderer of the Clutter family, Perry Smith seem understanding, sympathetic to others, and shows a humane side as he protects the reputation of his partner-in-crime. The statement Perry Smith originally gives Detective Alvin Dewey, states that he killed Kenyon and Herb Clutter while Dick killed Nancy and Bonnie Clutter. Perry has this cleared at the trial when Dewey states, “He said everything else in that statement was true and correct. Except these two things. And that was that he wanted to say he killed Mrs. Clutter and Nancy Clutter—Not Hickock. He told me that Hickock…didn’t want to die with his mother thinking he had killed any members of the Clutter family. And he said the Hickocks were good people. So why not have it that way” (286). Perry acts selflessly as he comes clean about killing the entire family. Aside from simply telling the truth about who killed whom, Perry confesses to the killings to protect Dick’s mother, his partner-in-crime. Perry has met both of Dick’s parents, and admires them. By including this detail of why Perry confessed to all of the killings, Capote makes Perry seem like an innocent man, when he really is the guilty murderer that killed an entire family.

In Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, Capote gives detailed descriptions of the prisons Dick and Perry are kept in after being arrested for the crime of murdering the Clutter family. By describing Dick’s comfortable state in the regular county jail compared to the lonely and dreary condition Perry endures while kept in the women’s cell, Capote makes the reader feel even more sympathy for Perry as Capote has already made Perry seem like the pitiful innocent one of the two murderers.

In the beginning of the fourth part of the book, Capote describes the jail cell where Perry is held as being boring and lonely. Perry sees that Mr. Hickock, Dick’s father spent three hours at the county jail visiting Dick. After witnessing this, Capote writes that, “Neither Perry Smith’s father nor sister wrote him or came to see him….Except for the squirrel, except for the Meiers and an occasional consultation with his lawyer, Mr. Fleming, Perry was very much alone” (259). Perry has been with Dick for the past year. From traveling together across the states and trying to outrun the law, Perry was rarely alone; he always had a close companion. Now that Perry is thrown into the woman’s jail cell all alone, he can only entertain himself with his own solitude and haunting thoughts. His boredom reaches a level where his main activities of the day include training a squirrel he sees outside his window and cleaning his table and folding his blankets. On the other hand, Dick, being held in the regular men’s county jail, is still upset about his current situation, but he seems better than Perry because he is not alone. Capote describes Dick’s prison situation as being, “But he [Dick] was not isolated, there were people to talk to, a plentiful turnover of drunkards, forgers, wife-beaters, and Mexican vagrants; and Dick, with his light-hearted “con-man” patter, his sex anecdotes and gamy jokes, was popular with the inmates” (262). Where Perry is going mad from boredom and isolation, Dick is receiving long visits with his father and making new friends in jail. By showing the contrast between the two situations, Capote makes the reader feel that this setup is unfair. He wants the reader to form the opinion he formed when investigating the crime by thinking that Perry, the kinder more sensitive man deserves a nicer cell with other people surrounding him. Dick, the obnoxious pervert is not worthy of a cell and other prison inmates to bond with. Once the reader understands Capote’s intentions and sees that Perry should be held in the regular jail with people to talk to, they feel bad for Perry. From Capote’s biased perspective, the reader feels that the innocent and sensitive man is punished unfairly while the awful ruthless man is treated better, and in a sense, rewarded with new friends.

In the fourth part of In Cold Blood, Capote uses biblical references to make the reader understand the inevitable failure of the characters Dick and Perry. While Perry is kept in the women’s cell at the Finney County Courthouse, he recalls the time he spent with Dick before being separated. Since their imprisonment, Dick and Perry have not spoken. Capote writes of Perry’s remembering as, “Still, of everyone in all the world, this was the person [Dick] to whom he was closest at that moment, for they at least were of the same species, brothers in the breed of Cain” (259-260). Capote compares Dick and Perry to the biblical character Cain, who commits the first murder ever by killing his brother, Abel. Capote describes them as being “brothers in the breed of Cain” which refers to the other characters in literature such as Grendel who are given a disastrous fate because they are born in the murderous line of Cain. This gives an explanation for the dangerous and violent behavior and lifestyle the two murderers live. If it is out of their control that they are doing such horrible things, then the reader cannot help but feel that Dick and Perry are less responsible for their actions since they are destined to be evil.

Punishment

Throughout the letter that Perry writes to the psychiatrist, he continually emphasizes that everything in his childhood that he has done or witnessed that is wrong, there has been a punishment in return for the wrong thing that has been done, but these punishments always consist of being beaten and because of this, Perry never learns the meaning of consequences. After Perry’s older brother told Perry was too small to play with his BB gun, the book states, “I grabbed it and held it to my brother’s ear and hollered BANG!” After he shoots his brother in the head he is severely beaten by one of his parents and forced to apologize. This quote shows that Perry is not taught a lesson after breaking out in a violent way, because he is only beaten. The second example of Perry only being beaten as a punishment is when he lives with the Nuns and wets the bed consistently. While Perry was staying with the Nuns, Perry states, “I had weak kidneys and wet the bed every night…I was severely beaten by the cottage mistress.” This quote shows that for a thing that Perry could not even control, he was beaten for and this shows that after he did another thing that was wrong, instead of learning a lesson, he was beaten. And this caused him not to learn the meaning of consequences. Perry was never introduced to a healthy way to release his anger, and therefore never learns the meaning of consequences because he is constantly beaten. And this is why he lives a life of crime with no worries and eventually kills four people.

In this final section of the novel Capote gives the reader a sense of sympathy for Perry due to that he soon will die. Capote adds the details of Perry wanting to kill himself by use of cutting and starvation so that he will not hav to die by hanging. Whereas Dick almost sees this time in jail as a nonchalant leisure time. Dick in his spare time whistles showtunes and makes vulgar jokes and puns to entertain others, Dick truly does not see the true value of human life. Dick thinks only about his life, and even his life he does not give full respect to. Perry as he thinks in his jail cell finally gets a sense of the value of not only his life, but the life of others. This could very well be him showing off his false facade, yet the reader could infer that Perry was truly sorry for what he had done to the Clutters. Dick just would like to get out of the whole mess of the trial and death sentence due to that he actually was not the man that had pulled the trigger, yet without Dick the murders would no thave taken place.

Dick And Perry's feelings of being inferior

Dick and Perry within the fourth part of In Cold blood have shown that the feel that they are inferior humans to the "normal" people. These two men believe that they need to take and ruin the lives of these "normal" people so that they can feel fufilled and happy. " Despite the violence in their lives, all of the men had ego-images of themselves as physically inferior, weak and inadequate"(299). This wuotation as stated in the scene of Dick and Perry's trial show how these two meneven through past experiences in their lives portray the emotion of subserviency to the "normal' inhabitants of the world. The quotation also shows how Dick and Perry are portrayed as less than human as animals, and that the world is against them. Dick's false facade of being a tough guy is very transparent and one can see the true and cowardess nature of this man. Perry has in some ways come to terms with his fate. Perry ses what he has done as "unforgiveable" and he is truly going to die for his horrid crime.

A common theme throughout this last section of In Cold Blood is the murderers’ lack of respect for human life. Dick, Perry, and the other residents of Death Row all display a carefree attitude toward their crimes. Dick and Perry appear relaxed and untroubled while in the Garden City jail and during their trial and continue to give this impression while on Death Row. They are described as spending their time singing, reading and socializing. While he’s in jail, “…Hickock seemed to one and all an unusually untroubled young man” (262).When Perry describes his and Dick’s reactions after the murders to an investigator, he states that, “I think we both felt very high…Very high, and very relieved at the same time” (256). It seems as if the lives they ended had no effect on them, other than elation. Later, while speaking to his friend Donald Cullivan, Perry says: “Am I sorry?...I’m not. I don’t feel anything about it… nothing about it bothers me a bit” (291). Other residents of death row express similar feelings about their crimes. Dick says to Lowell Lee Andrews, “…You’ve got no respect for human life. Including your own” (318). Andrews agrees with this statement. The two newest residents of death row, Ronald York and James Douglas Latham, express no regret for their killing spree. York goes as far as saying, “Anyway, anybody you kill, you’re doing them a favor” (323).

Today, we are used to the idea of “not guilty by reason of insanity” and it seems standard to introduce psychiatric evidence into a trial. However, mental illness was not a factor in the trial of Dick Hickock and Perry Smith because of the M’Naghten Rule. “The M’Naghten Rule…recognizes no form of insanity provided the defendant has the capacity to discriminate between right and wrong” (316). There were at least two doctors who agreed that Perry Smith was a paranoid schizophrenic, but none of this evidence was allowed to be introduced because of the M’naghten Rule. Judge Tate followed the law precisely when the defense attorneys brought up a psychiatric evaluation, “He did exactly all the law demanded by appointing a commission of three Garden City doctors and directing them to pronounce a verdict upon the mental capacities of the prisoners” (268). The law stated that prisoners could be evaluated by any medical doctor, not necessarily a psychiatrist, and this is all the judge allowed. One of the defense attorneys did locate a psychiatrist, Dr. W. Mitchell Jones, willing to interview the defendants, however, when Dr. Jones testified, the judge limited him to yes or no answers.

In “The Corner”, the fourth and final section of Truman Capote’s non-fiction novel, In Cold Blood, it becomes obvious right away that there is no way that Dick and Perry can receive a fair trial. There is simply too much pressure from the community to not only convict them and but also to sentence them to death. Well before the trial even begins the county attorney makes a statement to the press that he would request that, “…the jury, upon finding them [(Dick and Perry)] guilty, sentence them to the death penalty” (257). The attorney goes on to explain that, in his opinion, “…the only way the public can be absolutely protected is to have the death penalty set against these defendants” (258). The attorney makes it clear that to him, life imprisonment is not an option because, “…persons sentenced to life imprisonment actually serve, on the average, less than fifteen years” (258). By stating this publicly, he fuels the fears of the community and encourages people to believe that there is only one way to be safe—hang Dick and Perry. Before the trial begins Dick’s father had an opportunity to talk to his son in jail. After his visit he spoke to a reporter. He tells the reporter, “How it is, the way folks feel, he don’t stand no chance. They’ll hang them both” (259). Dick himself is “…convinced that such a ceremony [(hanging)] would be the outcome of any trial…” (262). During jury selection, one potential juror says of capitol punishment, “ordinarily I’m against it. But in this case, no” (273). In spite of this obvious prejudice against Dick and Perry, this man is selected to be a juror. While there is no doubt that Dick and Perry are guilty—both have confessed to the murders—public opinion and pressure from the community have already decided the outcome of the trial before it starts.

Capote’s undeniable affection for the prisoners begins to show in the final pages. He was so careful to keep himself out of the narrative up to this point, he allows himself to appear twice in a conversation with Dick, in one of the last scenes of the book. At this point in the book he was much more connected with Perry and Dick than ever, and at last he seems to acknowledge his own writing as shaping some of the events in the story. He allows himself to appear in the story because of many years, he was sitting on the sideline never giving himself time to be heard in the novel. He obviously wrote it, but he never got to write exactly his conversations and interactions with Dick and Perry, telling it like it really happened, a narrative between he and the murderers. I feel that he finally injects himself into the story because he needs the readers to finally read about a conversation that he had with the two men, exactly the way that it happened. 

Capote increasingly refers to Perry and Dick as Smith and Hickock as the execution date nears. Using last names, Capote is symbolically representing the distancing effect the trial has on the characters. The trial refers to them by their last names, and the Dick and Perry of the rest of the novel fade into courtroom entities. In many ways, this difference in name usage represents the fact that the trial and the book are otherwise similar. Although the trial is official, Capote's book is in many way a second trial, an attempt to make the average reader sympathize with Dick and Perry, or at least to make the reader understand the tragedy of their deaths. This removes the reader from the criminals. This is because as the story moves along we become attached to Perry and Dick and that is how we refer to them, not as Smith and Hickock. The use of last names is something that people use formally if they have never met someone, or to someone higher up than them. But at this point in the story, we have gotten to know Dick and Perry, we have followed their life journies up until the moment that they are hanged. We know them on a level that warrants us to call them Dick and Perry as opposed to Hickock and Smith. Capote implements these new “names” for them because he is also fading away from them and calling them Hickock and Smith seems to push them farther away. They are no longer someone who we call by their first names, as we no longer want to be so connected to them, this is the end for Perry and Smith, so as they leave us it is easier to call them Hickock and Smith making them less personable to all of those reading. 

In particular, the murder of Herb Clutter becomes clear: the father of the Clutter family symbolized, for Perry, all the frustrations and missed opportunities of his own life. As he says later in the book, “I didn't have anything against them, and they never did anything wrong to me--the way other people have all my life. Maybe they're just the ones who had to pay for it." Herb Clutter represents a key figure in some past traumatic configuration: his father? The orphanage nuns who had derided and beaten him? The hated army sergeant? The parole officer who had ordered him to ‘stay out of Kansas’? One of them, or all of them” (302). As well, Perry’s trance-like state while committing the murders is accounted for as a common experience of those with his background and psychological disposition. When Perry is psychologically tested, he shows definite signs of severe mental illness. Because he was neglected as a child, he has developed a paranoia and fear for everyone else in the world. This is shown because he is easily triggered by any feeling of being tricked, slighted or labeled inferior to others. 

Perry believes that his lack of money and friends are his main flaws, so if he spends his life trying to dispel his loneliness and poverty. Throughout the book Perry follows dick around despite Dick’s poor treatment of him because he simply wants a friend. Perry became active in theft at a young age and it was to gain money that he went to the Clutter’s in the first place. In jail Perry comes to the conclusion that, “‘The rich never hang. Only the poor and friendless.’” (257). Knowing he fills both these categories in his final days Perry desperately attempts to gain what he has lacked his whole life, a friend. In a desperate attempt to make a friend, Perry notes in his diary that he tried to talk with Dick’s father: “Said hello when I saw him go past [the cell door] be he kept going” (258). Again in his diary Perry remarks that he has, “Many thoughts of Dick” (259). But sadly neither of these attempts at connecting with someone come to life. After a long life of striving for friendship Perry is elated when he finally finds what he is looking for: “Here was someone offering help, a sane and respectable man who had once known and liked him, a man who signed himself friend” (262). Perry believes that finding this new friend will help him because a friend is what he lacks in his life. But attempting to collect money and make friendships has not, despite what he may think, previously benefited Perry and this time is no exception.

Perry’s inability to accept God compared to the devoted Donald Cullivan shows a deep ideological difference between Perry and most other characters, the inclusion of this distinction shows that the people in Kansas will never be able to understand Perry’s motives because they simply think different than him. Religion is at the center of the town of Holcomb. People are expected to go to church and there is even a chaplain at the hanging of Perry and Smith (339). Perry however does not believe in religion at all. When Donald thanks God before the meal we see that Perry does not believe it was Gods doing: “Perry murmuringly remarked that in his opinion any credit due belonged to Mrs. Meier” (289). Perry is not religious and does not believe in God. He cannot even accept Donald telling him that he soul could be saved. Not believing in religion creates a major difference in Perry’s thinking compared to the other characters we see in In Cold Blood. Donald presents a religious belief that Perry cannot handle: “I believe in the life everlasting. All souls can be saved for God” (288). Donald, in being Perry’s friend in his time of need, wishes to save Perry’s soul. But Perry does not believe there is such a thing out that there will save his soul, or one that created it. The people of Holcomb think in terms of religion and base their society around it. Perry, not believing in any of it thinks completely different then they do and so no matter how much they ponder the people of Holcomb will never be able to understand why Perry committed the murders.

Dicks true colors

As on transitions to the fourth and final part of In Cold Blood we see that Dick is no the heartless pervert that he is portrayed to be in the prior sections. We see this change in Dick when he and Perry are captured by the police and are in their cells in jail. As they are being questioned Perry sees the change in Dick in how he is actually a weak person. "Dick was not the "hardrock' he'd once thought him: "pragmatic," "virile," "a real brass boy; he'd proven himself to be a "pretty weak and shallow" a coward"(259). This quotation as stated from Perry's diary shows how Dick puts on a false facade to hide his true nature of a weak individual. He manipulates Perry and young girls to make himself feel strong, yet the fact of the matter is he is pathetic.Dick hides his insecurities by hurting others and use of manipulation. He hates being lectured and talked to about his problems due to that he feels that he can do what he needs to do by himself and no assiatance is needed. Dick is only witrh Perry to manipulate Perry and use him to do his will.