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Psychological factors underlying criminal behavior
Psychological factors underlying criminal behavior
Psychological factors underlying criminal behavior
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Throughout the book "In Cold Blood," the characters of Dick and Perry undergo significant changes. At the beginning of the book, they are portrayed as cold-blooded killers who show little remorse for their actions. However, as the story progresses, we see a more complex side to their personalities. One of the most significant changes in the characters of Dick and Perry is their relationship with each other.
Pages 92-93 In Cold Blood describes how both Dick and Perry had symbolic dreams and how these dreams had some sort of meaning into their live hood. Dick has been having a dream about him appearing in a jungle and in front of him there’s a diamond tree, but there’s a snake that protects the tree. “That’s why I’m there- to pick myself a bushel of diamonds, but I know the minute I try to… a snake is going to fall on me…” I believe the imagery in this detail explains how Dick is too scared to try because he believes everything won’t go as he plans and everything will crash down on him. Perry had the most meaningful dream. …”she went on hitting me in the dark, that the parrot appeared… a bird “taller than Jesus, yellow like a sunflower” a warrior-angel
Knowing is good, but knowing all is better. Based on an actual incident, Gary Paulsen's book Nightjohn showcases this life lesson. In the story young Sarny, a slave, is taught to read and write by a fellow slave, John. She knows that as a slave that reading is dangerous. But she takes that chance, because she knows wisdom is sharper than any weapon.
He says that he’s spooky and has a temper. Those two characteristics stick out to me, and makes me assume that Perry had a lot to do with the murders. Because of his strange personality, I thought Perry was hiding a secret brutal side. As I learned more about Perry’s past, though, I did sympathize with Perry more than I did with Dick. Perry went through abuse and a lot of emotional changes and that makes me think that that’s why he acts in such a spooky, quiet, suspicious way.
Though Perry mainly was concerned about the murder, he was also disgusted by and tried to stop Dick from molesting young girls. “Seducing pubescent girls, as he had done ‘eight or nine’ times in the last several years…” (Capote 201). Dick’s obsession with girls had nothing to do with how he was raised, he himself had never been sexually abused, and is something he continually did. It was in his nature to sexually harass children, just like it was in his nature to be compelled to murder.
Many readers of the novel In Cold Blood tend to believe that Perry’s conflict is with his partner, Dick, because he constantly talks down to and manipulates Perry. These readers however are wrong because Perry’s main conflict stems from the fact that he faced multiple complex traumas as a child which has led him to develop a mental illness. Perry continues to struggle with multiple effects of complex traumas such as dissociation, behavioral responses which are easily triggered, and difficulty or in ability to develop relationships with authority figures. These effects have stunted Perry’s ability to mature as an adult and have caused him to think impulsively and irrational throughout the novel.
Dick was the mastermind and instigator of the entire plan. Having already heard about the money from former cellmate Floyd Wells while in prison, Dick was not just interested in the money, but also about the teenage girl in the house whom he intends to rape. Dick used Perry as his personal servant using his mental illness as an advantage. Making him do his dirty work so just in case they got caught he could say he did not have anything to do with it. After the murder happened, Mr. Hickock showed no interest or even felt like discussing the murders.
Through diction, Capote strategically chooses his words to add normality to the characterization of Perry. As he walks out of a café, Perry looks like he is “...strutting on stunted legs that seemed grotesquely inadequate to the grown-up bulk they supported… like a retired jockey, overblown and muscle-bound” (Capote 15). Even when doing everyday tasks such as walking, Perry appears unexpectedly, unlike a typical criminal. The negative connotation of the words grotesquely inadequate, overblown, and muscle-bound aid the reader to grasp a depiction of the uniqueness of the character. Additionally, when Mrs. Hickock, Dick’s mother, meets Perry for the first time, she confirms that his looks do not necessarily match up to the crimes he commits.
Although Dick’s childhood has been much more “fortunate” than Perry’s, Dick still grows up to be the more immoral, and cold-hearted human being. For instance, the day after Dick and Perry had murdered the Clutter family, Perry feels very remorseful and cannot get out of bed while Dick simply carries on as if nothing had happened, and visits him parents’ house: “Perry had merely fallen face down across the bed, as though sleep were a weapon that had struck him from behind… A few miles north, in the pleasant kitchen of a modest farmhouse, Dick was consuming a Sunday dinner… his mother, his father, his younger brother—were not conscious of anything uncommon in his manner” (73). Dick is an absolute sociopath; that is not fazed by murder or anything.
Although he ended up being one of the murderers of the Clutter family, the readers often felt sorry for him. In the beginning of the novel the reader finds out that Perry was actually very nervous about committing the crime, he and Dick were on the road to do. Capote made it seem like Perry
One: "We were understanding and communicating, as surely and clearly as two old friends..." "The coyote was laughing at me for being so many different things at once, and I was laughing at him for being so different and brave to come sit next to me, a man; a man with a rifle." "I am certain that if I had not begun speaking in my own language something even stranger would have happened." Bass encounters a coyote atop Z-Mountain, one whom he communicates with through various cries of sadness. It is in their communication where they each seem to drift, from their own world, and into each other's, trying to better understand. It is in this magical moment between the two where Bass gains the trust of the coyote.
Children have never been very good at listening, but are very good at intimidating. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor, after obtaining an abundance of knowledge unknowingly created a creature that would soon seek revenge due to his feeling of rejection. Victor had been loved unconditionally by his parents. However he was not given the direction and reinforcement he desired while he was growing up. Victor was allowed to quarantine himself by his parents, rather than being educated to a better life.
These traumatic events may have contributed to Perry’s psychopathic tendencies, however, throughout his life, Perry seems to have more schizophrenic tendencies than psychopathic. On the contrary, Dick seems to have more psychopathic tendencies than Perry. He often enjoys killing dogs with his car, and feeling no remorse, a characteristic very typical of
Although Perry is responsible for the murder of four innocent people, Perry’s actions do not reflect on who he is as a person because he is easily influenced, therefore; showing how easily people can be pressured into doing something they would not typically do. Dick, a violent, cold-hearted, manipulator, has molded Perry into the person he is today. As Perry is a follower, Dick has taken advantage of that by turning Perry into the cold-blooded killer he is today. Capote displays Dick’s manipulation of Perry through symbolism to make evident that while Perry did pull the trigger on four innocent people, although the fault does not entirely lay on him, as he was taken advantage of by Dick.
While Dick’s attempt to profit from Perry originates from a lie that Perry creates in order to gain Dick’s respect, the language that Capote uses to illustrate Dick’s exploitation does not leave room for excuses or sympathy. The tone indicates Dick has malicious intention in befriending Perry, which gives the readers a cynical impression of him. Furthermore, Dick is seen to be disregarding of the gravity of his crimes, especially as he replies to Perry’s comment, “I think there must be something wrong with us" (Capote 114) to commit the murder like they did, in which Dick replies, “Deal me out, baby, I'm a normal,” and continues to entertain the thought, “ But Perry—there
