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Character Analysis Of Perry Smith In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

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In Cold Blood is a novel based on true events of a murder written by Truman Capote. Perry Smith and Richard Dick, have committed murders of four family members of the Clutter family. From the beginning, it is obvious that the novel focuses on many characters and one becomes more interested in learning about how their personalities will open out during the novel. Several characters in the novel fit the description of the protagonist, including Perry, Dick and Herb Clutter. Therefore, the most expand the character and the obvious protagonist in the novel is Perry Smith as the narrative revolves so much around him.
The author constantly refers to Perry throughout the novel every time Capote wants to introduce a new perspective and therefore …show more content…

He blames society for the person he has become. His perception is that the society to blame is his mother, and the community should accept the punishment for the way he was treated by his mother and the during the time he spends in juvenile corrections facilities. Perry does not understand why he is facing the death penalty, yet he committed the crime at a point where he was “Predisposed to gross lapses in reality contact and extreme weakness in impulse control during periods of heightened tension and disorganization” (301). In this aspect, Perry tries to show that he is not guilty of the crime because he could not control his instincts. Perry’s sister, Barbara viewpoint is that if any person kills somebody and had the intent and you know you have done something wrong, you are guilty and should take responsibility for your actions. Barbara states “Your letter implies that the blame of all your problems is that of someone else, but never you. I do admit that you are intelligent, and your vocabulary is excellent, and I do feel you can do anything you decide to do and do it well but what exactly, so you want to and are you willing to work and make an honest effort to attain whatever it is you choose to do? Nothing good comes easy and I’m sure you’ve heard this many time but once more won’t hurt” (141). She points out that he needs to stop blaming the world for his problems and start taking his actions into his own hands. The author is challenging the capital punishment using psychology as his

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Everyone is born with the capability to do evil, however, the events and environment in our lives shape our psyche to such an irrefutably extreme extent that they define our character and our conscience, redefining what we see as right and wrong. Perry is very sensitive by nature due to his family’s troubles and his father’s behavior. The pressure that Perry feels to impress Dick, who he makes into a faux father figure, combined with the weight of his past push him to the breaking point which happens to be the Clutter murders. Perry was bound by his experience, he could never fully escape the horrors of his childhood as they were the limits of his apprehension. Regardless of Perry’s traumatic childhood, justice must be equally upheld to everyone, despite the differences in the ways we were raised.

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In Cold Blood by Truman Capote documents this murder case and focuses more on the killer´s perspective and how they are caught instead of the murder itself. Capote demonstrates through his documentation that anyone is capable of great evil regardless of their background, shown by Dick’s life decisions, Perry’s outbursts of rage, and Lowell Lee Andrews conviction. One of the assailants that was involved in the murder was Richard Hickock.

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Page 4-5 Destiny & Fate, Effects on dreams Destiny and fate correlates with the theme that dreams will fail and die. Characters do not decide their destiny. However, they do decide their dreams. A character's fate and destiny affects their dreams. Whether their dreams come true or not, has many contributing factors.

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The author portrays Perry Smith as the protagonist of the novel stress that there is no defined line of good and bad, rather a percentage in what is heard versus what is acted upon. There are many views of Perry Smith but the first is the one that imprints in the mind of those who hear it. Perry Smith is a murderer. He, though manipulated by his twisted counterpart Dick, single handedly killed Herb, Bonnie, Nancy, and Kenyon Clutter, without any reason or gain. The only gift he received was a rope tied in a bow around his

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(Capote 93). BY explaining the brutal beatings that Perry experienced can further show how Capote also uses direct statements from the trial to show how Perry’s abusive childhood altered his life forever. As explained in the book, “The History relating to extreme violence, weather fantasied, observed in reality, or actually experienced by the child, fits in with the psychoanalytic hypothesis that the child's exposure to overwhelming stimuli, before he can master them, is closely linked to early defects in ego formation and later severe disturbances in impulse control” (Capote 300). As explained in the passage, the history of the events that took place throughout Perry's life is “closely linked to early defects in ego formation and later severe disturbances in impulse control,”making it even more evident that the circumstances of the un nurturing abuse he went through corresponds to his future actions of murder. By explaining the brutality in which Perry grew up experiencing, Capote further backs the argument that Perry smith lacked the nurture it

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The book In Cold Blood highlights many societal and personal issues which in all honesty have never crossed my mind. Regardless, not one of these resonated with me more than the death penalty, which in my mind was without a doubt Capote’s intent. In specific the death penalty existing for individuals proven to be mentally insane or deemed mentally unfit, in other words they truly did not know any better. Capote indirectly argues the death penalty throughout the entire novel. An example of this is when Capote talks about the family members of the Clutters not wishing for the death penalty on the duo as even they believed it was too harsh a punishment.

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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

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Perry’s erratic spontaneous outbursts is what caused him to go through with the murders and slit Mr. Clutter’s throat which put him on the killing frenzy that ended the rest of the Clutters lives. Capote highlights Perry’s sociopathic tendencies by comparing them to that of Dicks Psychopathic tendencies which exemplifies how when put together they are at each others fault for the

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Throughout In Cold Blood, Truman Capote hints at his own opinion of the death penalty, yet lets the readers decide for themselves what they believe Hickock and Smith's punishment should have been. When the murderers are being hanged, a conversation occurs between a reporter and an investigator about what it might feel like to be hanged: "'They don't feel nothing. Drop, snap, and that's it. They don't feel nothing.' ' Are you sure?

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In the novel, In Cold Blood, Truman Capote chose his words in a subjective manner. Capote inaccurately described many characters in his novel. He based his writing on his feelings and emotions rather than facts and evidence. Capote characterized Richard Hickock, Perry Smith, and Bonnie Clutter falsely. Capote described Richard Hickock as a bloodthirsty, violent person yet he did not actually kill any of the Clutters.

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Truman Capote uses variety of language devices such as diction, similes and symbolism to vividly develop Perry Smith in his novel In Cold Blood and reveal aspects of the murder. Perry Smith is a sensitive, somewhat frightening and psychologically unstable character, but then again

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The non-fiction novel ‘In Cold Blood’ interestingly begins as a fiction novel would-with the author setting up the scene of the gruesome quadruple murder about to take place, unbeknownst to the victims. Capote describes the isolated flatlands of rural Kansas, and introduces the victims and their killers as if they were the main characters of a fictional murder mystery. What immediately struck me is how Capote uses literary techniques like the simultaneous narration of the lives of the killers and victims, and the fragmented retelling of the story not specifically in the order of events, which makes the story read more like a work of fiction than of pure journalism. As one gets engrossed in the book, it gets easier to forget that the story is based on truth and is not just a fictional story born in Capote’s head. Capote also demonstrates his mastery over the ‘thriller and suspense’ genre, detailing the Clutter family’s everyday lives, emotions and experiences but with progressively higher levels of anticipation as the pages go by, employing versions of the omnipresent phrase, ‘and that was their last’ for dramatic effect.

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