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
Willie-Jay utters to Perry, “You exist in a half-world suspended between two superstructures, one self-expression and the other self-destruction” (Page 43). When juxtaposed, it has an affect on the outlook of Perry, as it his contrasting him to be both self-destructive and have a strong sense of expression. When Willie-Jay expressed these words toward Perry, he set the words close together adding emphasis and importance to create a larger impact. This focal point represents that Perry lives in two separate worlds, and shows the masculine or compassionate side of him along with the contrasting side that Dick sees him to be.
While Perry is mortified that he and Dick could commit such a gruesome crime, Dick couldn’t care less. All Dick is worried about is how odd Perry is. Because of how quick Perry’s mood could change, Dick thought he was “spooky as hell.” Now, Perry wasn’t your average run of the mill man. He still wets the bed, cries in his sleep, and “could slide into a fury ‘quicker than ten drunk Indians’”.
(Page 108) In this quote, Dick uses Perry to hinder his own self- image. However, he often censures him for more irregular, and childish traits in comparison with which Dick considers himself to be normal. However, each man looks to one another for an oath of his own maturity. Capote uses a relating unrefined to when Dick and Perry talks in the book.
In doing so Capote invents a new genre of literature by telling the story through a new perspective. Capote as a writer chooses to put most of the focus of the book on the criminals, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith, particularly Smith. He follows Smith’s life story, and explains that Smith was abused as a child, and the reader is to infer that as a result he seeks approval from others. This approval is what leads him to kill, and invent stories about killing, as he wants Dick to think of him as macho. Capote provides a plethora of evidence to support this reasoning, “He was seven years old, a hated, hating half-breed child living in a California orphanage run by nuns- shrouded disciplinarians who whipped him for wetting his bed,” (93).
However, Perry honestly admired Willie Jay- he was the antithesis of Dick. Perry takes the both paths on the road of manipulation, but they do not meet at the end. Perry would have turned out much differently if he would not have begun following Dick because his actions heavily rely on who he is
Perry is disproving both of these statements by telling Dick off. Another example of the audience feeling more empathy for Perry because of Dick’s contrasting behavior is, “The letter was from Dick, and he said he was on to a cinch. The perfect score (44)”. Capote is using diction in this quote to cast a more relatable light on Perry. This shifts the blame of the murder to Dick, who construes this as an easy and consequence less opportunity.
Dick uses this fake alibi , while Perry couldn’t handle the stress of lying and told the truth about the murders. After this, both Alvin and Floyd went back to interrogating Dick to try and break his lying similar to Perry. After confessing, Dick switches the story up at the last minute saying that Perry was the one that killed the Clutters and he was only there to try and stop Perry. This lead to the official arresting of both Perry and Dick, but something about Perry gave Alvin sympathy for him, the more he looks into Perry’s life, the more he realizes none of this was his fault, but his bad family history setting him up for failure, but nonetheless, he will still have to be punished for murder. The news of the arrests are spread throughout Holcomb and to the town’s surprise, the murderers were not fellow citizens as they previously
Even though Dick said that he planned to kill the Clutters himself, he only wanted to rob them because he had heard of the safe that Floyd Wells had told him about and was thinking that killing the Clutters would only be an option if they were too stubborn to tell him the location of the safe. Dick may have watched Perry kill the Clutters but Dick never stopped him from doing so, making it seem like it was all Perry’s doing. The reason for Perry putting in the effort to kill the Clutters could be because he felt pressured due to the lie that Perry told him about killing a black man,
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
Dick doused the headlights, slowed down, and stopped until his eyes were adjusted to the moon-illuminated night. Presently, the car crept forward. This passage was chosen because it was what Dick and Perry were saying right before they went to the Clutter house and killed the family. I feel that this quote is an important one. To me I feel that it suggest's that the accused were out to commit a robbery, and had no original intent to kill the Clutters.
Capote portrays only one of these two seemingly distinct characters (Perry) in a way that the reader feels the need to relate to and even sympathize with him. One can be taken aback by such an attachment to a murderer. This is not surprising as the author uses his compassionate diction to manipulate the reader’s emotions with a use of pathos, the appeal to emotions. At one point Capote goes as far as to write that “Smith’s life had been no bed of roses,” (Capote 245) attempting to have the readers relate to Perry. On the other hand, Capote has Dick say this about himself: “Deal me out, baby, I’m a normal” (Capote 116).
The love that Perry felt for Dick was like being high on cocaine; the high only lasted for a short period, but the consequences were abiding. At one point in the novel, Perry compares Dick’s voice to a drug, “The sound of Dick’s voice was like an
In Search of Human Morality Although the past is generally portrayed as a recollection of mistakes, regrets and unfond memories, it does not define one’s self identity. This plot is explained in vivid detail in both novels The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a coming of age novel of an uncommon bond between two unlikely friends who separate due to the increasing religious and political tension in Afghanistan 's years of corruption. After several years, Amir, the protagonist, receives a call and a familiar voice reminds his that there is a way to be good again. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald bases in Long Island, New York in the Nineteenth Twenties where
The Great Gatsby Literary Analysis “They were careless people…” says Nick Carraway, the narrator of The Great Gatsby. In a story depicting the 1920s during a time of prosperity, growth, and the emergence of the America as a major global power, this statement may seem to be contrary. But in reality, Nick Carraway’s description of his friends and the people he knew, was not only true, but is an indication of those who were striving for the American dream. F. Scott Fitzgerald suggests that the American Dream is foolish, the people who pursue it are immoral and reckless, and this pursuit is futile. First, F. Scott Fitzgerald proposes that the American dream is foolish.
