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Was Perry Smith Innocent

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Kyle Figueroa Mr. Paneralla March 19, 2023 Class 6 Honors English Perry Smith Is Innocent Due to Perry Smith's childhood in a harmful environment, where he was subjected to abuse and negative influences, it would be unjust to sentence him to death. Perry has a medical reason for his insanity, it is called schizophrenia. Perry has never had a true family, but he does get family-like people in his life like Dick. When he meets someone who treats him the way he wants to be treated he gets attached to them. Perry is innocent; he was influenced by Dick to do many horrifying things. Perry Smith was born on October 27, 1928, in Huntington, Nevada. “He looked as lonely and inappropriate as a seagull in a wheat field” (Capote 190).Perry appeared out …show more content…

Perry expresses himself and he regrets his lack of education and says that he wished he learned more in school. "no rule or discipline, or anyone to show me right from wrong" (Capote 273). Perry is reflecting on his troubled childhood and the lack of structure and guidance he had growing up. Perry's lack of guidance and discipline may have contributed to his later criminal behavior. In his confession, he described feeling like he didn't belong anywhere and that he had to take what he wanted because he had never been taught any other way to get ahead in life. "No, now, I'm not going to listen. Diamonds. Buried treasure. Wake up, little boy. There ain't no caskets of gold. No sunken ship. And even if there was -- hell, you can't even swim." (Page 142). This quote shows Dick influencing …show more content…

“As long as you live, there's always something waiting; and even if it's bad, and you know it's bad, what can you do? You can't stop living.” (Capote 88). This quote suggests that no matter what happens in life, there is always something else waiting, whether it be good or bad. Even if someone knows that what is waiting for them is bad, they cannot stop living and must face whatever comes next. “The walls of the cell fell away, the sky came down, I saw the big yellow bird.” (Capote 257). This quote refers to a moment of hallucination experienced by Perry Smith while he was in prison. The "big yellow bird" is a recurring image that appears throughout the book, and it is often interpreted as a symbol of hope or redemption for

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    Perry Smith and Dick Hickock were thieves who murdered, robbed, raped and committed fraud against the Clutters who had a homestead in Holcomb, Kansas on November 15, 1959 (Karrigan 1998). There motive was not revenge just but the lust for money

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Children at the same age as Perry, 13, will one day be in a home where they have to survive on their own, then the next they are in an orphanage. The mother of Perry Smith passed away soon after she left his father. The battle she fought was an enthusiastic battle with alcohol, the next day she lost and choked on her own vomit, this was probably the worst experience of Perry Smith’s life. When Perry Smith’s mother died, when she left the children, they moved into a Catholic orphanage where Perry got beaten for wetting the bed.

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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’”.

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Chief David L. Perry is the current Chief of Police at Florida State University (FSU), and formerly in Albany, GA and Clemson University. Chief Perry describes many situations that arise around a collegiate campus and what measures are being taken to ensure the safety of the FSU campus. The major emphasis throughout the presentation was on safety of the FSU campus. Early on in the presentation Chief Perry made the statement that a plentiful amount occurs behind the scenes that the students are unaware of.

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From the beginning, Dick had a detailed plan of how they would carry out the murders, and he made sure that Perry was on board with his ideas. The scary part of all of this is that Dick considered himself normal, by saying, “I’m a normal” (Capote 108). In the book, it is clear that Dick was the one in control, and Perry is merely following his lead. For example, when they first discussed the robbery, Dick said, "If it's going to be done, it's got to be done right. No slip-ups...

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This Quote represents Insanity (Sociopathy) because it shows both Perry’s killer natural way of thinking and it also shows Dick’s colossal use of them to get what he desires. Dick suffers brain damage he received from a concussion and Perry has paranoid schizophrenia . This could possibly contribute to their questionable mental state of mind. Some symptoms of insanity include : frequent lying, stealing , fighting , no guilt or remorse for anything whatsoever , breaking the law repeatedly , the ability to act charming and witty, disregarding of the safety of others, manipulating other people 's emotions, and inability to tolerate frustration . Both Dick and Perry poses some of these traits / symptoms which may lead us to believe they could

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While nurture may be the primary factor in deciding why Perry did what he did, his childhood does not excuse him from being prosecuted the the full extent of the law. The controversial debate of nature versus nurture may never be fully solved, however it is clear in the case of Perry Smith that his surroundings were the primary cause of his motivation to kill the Clutter family. Between his abusive family and the inmates at the Kansas State Penitentiary, the emotions convening inside of Perry fell too much to bear. Perry was a victim of his environment and projected the rejection he felt onto

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And at once he recognized his error: Dick would, of course, answer by asking, “How about the nigger?” When he’d told Dick that story, it was because he’d wanted Dick’s friendship, wanted Dick to “respect” him, think him “hard,” as much “the masculine type” as he had considered Dick to be”(Capote 111). Deep down Perry knows what they did was wrong. Based on the story the only reason that Perry was said fit to be Dicks

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Nonetheless if Perry got the right childhood he needed and deserved he would not have become a murderer. When growing up, all children depend on their parents for everything. However Perry Smith faced

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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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It didn’t allow the opportunity to completely explore the complicated definition of insanity, as it only answers to the traditional definition. However, Perry is not a second. He is much more than that. He is made up of years upon years of life experience, a life that needs more than one word to fully summarize. A life that was wrongly taken due to an unjust law and a town that wanted to see him pay.

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(page 244) Dick was successful in getting someone else to carry out the dirty job he didn’t want to accomplish. He was just contemplating how much cash he planned to steal from The Clutters. This just illustrates his indifference to other people's sentiments, since he never once considered how Perry might feel following such an act. When it was brought up, he pretended it wasn't all that horrible.

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(Coupland, 5). Birds symbolize the narrator’s hope for liberation and happiness. He continues and says, '"and give me a sky so big and wide that if I never wanted to land, I would never have to."' (Coupland, 5). The desire to fly represents the protagonist's desperation to escape from life's problems and be completely and utterly free.

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The parrot is taking Perry to the afterlife; the parrot is Perry’s god. The color of the bird is yellow which symbolizes happiness and hope, the hope he has of a better life. Whenever Perry experienced something awful the parrot appears and saves him, an example of this is the phrase "…an avenging angel who savaged his enemies or... rescued him in moments of mortal danger. " The bird could symbolize Perry escaping from his problematic life into a simpler life.

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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

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