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Truman capote biography essay
The stronger character analysis
Truman capote biography essay
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Book Information:
Author : Capote, Truman
Title : In Cold Blood
Publisher : Random House
Original Publication Date : 1965
Book Outline:
In a small town in Kansas a family of four were murdered for no apparent reason.
The murderers ran for a few years and finally they were caught, tried, and
accused for murder. In 1965 they were hung for the crime.
In the story a family was killed for no reason. This well respected farming
family had no enemies, and no quarrels. Although they were wealthy, Mr. Clutter
never kept cash in the house. The whole region and eventually the country was
shocked by the randomness and brutality of the act, in much the same way it was
by the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. The two men in which didn't even know the
Clutter family went into their house and shot all four of them.
There were two main characters. Dick is the first one that I will talk about.
Dick was 33 years old and he did not have the best character. Dick was one who
helped participate in the killing of the Clutter family. I didn't like him from
the very beginning. He struck me as the type that is your friend one minute and
enemy the next. Perry is the other charecter that I will talk about. Perry
wasn't as bad as Dick but yet he still struck me as having a bad character for
what he did to the family. It took me awhile to get a good impression of Perry.
Perry was a really nice guy and I think that he just got mixed in with the wrong
crowd. At the beginning, when they first started to kill all of the family
members, they had them tied up and Perry didn't want to kill the family but he
thought that if he acted like he was gonna kill Mr. Clutter then Dick would stop
him. Then they would let them all go but when Dick didn't stop him Perry became
a mad man and went ahead and killed the whole family. Later at the gallows Perry
started to have second thoughts a little to late so he tried to starve himself
but didn't succeed. He was finally hung, during the hanging period he apologized
to everyone for what he did.
"This is it, this is it, this had to be it, there's the school, there's
the garage, now we turn south." To Perry, it seemed as though Dick was muttering
jubilant mumbo-jumbo. They left the highway, sped through a deserted Holcomb,
and crossed the Santa Fe tracks.
him from other people are he funny guy and fun and nice to be around. Another amazing thing he
Dick did not have a home. "His bedchamber had been a wooden box half full of straw . . ."(pg4). He ate whatever he could afford. Looking at his clothes one would assume he was poor. " His pants were torn in several places, and had apparently belonged in the first instance to a boy two sizes larger than himself. He wore a vest, all the buttons of which peeped a shirt which looked as if it had been worn a month. ...
By structuring his novel where time is out of joint, Dick is able to illustrate that one’s perception of reality is entirely based on what one believes to be fact. This point is illustrated through Ragle Gumm, who, “from his years of active military life” in the beginning of the story, “prided himself on his physical agility” (Dick 100). It is not until time is mended again toward the end of the book that he realizes that it had been, in fact, his father that had served in the war. This demonstrates how one’s firm belief can turn into a reality, as it did for Ragle Gumm for the two and a half years he lived in the fabricated city of Old Town.
Perry Smith: "'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. Half an hour after it happened, Dick was making jokes and I was...
Richard Eugene Hickock, better known as “Dick” throughout the book, suffers tremendously from the constant realization that he is a disappointment to his parents. Dick most likely felt alone and rejected from society due to the constant lying that comes second nature to him. Depression would also most likely be a contributing factor to all of his daily problems. Jail, his first complicated marriage, and debt all had a consuming effect on Dick’s life. All of these overwhelming factors in his life have left him to make some pretty drastic decisions in his life including the grisly murder of the clutter family. Dick’s intellect is what helps him to devise intricate lies and short-term solutions to complex problems. Hickock was a womanizer after his divorce with his first wife. His family consisted of a wife and three children. Hickock had no problem walking away from his three children due...
Moreover, the effects of the murder on Dick and Perry are more remarkable as each person
In Dick’s case, the reader can safely assume that he plays the “man” role in the relationship with Perry. Dick is considered the traditional masculine figure, “Dick was very literal-minded, very—he had no understanding of music, poetry,” (p.18). Dick represents the famous American macho figure with “his literalness” and “ his pragmatic approach to every subject” . He does not need to know music or poetry but he possesses the masculine and benevolent essence that makes people respect and even trust him completely. That is the reason why Perry is greatly
Dick had a good life going, he just didn't feel like it went the way he wanted it too. He was popular, smart, an athlete just wasn't enough for him. On the other hand, Perry had a bad life. He was between foster homes, and even had his siblings and father commit suicide while his mother drank herself away. Putting all that together i learned that, Nurture plays the biggest role in life. It has the ability to determine weather you turn a good life into and complete wreak such as Dick Hickock had. In a way it also applies to Perry considering his life was a wreck all the way
He is the character that most sympathized with because of his past. He never had a connection with his alcoholic mother and siblings. His parents never gave him the love, direction, and the moral values that children need from their parents. This contributed to his behavior. While Perry was testifying, Dr. Jones characterized him with severe mental illness. He mentions that Perry has “paranoid orientation toward the world,” (Capote 297). He goes into further detail by mentioning that Perry “is suspicious and distrustful towards others, tends to feel that others discriminate against him, and feels that others are unfair to him and do not understand him,” (Capote 297). It is completely understandable why Perry would think like this. He was treated horrendously by the nuns in the orphanage and when he lived with his family. Since Perry never had anything good happen to him growing up, he feels like he has to take out his frustration on people who are good. Vengeance for what he did not receive. While in court, Perry mentions why he killed the Clutter family, “It wasn’t because of anything the Clutters did. They never hurt me. Like other people. Like people all my life. Maybe it’s just that the Clutters were the ones who had to pay for it,” (Capote 290). Dr. Jones diagnosis Perry as a paranoid
Though Capote seldom breaks an impartial journalistic perspective in the novel, within this passage Capote seems to intentionally frame Dick and Perry in negative and positive light. Dick’s syntax always contrasts with Perry’s, but within this passage he is even more aggressive and dismissive than he usually is. In one such instance, Dick challenges Perry’s story of how he bludgeoned King to death with a bike chain, asking Perry whether or not he actually murdered the former roommate of his. Dick does this to get Perry off the topic and then proceeds to bluntly tell him to “just shut up!”. Capote deepens the negative view the reader has towards Dick by ending the passage with him running down a stray mangy dog with his car simply for the joy in doing it.
Unlike Perry, Dick actually had a very nice childhood with a family who loved him. When Detective Nye was questioning Dick’s parents, Mr. Hickock began explaining the life of Dick, starting with him being “‘an outstanding athlete… always the star player. A pretty good student, too, with A marks in several subjects’” (Capote 166). Although Dick had a much better childhood than Perry, he still had a very limited ability to feel compassion compared to Perry’s instinct to nurture. Dick’s lack of consideration is shown greatly when Perry recounts the events of the murder and tells the detectives that Dick said “‘I’m gonna bust that little girl.’ And I [Perry] said ‘Uh-huh. But you’ll have to kill me first… He says ‘What do you care? Hell, you can bust her, too’” (Capote 243). Dick had no regard for other people or how they feel, while Perry intervened with Dick’s self-interest in order to consider the emotions of the Clutters. Even after the murders, Dick felt no remorse for what he and Perry had just done, only feeling that they had “scored” by getting a little bit of money. The life and development of Dick show that even a nurturing environment may not contribute to a compassionate soul. The instinct to nurture may not always come from surroundings, as Dick shows, but beliefs and religions show that nature and nurture are a part of each other and both contribute to the development of a
...he killed all four Clutters so that Dick's mom wouldn't worry about her son being a murderer when he really wasn't. Perry once wondered if there was something wrong with them that they could kill four people for a little money and get away with it. Perry Smith shows remorse for killing the Clutters.
Dick presents our main character, Commissioner John Anderton, as the balding, pot-bellied founder of a revolutionary new crime detection system who's been showing his years for longer than he'd care to remember. In the short story, he has just acquired a new assistant, Ed Witwer, and fears being replaced by the younger man. In the beginning, Anderton is portrayed as slightly insecure about his job (to the point of near paranoia of being set-up), as well as his importance to society, though by the e...
Dick's career is given its first great boost by a chance meeting with Torpenhow, a Special Correspondent for a news syndicate sent to the Sudan to cover the ultimately unsuccessful expedition to relieve Gordon. Torpenhow sees Dick's talents and immediately signs him up to supply drawings for his syndicate at a pittance. In this world of manly men, it's assumed that the strong will struggle forward on the thinest of chances, and the weak will be swept away. Dick and Torpenhow become close friends in the course of the campaign, but in the midst of a battle Dick is wounded on the head and has a moment's flashback to the world of his childhood and Massie, whom he fell in love with shortly before they last parted.
Hoberek, Andrew P. "The 'work' of science fiction: Philip K. Dick and Occupational masculinity in the post-world war II United States." MFS Modern Fiction Studies. Summer 1997.