Examples Of Sympathy For Perry Capote

Dewey becomes more restless and is taking calls at one am because of the Clutter case; overall it has changed his daily routines completely. On page 107, Capote wrote on what Perry and Dick were doing in the mountains and their conversation about how Perry couldn’t believe what he had done. In the next section of the book Capote gave the readers a more specific description on what happened. This is the first time we get to know more about Perry and his family. Perry confessed that he “think there must be something wrong with us”. He is referring to his family since his mother was an alcoholic and had strangles herself to death, his sister jumped out of a window and his brother killed his wife and himself. All this information given to us at this particular section of the book caused a shift in the structure of his writing but created a more suspense to his writing. It showed the readers how important that section was and helped us understanding the tension in between the characters, Perry and Dick. They began to argue if Perry really did kill someone and you can tell that Perry doesn’t know what to say and Dick doesn’t believe it anyway. The conversation gets really heated and creates huge suspense on what might occur. From pages 125-130 Capote includes a document that was given to Perry from his father. The author included this piece of information to this piece of

Besides using anecdotes and stories from his childhood, Capote also used analogies to invoke a sense of sympathy for Perry, thus further using the means of pathos. In specific, a constant ‘comparison’ or analogy coupled with Perry is typically his ‘childish’ like structure. Short legs, small feet. This analogy is used constantly, including the hanging scene, where it is said Dewey had “open his eyes [and] saw the same childish feet, tilted, dangling”(Capote 341). This comparison is seen often when describing Perry and seems to give the man a childlike presence, making him come across as more innocent and understandable. This connection to Perry takes away from the ‘severity’ of his actions and instead reminds readers of his childhood and how it has affected him all through life. Using pathos to soften the personality of a killer and bring to life his struggles helped Capote to better exemplify the ‘makings’ of a murderer. When creating this book, Capote wanted to analyze how a murder came to be and thus how a murderer came to exist - in particular, Perry. The use of pathos in correlation to one of the main characters helped break down the hostile killer into a damaged, young, sensible young man who simply had a tough go at life. The device allowed for connection and personalization.

By using this example, Capote is able to strengthen his argument by implicitly claiming Perry was made to be a murderer because environment shapes person’s nature especially when they are young; therefore, it evokes feelings of pity within readers toward Perry’s criminal record. It seems that his criminal record was an extension of godforsaken environments which he had to grow up. Furthermore, Capote shows Perry’s internal emotion he was murdering the Clutter family. “I didn’t want to harm the man. I thought he was a very nice gentleman.

Firstly, the reason why Perry Smith may have a mental illness is because the way he was raised as a child. Capote stated, “Perry shows definite signs of severe mental illness.” Neglected as a child, he has developed a ‘paranoid’ orientation toward the world,” and “in evaluating the intentions and feelings of others, his ability to separate the real intention from his own mental projections is very poor.” Perhaps most significant is his “poorly controlled rage—easily triggered by any feeling of being tricked, slighted or labeled inferior to others.” His personality traits, in other words, most closely resemble that of a paranoid schizophrenic.” (Capote Page 191). That quote is trying to explain how Capote is trying to alert his readers that Perry Smith was not raised in the proper environment. Also, it’s showing that Perry is very easily triggered and could have a manic episode at any time. A reason as to why he may be triggered so easily is because he never experienced what a real home was like and what an actual family was. This information is included because Capote said “In all of

We see two heartless, cold blooded killers that slain the innocent family of the Clutters with the intent to leave no witnesses and to rob them of their hard earned money but Capote deceives the reader's emotions throughout the entirety of the book to humanize straight killers and make them likable. We often see a murderer as a psychopath without any emotion but it is hard to label Smith and Hickock one because Capote brings the reader into their lives in a way that we would feel sorry and have pity for them. Capote makes the reader relate to Smith and Hickock by describing their families and showing insight into the killers’ dreams and aspirations so we could perceive them as people and forget that they ended the future of the Clutters. Perry was a lonely child growing up and had a drunkard mother that forced him into foster care where he was abused and bullied

Although Dick and Perry may both be killers, Capote uses language to portray Perry as a victim of Dick;therefore, Perry is seen through the eyes of the reader as an innocent man who was simply taken advantage of and molded into a killer by Dick.

He also includes the fact that photos of the actual murders were shown to the jury against Dick’s lawyer’s objection, who felt they would “prejudice and inflame” the jury’s judgment (281). All of these circumstances clearly show that the trial process was unfairly slanted against Dick and Perry. By showing the readers these skewed circumstances one after the other, Capote is trying to give the audience more reason to be outraged come the execution. Giving Dick and Perry the death penalty after seeing the corrupt trial will lead the reader to believe that the execution is not justice; it’s revenge. After all is said and done, Capote’s main argument throughout this final portion of the book is that while the Clutters were victims of Dick and Perry, Dick and Perry were the victims of a sanctimonious society. He criticizes society by implying that murder done by humans is wrong, but murder done through the government is justified. In a letter from Perry’s sister to Perry analyzed by Wille-Jay, he tears apart conventionalist

Following the emotionally ‘flat’ perspective by Dick, is Perry’s self-pity attitude during his own chapter. Perry knows the annoyance of his voice to Dick, but has no control over his actions. With only having one thought repeated indefinitely, “I think there must be something wrong with us” (capote 30), one would need to vent in some manner. To continue, Perry’s pity persona even has the author himself take pity on him: “Look at his family!” (Capote 30). Capote demands the reader to acknowledge Perry’s grim adolescence and suicidal family: “His mother, an alcoholic, had strangled to death on her own vomit...Fern...jumped out a window...Jimmy...had one day driven his wife to suicide and killed himself the next” (Capote 30). Capote pities Perry and portrays him as human, instead of the monster everyone believes him to be. Capote explains how Perry’s mental state and upcoming is the reason he is mentally unstable. Capote exposes not all criminals are monsters. Referring back to Dick’s passage, Dick claims “Perry could be “such a kid,” always wetting the bed and crying in his sleep” (Capote 29). Perry never matured from his depressing childhood, and he remained a in this state into adulthood. Returning to Perry’s

Truman Capote includes finite details such as Perry’s middle name, and goes down to even the name of the county that Perry was born and grew up in to appeal to his audience’s logic. By giving more detail to Perry’s past life, the audience is able to better grasp the image of Perry, which humanizes the murderer, and is more likely to create an emotion of sympathy towards the criminal and alter the audience’s view on capital punishment. This information is irrelevant to the plot, however, is very strong in supporting Capote’s argument.

The most dominant strategy that Capote utilizes in order to achieve his purpose is pathos, as he plays on our emotions to get us to feel true sympathy for Perry Smith. This is strategy is overall the most effective one because it allows the viewers to perceive Perry differently. Capote mentions Perry’s abusive and neglectful childhood several times throughout the story’s course in order to make the readers feel empathic, and pitiful towards him. In one instance of the novel, Capote makes out Perry as a hero in a way. He sets up a picture of the killers at the beach, and he mentions how uncomfortable Perry is when he sees Dick talking to a young girl. He describes another instance like this when he says, “Hadn’t they almost got in a fight when quite recently he had prevented Dick from raping a terrified girl” (Capote 202). Perry is willing to stand up to his partner when he comes to situations like this. Readers can’t help but view Perry as a hero in his own way as he protects the young girls from Dick’s pedophilic mind. Capote plays on the assumption that everyone hates child predators, which is almost always true. In a way, Capote makes us feel admiration for Perry’s heroic effort in protecting the innocent, as he “prevented Dick” from doing something horrible. As Perry confesses his crime to Dewey and Duntz, he admits, “But I hoped we could do it without violence” (234). This is one of several moments where the readers get a sense of reluctance from Perry to commit the crime. Although Perry did eventually

The reader gets to “know” Perry Smith very well throughout the novel and acquires the sense that Capote feels sympathetic to his situation as compared to that of Hickock. Smith, introduced as much the loner type, is described by the narrator and the character Smith himself (in a letter to a psychiatrist) as growing up in a low socio-economic bracket with a broken family accompanied by a lack of love and stability characterizing his childhood (and continuing on to adulthood in which is the state of which the book...

Capote use three layers of trauma to completely develop the character of Perry Smith. Capote describes Perry’s childhood, mental state, describes why he does certain things

Truman Capote forms a close relationship with convicted murderer, Perry Smith, and allows his own personal perception of Perry to influence his story. Capote repeatedly puts emphasis on the fact that Perry comes from a troubled background and

Capote uses Perry as a sympathetic character; asking the reader if Perry’s life had been easier growing up, would he have committed the murders? A point often overlooked is Capote’s detailed exploration into Perry’s childhood and life

Early on, Capote makes Smith seem a more sympathetic character, “Yes, and he had told Dick was true… Sierra Madre?” (Capote, 17). Capote makes Perry seem almost childlike as he describes Perry’s naive plan to search for gold in the Sierra Madre, which causes the reader to wrongly assume Smith is innocent, or at least more so than Hickock. While describing the murder of the Clutter family, Perry states, “And I thought… So I went back upstairs,” (277). Truman Capote deliberately includes Perry’s feeling that “It was like [he] wasn’t a part of it. More as though [he] was reading a story,” to show the level of dissociation Perry experiences. Even after Smith is found guilty of murder, the reader still feels some sympathy for Perry as Capote hints that Perry cannot be held accountable for his own actions. Just before he is hanged, Smith remarks, “It would be meaningless to apologize for what I did. Even inappropriate. But I do. I apologize,” (392-393). Capote includes Perry’s last words, which carry significant emotional weight, to evoke a final sympathetic reaction in the reader. Through Perry Smith, Capote creates pathos to demonstrate the harsh nature of capital punishment and cause the reader to wonder if it is the right