Who Is Perry Smith In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

Although Perry commits a ghastly offense he still contains another compassionate side to him, Capote’s importance is to tell readers Perry can be sweet too, therefore; he contends even though a person commits a crime doesn’t mean they are inferior.

In Cold Blood- 4 Although it appears Perry is trying to substitute people in his life for a family, he has a mental illness due to his past life experiences; therefore Capote asserts that people with mental illness should not be put to death. Perry had envy of others at an extreme level which was not normal for anyone. He had an interior motive for the crime which is partly explained with alliteration,“The enemy was anyone who was someone he wanted to be or who had anything he wanted to have,” (Capote 200). The repetition of words that began with ‘w’ throughout caused the sentence to be read again to fully comprehend it.

The point of my essay is to prove that Perry Smith does not deserve the death penalty but he deserves to be admitted to a psychiatric ward. For example, "'Most typically the men displayed a tendency not to experience anger or rage in association with violent aggressive action.”(Capote Page 190). That is one piece of evidence out of many that will help explain how sick Perry Smith really is.

This all comes down to the conclusion that maybe, If Perry would have lived a better life and more care was given to him from his parents and his parents more responsible and a bit

As a child Perry grew up with a limited education. When he is young and after his parent’s divorce Perry is living with his dad and is going to school. He finishes grade three but after that he never returns. Perry’s father moves from state to state throughout his childhood and prevents Perry from returning to school. Perry’s father wants Perry to stay with him instead of going to school so he can do work and take care of him. As Perry grows older however he understands that his father kept him out of school and Perry becomes extremely angry with him. Smith stated, “That bastard never gave me a chance. He wouldn’t let me go to school…. he didn’t want me to learn anything, only how to tote and carry for him. Dumb. Ignorant. That’s the way he wanted me to be. So that I could never escape him” (Capote 185). However, Perry is an intelligent and talented man with great potential. He has natural music ability, he likes to read and improve his vocabulary, and he also knows how to draw. In spite of this he never received encouragement from his father or anyone else: “Oh, the man I could have been! ... But the time came I begged to go to school. I happen to have a brilliant

At the end of the day although the prosecutor and dick hickock make valid point about the appropriate punishment for the crime, the prosecutor comment that dick death sentence should not be contingent on who actually pulled the trigger is a more valid statement while we may never know who pulled the trigger on the clutters, whether it be Perry side of the story or dick’s side of the story. We do know that dick is just as guilty as perry if not more, due to his involvement to the crime. He came up with the plan to rob and kill the clutters from his prison cell, he didn’t try to not kill the clutters when Perry asked him to leave after they didn’t find the money he stayed, he was always the brains in the group so the decision to get rid of the witnesses was

Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood presents a striking argument within the text: was the trial for Edwards and Hickock fair and objective? After thoroughly researching and interviewing the convicts as well as the case, it was evident that Capote strongly opposed the death penalty given to Perry and Dick. Capote delves into the unjust trial forced upon the convicts, evoking sympathy from the audience without sacrificing the objectivity of the book. He effectively demonstrates

Truman Capote's In Cold Blood is a nonfiction novel that is renowned for Capote’s use of intertwining the facts of a Kansas tragedy with various literary techniques such as his creative structure, flashback, tone and foreshadowing to transform this crime into an entrapping work of art. Capote also weaves in many important issues such as a look into the minds of criminals, the value of the death penalty, and a commentary on social divisions, which he uses the literary techniques to bring our attention and examine.

Perry endures a rough childhood and is a product of his insurmountable struggles in life. Perry grows up in a hostile environment and home, where he indicates feeling abused, neglected, and uncared for. Perry’s childhood exemplifies a breeding ground for mental illness. The environment seems unsuitable for children and most likely causes psychological damage. When giving a brief autobiography of his life, he states, “My mother was always drunk, never in fit condition to properly provide and care for us” (Capote 275). Perry recalls feeling “frightfully scared” because he is afraid his father would abuse him like he abuses his mom (274). Perry’s upbringing facilitates his mental instability in his future. He “seems to have grown up

Through the poignant detail of Perry’s troubled and complex temperament, Capote’s subtly manipulative diction in In Cold Blood sculpts the murderer into a sympathetic character. In Perry’s first appearance, the criminal was said to be “no taller than a twelve-year-old child” (15) standing tall. Starkly contrasted to the stereotypical image of a murderer, “Little Perry” (55) is depicted with descriptors that blunts the sharp, preconceived edge of his homicidal nature. He is described innocently, youthfully, as if untouched by the dark horrors he was known to commit. Diction such as “sentimental” (54), “dreamer” (54), and “liked moonlight” (265) forcibly reveals a softer side to Perry. His artistic nature— the softer side of beauty, emotion, and wistfulness— coincides with the homicidal nature that drove him to kill four innocent people.

Novelist, Truman Capote, in his informative novel, "In Cold Blood," recounts the mo-ments before the murder occurred and the aftermath of the murder. Capote's purpose is to illu-strate in detail the occurrences before, during, and after the murder; as well as, to inform the reader of why the murder took place in the first place. He adopts a factual tone to emphasize the seriousness of the situations; he then shifts to a grieving tone in order to appeal to similar expe-riences and feelings in his adult readers.

The movie In Cold Blood was made in 1967 on the 14th of December produced by Richard brooks and published by Columbia pictures Inc. This movie is about the Clutter family murder in 1959. The movie focuses mainly on the backstory and build up to the murder and the relationship of Perry and his partner in crime Richard Hickock. The movie opens up on Perry, not much information is given from the start and you are lost almost immediately. The only important information that is given is the relationship that is shared between his new friend he meets, Richard. Both have a criminal record known because they talk about their past of the things they’ve done. They begin to steal and fake checks and cash them. Layer they are found on the property of what they believe to be a wealthy family thinking they’ll strike it rich with 10,000 dollars. The scene is left off with the idea of then entering the house. It’s later explained the family was killed but not on screen. The rest of the film shows them heading toward Mexico to escape, Perry throughout that time shares his childhood or history. Occasionally flashbacks will give visual representation on his past. They head back to Vegas where they are arrested and caught for their crimes. They are hung at the end of the movie. The movie In Cold Blood gives a basic understanding of Perry 's Childhood but does not accurately tell go into

Humankind has mistreated him repeatedly since he was a child. Children can’t handle emotions very well. If they feel mistreated they believe they are being mistreated, and if they feel unloved they believe they are unloved.Young juveniles don 't try to reason away their emotions; they are what they are. So when a child builds up so much negative emotion, those feelings don 't just go away. They stick with the child forever, or until the child resolves them. The psychiatrist who evaluated Perry in In Cold Blood(Pg. 191) stated quite distinctly, "The history relating to extreme violence, whether 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. In all of these cases, there was evidence of severe emotional deprivation in early life." This clearly describes the person of Perry Smith. He underwent "severe emotional deprivation" as a child, and as an adult, he does indeed have "defects in ego formation" and no "impulse control". His lack of impulse control is evident when Perry slits Herb Clutter 's throat. "But I didn 't mean it. I meant to call his bluff, make him argue me out of it, make him admit he was a phony and a coward. See, it was something between me and Dick. I knelt down beside Mr.

Perry’s childhood was an unfortunately tragic, formative time for him. When he was little, Perry’s mother was “entertaining” sailors, and when Perry’s father got home, he attacked his wife and the sailors scarring Perry for years to come and he later said that he was “scared because I thought my father was going to hurt me, also because he was beating my mother”(Capote274). Later, he was sent to an orphanage where he was abused by nuns who “Had a flashlight and hit [him] with it. Hit [him] and hit [him].” and “Whipped him for wetting his bed”(Capote93). Then, he was sent to another orphanage, this one even worse. One nurse made Perry’s life a living hell until she nearly killed him. She would “Fill a tub full of ice-cold water, put [him] in it, and hold [him] under ‘till [he] was blue” (Capote132). All of these things led to a biased look at what he thought and hoped his future could hold.

Capote's structure in In Cold Blood is a subject that deserves discussion. The book is told from two alternating perspectives, that of the Clutter family who are the victims, and that of the two murderers, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. The different perspectives allow the reader to relive both sides of the story; Capote presents them without bias. Capote masterfully utilizes the third person omniscient point of view to express the two perspectives. The non-chronological sequencing of some events emphasizes key scenes.