In Cold Blood Perry Smith Character Analysis

Perry’s life story could be seen as one unsuccessful circumstance after another. He chases one dream after the next, augmented by the highest hopes, only to have his dreams dashed. These experiences, described in Tex’s letter, have caused much confusion in Perry’s

Passage 2: Page 28-30 Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood challenges the conventional boundaries of the true crime genre and plumbs the psychological and emotional depths of the Clutter family murders. Capote’s masterpiece incorporates diction to create a sympathetic tone and juxtapose the brutality of the murders in which he foreshadows. The included descriptions of Bonnie Clutter evokes sadness or pity from the reader.

Truman Capote’s most complicated character of In Cold Blood was Perry Smith. Certain traumatic events that occurred throughout his life caused Perry Smith to struggle in his later adulthood. When he was just a young boy, Perry’s parents decided to get a divorce. As a result of this, he was an orphan, but only temporarily. After he was released from the military, Perry wrecked his motorcycle, leaving his legs almost paralyzed.

The most important event in the book, In Cold Blood is the Clutter family being murdered. Without the Clutter family being murdered, there would be no book. Originally Dick and Perry’s plan was to rob the Clutter family, which wouldn’t have been as big of a deal to anyone except the people in Holcomb, Kansas. The whole book is centered around the killings so without the murders taking place this book would not have been written or it would have been written about a robbery, which would make it less interesting.

He had a very difficult and terrible childhood that had scarred him. As a young boy, Perry had a difficult childhood. His mom, who later became an alcoholic, left Perry’s dad, taking Perry and his siblings to San Francisco with her. Perry was then put in a Catholic orphanage, where he was abused by the cruel nuns working there. He then began travelling with his dad until they had reached Alaska, where they decided to live.

These emotions allow Perry to be considered an actual human like everyone else, and not just someone who is completely different that you and

“In Cold Blood,” written by Truman Capote, creates a tone of fear of their consequences and debriefing of their situation. The author creates these tones by presenting the characters state of mind to the readers and how they feel over their actions towards their situation. “Deep down, way, way rock bottom, I never thought I could do it. A thing like that.” Perry is explaining that they are astonished by what they had become.

The Protagonist Versus Me Although it’s often times difficult to catch my attention with a book, In Cold Blood, written by Truman Capote was able to do that. This non-fiction crime bestseller begins with immediate action, which, in my opinion, is the best way to intrigue the reader. Two men, Dick and Perry, are both ex-con men. During their jail sentence, Dick spent time talking to a cellmate, Willie-Jay.

He ended up in a series of orphanages where he was severely beat and traumatized for wetting the bed. One nun at the orphanage would “ fill a tub with ice cold water, put me in it, and hold me under until I was blue.” Capote intends to provoke the audience's sympathy for Perry by including his terrible childhood experiences to explain his violent manner as well as provide reasoning to commit the crime he did. Perry has many examples of how his brutal life experiences cause his violent behavior. Perry has many sociopathic characteristics including, lack of moral responsibility or social conscience, erratic behavior, rage and anger, ability form a particular relationship to one person, crimes are usually spontaneous.

I thought he was a very nice gentleman. Soft-spoken. I thought so right up to the moment I cut his throat.” (Chapter 2 page 102). Smith knows that his actions are inhumane and respects the Clutters, but even if he shows sympathy, there won’t be any escape to what he has done.

Although Dick and Perry were equally involved in the murders, Capote portrays opposing tones to provide different perspectives of the criminals; therefore, one’s opinion can become easily impressionable. At first, Dick sees Perry to be innocent and “little,” but this quickly changes as Dick gets to know him better. Dick explains his relationship with Perry to be that, “He had liked him but not considered him especially worth until, one day, Perry described a murder…” then, a few sentences later Perry described that, “he had killed a colored man in Las Vegas - beaten him to death with a bicycle chain”

Truman Capote uses variety of language devices such as diction, similes and symbolism to vividly develop Perry Smith in his novel In Cold Blood and reveal aspects of the murder. Perry Smith is a sensitive, somewhat frightening and psychologically unstable character, but then again

With use of antithesis Capote demonstrates the array of characters Perry has followed, undeterred by their personality or motives. Dick, a serpent slithering venomous thoughts into the brain of a naive Perry, and Willie-Jay, a spiritual leader provoking hope and confidence from a vulnerable man. While describing a dream in which a snake is preventing Perry from reaching an aspiration, Dick retorts, ¨So? The snake swallows you? Or what?¨ (Capote 92.)

[He] does not notice the police car… follow him.” This one event, mixed with the stereotype the protagonist has thrown upon him by the cop, seals his fate. All three of these situations foreshadow the ironic and deadly situation that the poor lost man is about to find himself involved. It is these subtle hints to his death that not only add suspense to the plot, but also hold a key importance in conflict development. W.D. Valgardson uses many great elements of fiction to build plot and conflict, as well as teach the lesson of not making snap judgments in his short story Identities.

The demonstration of the narrator's imagination unconsciously leads his own thoughts to grow into a chaotic mess that ultimately ends in a death. By murdering, it’s his own way of finding peace. He is portrayed as being a sadist, sick man with an unnatural obsession for