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Is The Theme Of In Cold Blood By Truman Capote Nature Or Nurture

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In Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood” the reader is presented with a central theme throughout the course of the book. The theme is nature vs. nurture, in comparison to Dick and Perry. Dick and Perry are the two men who commit murder on the Clutter family. Both were raised in similar environments, but they each have different genetic traits that contribute to their persona. Dick is characterized as more of a “natural born killer”, while Perry on the other hand is more of a “raised” killer. When it comes to creating a murderer, it contributes more to the nurture side of the long winded psychology debate. Throughout the course of the story, the reader gets to dive into Dick and Perry’s mindset, see what they are thinking and how they feel about certain subjects. When it comes to making a murderer, it all comes down to how that person was raised. This can play a huge part in someone’s life, weather they have good parents who are involved with their life, or if they’re like Perry, whose parents weren’t involved at all. “He was different. He put his arms around me… wanted to …show more content…

Dick, when he was growing up had a good family. They weren’t the best, but they cared for him and his well-being. Despite dick being a killer, he is very normal and “laid back”. For him to be able to turn it on and off is what makes him a natural born killer. “Dick was always the star player. A pretty good student, too, with ‘A’ marks in several subjects… He wanted to go to college. (166)” Dick wanted to have goals in life and be successful, but his killer instincts got in the way and fogged up his life, turning him into something he probably never wanted to be. He was probably surprised when he realized that he lied the rush he got from killing and how much he yearned for it when he wasn’t doing it, just like with other

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