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The Debate Between Dick And Perry In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

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There has been a longstanding debate between nature and nurture in psychology for decades. An examination of whether an individual's traits and behaviors are influenced by their genetics or their surrounding environment. There is a particular relevance to this debate for Dick and Perry in Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood", where their backgrounds and life experiences significantly affect their personalities and actions. In the case of Dick and Perry, their upbringing and environment had a profound impact on their actions and ultimately led to their descent into criminality. At the same time, certain aspects of their personalities and character traits are inherent, which may have also contributed to their behavior. Through the examination of nature and nurture, the characters of Dick and Perry become complex and multifaceted, offering a deeper understanding of their motivations and actions in "In Cold Blood." Nature, or inherent qualities and traits, plays a significant role in shaping the characters of Dick and Perry in Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood." …show more content…

Perry, on the other hand, is portrayed as more sensitive, artistic, and introspective, with a troubled childhood that left him scarred both physically and emotionally. These inherent personality traits play a crucial role in the events that unfold throughout the novel. For example, Dick's lack of empathy and tendency towards violence led him to commit the brutal murders. Perry's introspective nature and sensitivity make him more vulnerable to feelings of guilt and remorse. By examining the defining traits of these characters, we can gain a deeper understanding of the motivations behind their actions and the impact they have on the

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Dialectical Journal For In Cold Blood

1062 Words | 5 Pages

And most of the memories it released were unwanted, though not all” (130) I believe this to be the most relevant passage for Perry because it shows that he is not complexly emotionless as his murders would have the reader believe. The title of the novel, “In Cold Blood,” and the emotionless way Perry and Dick carry out their lives after killing the Clutter family make the murders seem without reason and lacking emotions. However, once the reader, and Perry, read the letter Perry’s father wrote to the Kansas State Patrol Board, Perry says this line. Perry is “racing” with emotions, which proves that he does and can care about certain parts if his life, he just does not feel emotion when it comes to ended innocent lives.

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Nature Vs. Nurture In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

1090 Words | 5 Pages

Some people might say people inherit traits from their parents, and some say they learn them based on an upbringing, but In Truman Capote’s account of the brutal murders of the clutter family in In Cold Blood, he uses the argument of Nature vs. Nurture to further explain the life behind murderer, Perry Smith. After hearing the accounts of the brutal murders, Capote goes on to explain the story behind both Perry and Dick’s lives, But Perry’s childhood stands out more. After being abandoned, beaten, and left to survive alone, Perry’s cards were stacked against him. By showing the complexity of criminals, Capote uses Perry to show the example of a non-nurturing childhood creating a person capable of murder.

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Schizophrenia In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

753 Words | 4 Pages

I thought he was a very nice gentleman. Soft-spoken. I thought so right up to the moment I cut his throat” (244). Perry did not have a reason for killing the man, he just simply did it. It was almost like an intrusive thought or a trigger.

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Significant Changes In 'Dick And Perry In In Cold Blood'

302 Words | 2 Pages

Throughout the book "In Cold Blood," the characters of Dick and Perry undergo significant changes. At the beginning of the book, they are portrayed as cold-blooded killers who show little remorse for their actions. However, as the story progresses, we see a more complex side to their personalities. One of the most significant changes in the characters of Dick and Perry is their relationship with each other.

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Capote Perry Character Analysis

599 Words | 3 Pages

Although Capote exhibits Perry’s impulsive and heinous actions are due to his internal struggle, his ultimate goal is to illustrate Perry as a ruthless, manipulative murderer; therefore, he asserts that even the most monstrous of people can captivate compassion from others because of the diverse layers of their personality. To begin, Capote uses a paradox to highlight Perry’s internal struggle that lead him to doing such atrocities. Throughout the novel, Capote reveals to readers that Perry had a hard life growing up and most everyone in his family committed suicide, besides his only surviving sibling, Barbara. While Capote is talking about Perry’s family, he says, “They shared a doom against which virtue was no defense" (Capote 185).

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What Is The Moral Of In Cold Blood

2039 Words | 9 Pages

Perry Smith, for instance, is shown as a sensitive and creative young man who adores music and literature, yet he is also capable of carrying out horrible acts of violence. Similar to the Clutter family, who are ultimately the victims of a senseless and terrible crime despite being hailed as models of respectability and decency for the middle class. Overall, "In Cold Blood" makes use of irony to highlight the random and frequently arbitrary nature of crime and bloodshed and to comment on the capacity of humans for both good and

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Word Choice In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

1006 Words | 5 Pages

In Cold Blood, written by Truman Capote in 1966 tells the story of the murder of a prominent family in 60’s Kansas. Capote traveled to the small town of Holcomb, and befriended many of the townsfolk and the detectives involved in the trial to tell the story of a violent event that shaped this community for the decade until the eventual conviction and execution of the killers. Because of information being told, Capote makes the choice of writing his novel as if it were a news report. This journalistic structure and word choice helps to establish the serious and dark tone of the novel.

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Dick And Perry In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

178 Words | 1 Pages

While Perry is mortified that he and Dick could commit such a gruesome crime, Dick couldn’t care less. All Dick is worried about is how odd Perry is. Because of how quick Perry’s mood could change, Dick thought he was “spooky as hell.” Now, Perry wasn’t your average run of the mill man. He still wets the bed, cries in his sleep, and “could slide into a fury ‘quicker than ten drunk Indians’”.

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An Analysis Of Nature Vs. Nurture In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

758 Words | 4 Pages

Everyone is born with the capability to do evil, however, the events and environment in our lives shape our psyche to such an irrefutably extreme extent that they define our character and our conscience, redefining what we see as right and wrong. Perry is very sensitive by nature due to his family’s troubles and his father’s behavior. The pressure that Perry feels to impress Dick, who he makes into a faux father figure, combined with the weight of his past push him to the breaking point which happens to be the Clutter murders. Perry was bound by his experience, he could never fully escape the horrors of his childhood as they were the limits of his apprehension. Regardless of Perry’s traumatic childhood, justice must be equally upheld to everyone, despite the differences in the ways we were raised.

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Bias In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

470 Words | 2 Pages

Subsequently, Capote continues to mention Perry’s awful childhood throughout the book, and

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Rhetorical Analysis Of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

539 Words | 3 Pages

How crazy would it be to interview criminals who murdered 4 people in cold blood? Well that’s exactly what Truman Capote did in this chilling book. In the novel In Cold Blood, Truman Capote used different rhetorical strategies to create sympathy and influence the idea that there are always two sides to every story. Some of the mainly used rhetorical strategies throughout the novel were imagery, diction, tone, and pathos. Furthermore, Capote also illustrated sympathetical emotion towards both types of characters, the protagonists and antagonists.

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Growing Up A Sociopath In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

1483 Words | 6 Pages

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.

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Truman Capote's Manipulation Of Perry In Cold Blood

590 Words | 3 Pages

Although Perry is responsible for the murder of four innocent people, Perry’s actions do not reflect on who he is as a person because he is easily influenced, therefore; showing how easily people can be pressured into doing something they would not typically do. Dick, a violent, cold-hearted, manipulator, has molded Perry into the person he is today. As Perry is a follower, Dick has taken advantage of that by turning Perry into the cold-blooded killer he is today. Capote displays Dick’s manipulation of Perry through symbolism to make evident that while Perry did pull the trigger on four innocent people, although the fault does not entirely lay on him, as he was taken advantage of by Dick.

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Criminality In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

1670 Words | 7 Pages

Merging journalistic and literary storytelling with its unparalleled insight into the nature of criminality in twentieth century American culture, In Cold Blood, Truman Capote’s nonfiction masterpiece epitomizes the loss of naiveté of a small Kansas town, while it undermines the principle ideals of the American Dream——safety, security, and opportunity for prosperity and individualism——through the victimization of the achievers of this mythical, yet idealized belief, such as the Clutter family. Through the portrayal of the tragic ends of three different families (the Clutters, the Hickocks, and the Smiths) regardless of their position on the path to the American Dream, Capote shatters the popular image of perfection that most Americans strove

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Free Will In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

1059 Words | 5 Pages

No matter how we try to change our situation or better ourselves in society, variables will obstruct the path we choose. One cannot take control of everything that surrounds us as fate decides what happens to us. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote explains the murder of the Clutter family in the quiet town of Holcomb, Kansas. The murderers, Richard (Dick) Hickock and Perry Smith, try to escape the consequences of their actions, believing that they can get away with what they did. The story tells what the murderers were thinking after and before they committed the crime and their various interactions.

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