Kyle Figueroa Mr. Paneralla March 19, 2023 Class 6 Honors English Perry Smith Is Innocent Due to Perry Smith's childhood in a harmful environment, where he was subjected to abuse and negative influences, it would be unjust to sentence him to death. Perry has a medical reason for his insanity, it is called schizophrenia. Perry has never had a true family, but he does get family-like people in his life like Dick. When he meets someone who treats him the way he wants to be treated he gets attached to them. Perry is innocent; he was influenced by Dick to do many horrifying things. Perry Smith was born on October 27, 1928, in Huntington, Nevada. “He looked as lonely and inappropriate as a seagull in a wheat field” (Capote 190).Perry appeared out …show more content…
Perry expresses himself and he regrets his lack of education and says that he wished he learned more in school. "no rule or discipline, or anyone to show me right from wrong" (Capote 273). Perry is reflecting on his troubled childhood and the lack of structure and guidance he had growing up. Perry's lack of guidance and discipline may have contributed to his later criminal behavior. In his confession, he described feeling like he didn't belong anywhere and that he had to take what he wanted because he had never been taught any other way to get ahead in life. "No, now, I'm not going to listen. Diamonds. Buried treasure. Wake up, little boy. There ain't no caskets of gold. No sunken ship. And even if there was -- hell, you can't even swim." (Page 142). This quote shows Dick influencing …show more content…
“As long as you live, there's always something waiting; and even if it's bad, and you know it's bad, what can you do? You can't stop living.” (Capote 88). This quote suggests that no matter what happens in life, there is always something else waiting, whether it be good or bad. Even if someone knows that what is waiting for them is bad, they cannot stop living and must face whatever comes next. “The walls of the cell fell away, the sky came down, I saw the big yellow bird.” (Capote 257). This quote refers to a moment of hallucination experienced by Perry Smith while he was in prison. The "big yellow bird" is a recurring image that appears throughout the book, and it is often interpreted as a symbol of hope or redemption for
Perry Smith and Dick Hickock were thieves who murdered, robbed, raped and committed fraud against the Clutters who had a homestead in Holcomb, Kansas on November 15, 1959 (Karrigan 1998). There motive was not revenge just but the lust for money
Chief David L. Perry is the current Chief of Police at Florida State University (FSU), and formerly in Albany, GA and Clemson University. Chief Perry describes many situations that arise around a collegiate campus and what measures are being taken to ensure the safety of the FSU campus. The major emphasis throughout the presentation was on safety of the FSU campus. Early on in the presentation Chief Perry made the statement that a plentiful amount occurs behind the scenes that the students are unaware of.
If Perry does not stop him from raping Nancy on the night of the murder, he would be a murderer and a rapist. Unlike Dick's lack of emotion, Perry is sinking in guilt after realizing what he has done. Perry even says that “there’s got to be something wrong with somebody who’d do a thing like that” (Capote 125). Perry has a terrible childhood: his dad is abusive, his mother is an alcoholic, and two of his siblings commit suicide. Not only that, when he is in the orphanage, the nun tortures him and tries to drown him.
The adults in Perry’s childhood turning a blind eye to the abuse he faced, and Dick’s pedophilia, which is swept under the rug, atop many more aspects of these men indicate one thing. It can be said that Dick and Perry were simply products of their
(Capote 93). BY explaining the brutal beatings that Perry experienced can further show how Capote also uses direct statements from the trial to show how Perry’s abusive childhood altered his life forever. As explained in the book, “The History relating to extreme violence, weather 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” (Capote 300). As explained in the passage, the history of the events that took place throughout Perry's life is “closely linked to early defects in ego formation and later severe disturbances in impulse control,”making it even more evident that the circumstances of the un nurturing abuse he went through corresponds to his future actions of murder. By explaining the brutality in which Perry grew up experiencing, Capote further backs the argument that Perry smith lacked the nurture it
You may think Mr.Smith was most likely insane when he admitted to two police officers that he killed the Mr.Johnson, dismembered the corpse, and hid the body parts under the floorboards. Let's say you think someone is insane what do you think of when you think of insane. I’d believe you would think of someone who has huge mood swings, excessive worrying or anxiety, hallucinations or delusions, and inability to cope with daily problems and activities. You will most definitely see in my essay that Mr.smith was not insane but just a murderous sane man. First of all, Mr.smith was a very intelligent man and planned every single move and procedure of this murder precisely , which is the exact opposite of uncontrollable or impulsive behavior.
It didn’t allow the opportunity to completely explore the complicated definition of insanity, as it only answers to the traditional definition. However, Perry is not a second. He is much more than that. He is made up of years upon years of life experience, a life that needs more than one word to fully summarize. A life that was wrongly taken due to an unjust law and a town that wanted to see him pay.
Nonetheless if Perry got the right childhood he needed and deserved he would not have become a murderer. When growing up, all children depend on their parents for everything. However Perry Smith faced
(page 244) Dick was successful in getting someone else to carry out the dirty job he didn’t want to accomplish. He was just contemplating how much cash he planned to steal from The Clutters. This just illustrates his indifference to other people's sentiments, since he never once considered how Perry might feel following such an act. When it was brought up, he pretended it wasn't all that horrible.
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’”.
While Dick’s attempt to profit from Perry originates from a lie that Perry creates in order to gain Dick’s respect, the language that Capote uses to illustrate Dick’s exploitation does not leave room for excuses or sympathy. The tone indicates Dick has malicious intention in befriending Perry, which gives the readers a cynical impression of him. Furthermore, Dick is seen to be disregarding of the gravity of his crimes, especially as he replies to Perry’s comment, “I think there must be something wrong with us" (Capote 114) to commit the murder like they did, in which Dick replies, “Deal me out, baby, I'm a normal,” and continues to entertain the thought, “ But Perry—there
Dick knew how to manipulate and get what he wanted. He was who Perry saw as a masculine man, someone to not be crossed, but who Perry looked up to. Perry noted that Dick was not a good role model, but still sought his approval causing him to lie about committing murder which got him roped into going with Dick to murder
From the beginning, Dick had a detailed plan of how they would carry out the murders, and he made sure that Perry was on board with his ideas. The scary part of all of this is that Dick considered himself normal, by saying, “I’m a normal” (Capote 108). In the book, it is clear that Dick was the one in control, and Perry is merely following his lead. For example, when they first discussed the robbery, Dick said, "If it's going to be done, it's got to be done right. No slip-ups...
The parrot is taking Perry to the afterlife; the parrot is Perry’s god. The color of the bird is yellow which symbolizes happiness and hope, the hope he has of a better life. Whenever Perry experienced something awful the parrot appears and saves him, an example of this is the phrase "…an avenging angel who savaged his enemies or... rescued him in moments of mortal danger. " The bird could symbolize Perry escaping from his problematic life into a simpler life.
Five years after the inhumane execution of the Clutter family, the callous perpetrators, Perry Smith and Richard Hitchcock were executed for the heinous crime. Due to their many appeals, Hitchcock and Smith managed to defer their ultimately inevitable demise for several years. The appeals were filed on the behalf of Hitchcock, claiming that the trial was biased, as well as the jury and the judge. Each appeal led to the same conclusion, that the trail was unbiased. On April 14, 1965, Both Perpetrators were executed by hanging.