In Cold Blood Dialectical Journal Essay

1. Write in MLA format all necessary publishing information. Peña, Matt De La. Mexican Whiteboy. New York: Delacorte, 2008. Print. 2.

Unbeknown to them a police chase ensues. Both flee to Mexico, with Dick cashing bad checks to finance their trip. When Perry’s dreams of prospecting

She repeatedly lied within the courts. She also went around the town convicting anybody and everyone she did not like. With all of the harsh events happening, the town became torn. Nobody knew who or how to trust. This was a very serious issue for the town.

He was afraid that Dick was arrested and told the police all about Perry and the Clutter murder. Then, the Kansas police would be heading straight for Perry. The restlessness after the murder drove him crazy, he was afraid to get caught and go to “the corner”. But Dick finally showed up. He figured they would hit a few more places with bad checks that night, then headed to Florida for

Dick and Perry quickly appealed to each other. Perry was very territorial over Dick and maybe even in love with him. This attraction spiralled out of control when Perry found out that Dick wanted to rape Nancy Clutter, one of the murder victims. Imagining Dick with another human being caused Perry to turn delirious. Perry became so enraged that he shot all four members of the Clutter family dead.

Truman Capote, the author of In Cold Blood, creates sympathy for almost every character the reader comes across. Through the use of manipulating the reader's emotions and connecting them to each character, Capote successfully pulls it off. There are four main groups that Capote chooses to create sympathy for the murder victims, the murderers, the law officials involved, and the ordinary citizens of Holcomb, Kansas. Truman Capote created the most sympathy for two characters, Perry Smith and Detective Dewey. From the beginning of the novel, Capote showcases Perry Smith a likable character.

All throughout this book, Capote used imagery, for example “...simply an aimless congregation of buildings divided in the center by the main-line tracks of the Santa Fe Railroad, a haphazard hamlet bounded on the south by a brown stretch of the Arkansas (pronounced ‘Ar-kan-sas’) River, on the north by a highway, Route 50, and on the east and west by prairie lands and what fields” (3). By using imagery at the start of the book, it helps you visualize the basic layout of the town of Holcomb, where the murders had taken place and where most of the story takes place. Imagery throughout the story makes you feel as if you are there in the story, resulting in a better flowing and understood story. An example of imagery that stood out to me was whenever Capote stated, “Here was a picture of the two together bathing naked in a diamond-watered colorado creek, the brother, a pot-bellied, sun blackened cupid, clutching his sister’s hand and giggling..”.

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.

He is portrayed as a mastermind in the cold-blooded killing of the Clutters family, a man with little respect for the lives of others, which can be seen through Dick’s expression before the murder of the Clutters when he converses Perry, “We’re gonna go in there and splatter those walls with hair” (Capote 234). This sudden tone shift enables Capote to depict Dick as a cruel and immoral character. Dick’s lack of empathy and concern for other people beside himself allow him to commit crimes without remorse, which is in contrast to Perry’s moral contemplation after each bad actions they committed. Moreover, Dick is represented as the true criminal with evident motives in murdering the Clutters, while Perry is seen as a vulnerable victim who depends on Dick for validation and acceptance, something in which Dick happily provides in order to manipulate Perry, as Capote writes, “Dick became convinced that Perry was that rarity, ‘a natural born killer,’—absolutely sane but conscienceless, and capable of dealing with or without motive, the coldest-blooded deathblows. It was Dick's theory that such a gift could, under his supervision, be profitably exploited” (Capote 205).

All of these questions and more are answered, or contemplated, throughout a series of twelve episodes that dive straight into the facts, the evidence, and the holes in each suspect 's

Many readers of the novel In Cold Blood tend to believe that Perry’s conflict is with his partner, Dick, because he constantly talks down to and manipulates Perry. These readers however are wrong because Perry’s main conflict stems from the fact that he faced multiple complex traumas as a child which has led him to develop a mental illness. Perry continues to struggle with multiple effects of complex traumas such as dissociation, behavioral responses which are easily triggered, and difficulty or in ability to develop relationships with authority figures. These effects have stunted Perry’s ability to mature as an adult and have caused him to think impulsively and irrational throughout the novel.

Dick on the other hand, is shown as “lacking of mercy” and lack of compassion, including his thoughts of Nancy Clutter. His pedofilic ways in section three are remembered

The accused were simply your everyday people who were disliked by most of the town or were just simply pointed at. For example,

Truman Capote uses variety of language devices to vividly develop Perry Smith in his novel In Cold Blood. These language devices include, diction, similes and symbolism. Throughout the novel diction is used to develop Perry Smith’s character, and suggest reasons for the murder. When Smith explains what happened that night at the Clutter’s family home, he tells agent Alvin Dewey about his moment with Nancy Clutter.

All characters are accused and redeemed of guilt but the murderer is still elusive. Much to the shock of the readers of detective fiction of that time, it turns out that the murderer is the Watson figure, and the narrator, the one person on whose first-person account the reader 's’ entire access to all events depends -- Dr. Sheppard. In a novel that reiterates the significance of confession to unearth the truth, Christie throws the veracity of all confessions contained therein in danger by depicting how easily the readers can be taken in by