Herb Clutter Character Analysis

In the book, “In Cold Blood,” Truman Capote takes us through the lives of the murderers and the murdered in the 1959 Clutter family homicide, which transpires in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas. The first chapter, “The Last to See Them Alive,” vividly illustrates the daily activities of the Clutter family—Herbert, Bonnie, Nancy, and Kenyon—and the scheming plot of Dick Hickock and Perry Smith up to point where the family is found tied up, and brutally murdered. In doing so, he depicts the picture-perfect town of Holcomb with “blue skies and desert clear air”(3) whose safety is threatened when “four shotgun blasts that, all told, ended six human lives”(5). Through the eyes of a picture perfect family and criminals with social aspirations, Capote describes the American Dream and introduces his audience to the idea that this ideal was no more than an illusion. Herbert Clutter: the character Capote describes as the epitome of the American Dream.

However, the two murderers never took the time to find out more about the Clutter family. Once they realized there was no fortune, Dick did not mind. Dick’s motive for remaining inside the Clutter home was he knew there was a young girl living in the house. His motive was to rape the young girl, Nancy. Nonetheless, the other murderer, Perry Smith, had no motive for killing the Clutter family after realizing there was no fortune.

Cathy Ames has been criticized because she is completely evil. It has expressed throughout the novel that Cathy is inhuman. She has no emotion, no feelings, and no good in her. Many state that she is a symbol for Satan or a witch, who is pawn of Satan. People go so far in declaring that she is one of these evil spirits because even from birth she was filled with extreme evil and darkness, lacking characteristic that make up a human.

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.

Dick from In Cold Blood maintained that he was less guilty and did not deserve the death penalty. In stating this, Dick was not correct that he was less guilty. There are justifiable proofs that diminish his chances of being less guilty. These proofs are found within the book and can be represented through his demeanors and actions prior to and after the night. Richard Eugene Hickock (Dick) in In Cold Blood is just as guilty as Perry in that he had clearly displayed his intent for killing the Clutter family.

Dedication and compassion in a relationship are integral pieces to make the relationship last. Trusting the other person is an essential part of all relationships. A Handful of Dust written by Evelyn Waugh, revolves around Tony Last, his wife Brenda, and their failing relationship. Tony is more passionate and loving towards his house, Hetton, than he is with his wife. Bored with Tony and his obsession with Hetton, Brenda begins to focus more on John Beaver, a twenty-five-year-old social climber.

In the book “In Cold Blood” by Truman Capote, Capote blantly describes the murderous acts of two men who killed an entire family they knew nothing about. The Clutters were good people who had no intention on hurting anyone. Dick and Perry, the murderers, had no reason to do this, meaning they had no motive for these actions and they can not be excused for their actions. In the beginning of the book, Capote introduces everyone to the Clutter Family, and a few pages further into the book he introduces everyone to Dick Hickock and Perry Smith.

In the novel Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse, main character Billie Jo faces several challenging obstacles throughout her lifetime. Getting through these obstacles is the only way Billie Jo can learn to forgive her father as well as herself for their mistakes. Once she learns to stop feeling resentful, and let go, Billie Jo will be able to grow up. The first major challenge Billie Jo faces is when a fire breaks out in her home. The fire ignites when Billie Jo’s mother mistakes a pail of kerosene for water, where,“instead of making coffee, Ma [makes] a rope of fire”(87).

In the book Legend by Marie Lu the main characters June and Day face challenging dilemmas as they realize their actions have started a revolution against the Republic. Marie Lu was born in Beijing, China in 1984. Her chinese name is Xiwei. In 1989, Lu and her family moved from China to the United States living in Texas. She studied political science at the University of Southern California.

The movie Capote (2005) posed many ethical issues in relation to the way qualitative information was conducted. The first of which being the study, or research design, was not approved or monitored by a review board, ethics board or review committees. Capote read about a murder that had occurred in a small town in Kansas and came up with the idea to write about it. There was no informed consent shared with members of the community that he and Harper Lee spoke with regarding the murders. I do not believe that many members of the community were even aware that he was working on a writing, and felt he was just a concerned citizen.

In the village of Holcomb, Kansas a wealthy family, the Clutters, was murdered on November 14, 1959. Dick Hickock and Perry Smith were convicted of these murders and received the death penalty. In Truman Capote’s novel In Cold Blood, the audience receives different viewpoints on why Dick and Perry either deserved the death penalty or not. Though the decision to sentence someone to death should be based on the truth, the truth is not always easy to define; Capote shows this through his depiction of the controversial executions of Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. Criminal punishment is an immensely ongoing controversial and societal issue in the United States, Europe and other parts of the world.

Mark Character Analysis The quiet ones are the dangerous ones. That is the case when it comes to Mark Kinney, the mastermind behind the plot to kidnap Mr. Griffin. In the book Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan, Mark is a malicious, sullen and charismatic character.

The character of Miss Brill has developed her life into one quite the contrary of the typical lifestyle. Her life consists of indirect human contact with people who do not even realize she is listening to their conversations, and personification of a fur coat which seems to be her biggest and only friend throughout the story. Miss Brill is plagued by solitude and loneliness that she has allowed her life to become engulfed by. Miss Brill’s fur coat is the first major object mentioned in the story, but object isn’t what Miss Brill herself would call the fur. She takes it out of the box and caresses the fur, rubbing “the life back into the dim little eyes.”

The story of Young Goodman Brown is the story of a tale about the main character becoming aware of the hypocrisy of his faith as a Puritan. Through his travels in the woods at night, he unveils the truths, or what he believes as truths, about his wife Faith, neighbors, and fellow Christians. By the end, Brown loses all trust in his Faith, both literally and spiritually, and refuses to see any good in the world. The beginning scene where Goodman Brown meets the old man has the most significance in the story’s resolution. This is where his mistrust starts to form and where he experiences his first temptations to sin.

Nelly Cootalot: The Fowl Fleet Despite being twenty six years old at the time of writing, The Secret of Monkey Island is still one of the best titles in the point & click adventure genre. It has obviously been since surpassed in terms of visuals and audio, but the brilliant humor and clever puzzles still cements its position as a true classic. It also means that you have to be pretty brave as a developer to release a pirate themed point & click adventure. Undeterred, comedian Alasdair Beckett-King has forged ahead and created Nelly Cootalot, a swashbuckling pirate themed adventure with undeniable Monkey Island influences.