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

In Truman Capote 's book “In Cold Blood”, from 1965, the terrible murder of the Clutter family is told to you, in a way that in 1965 was called “new journalism”. It was Capote’s telling of a real life murder through the eyes of the people in the town and in particular Perry Smith, one of the people responsible for the murders. Truman Capote had many visits and conversations with Perry Smith and this led him to raise the question of whether a man alone can be held responsible for his actions when his environment has taken away so much of him and what is essential to a human being. One view to explore is the psyche of Perry Smith developed through out the theme by Capote “Nature vs. Nurture”. (Olin-Scheller 154) This being the idea that Perry Smith was a bad guy and did bad things because he had a hard life and life had some how forced him to be this way. The other view says Perry 's crimes are the acts of someone who may have a psychosis, a severe mental disorder in which thought and emotions are so impaired that contact with external reality can be lost. These two views could not be more different but with only slight changes in ones perspective they may seem so …show more content…
We are told of his dreams in which he is swallowed by a huge snake, rescued at the last moment by a big yellow bird, an almost Christ figure that carries him to heaven. His “artistic” and “sensitive” side is shown here in letters to a prison friend. Some may say that these are just day dreams and nothing more but for a person that is willing to commit murder it may be more. It mat be that last bit he needs to remove himself from his currant reality and live in an imaginary world. Truman Capote gives extensive attention to the years of Perry’s troubled childhood, including his difficulties with his father and the motorcycle accident that left his father with crippled