Analysis Of Nature Versus Nurture In In Cold Blood

Improved Essays
The nonfiction novel, In Cold Blood, entirely reconstructed a horrific crime scene while depicting the lives of the runaway murderers. The author, Truman Capote, uses montage (a form of writing that switches back and forth) to allow the readers to see into the lives of the killers and the petrified people of Holcomb, Kansas. On November 15, 1959, Richard Hickock and Perry Smith brutally murdered Herbert, Bonnie, Kenyon and Nancy Clutter in their farmhouse. Floyd Wells, a previous cell mate of Dick Hickock, told him previously of a safe that was hidden in Mr. Clutter’s home office. Dick and Perry’s motive was to rob the Clutter family; however, they had no intentions on leaving behind witnesses. Capote tells the tale of Dick and Perry’s roundabout with the police, but he has a paramount reason as to why he focuses on the lives of the murderers. Although Perry was ultimately the murderer of the whole Clutter family, Capote …show more content…
Dick had a stable family life- it seemed as if his criminal background was in his nature. He was oriented towards stealing and committing heinous crimes. His family was well respected, and his father did everything he possibly could to protect him and take care of his problems. Perry on the other hand had an extremely abysmal life; which mentally affected him and his morals. His mother was a raging alcoholic, he lost connections with all of his siblings, his father secluded him from the world and he was greatly abused throughout his lifetime. Dick’s life was reasonably privileged; therefore, it was completely in his nature when he turned to committing crimes for pleasure. Perry had an unstable childhood which mentally scarred him. It was in his nurture to turn to committing gruesome crimes. Capote depicts Perry’s life in such a way that the reader feels bad for him and tends to blame the crime on

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote, is a nonfiction novel about the mass murder of an innocent family. Though highly acclaimed, the book ends up falling short of its nonfiction description, as the article, “Critical Essay on In Cold Blood”, argues that there is great bias in In Cold Blood in the form of sympathy towards the main character, Perry Smith, which is certainly true. Instead of following the conventional format of a nonfiction mystery novel, Capote uses In Cold Blood as an outlet to express his sympathy towards Perry Smith, the man who ruthlessly murdered four innocent members of the Clutter family. This evident bias hampers Capote’s attempt at an impartial account of the Clutter family mass homicide.…

    • 1110 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In his novel In Cold Blood, Truman Capote explores a significant controversy in the American justice system: the death penalty. He carefully describes a dramatic incident in Holcomb, Kansas when four members of the respected Clutter family are killed. When the murderers, Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, are finally caught after an extensive investigation, they are given the death sentence. Through a historically accurate and compelling novel, Capote criticizes capital punishment by humanizing Perry and Dick, suggesting their sentence to be unnecessary, and exposing its brutal nature. Capote paints the death penalty in a negative light by presenting the criminals’ more humane characteristics to create sympathy for them.…

    • 1045 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The author interrupts this dream-like scene as Perry broaches the subject of the murders yet again. Immediately, Capote begins to reveal the true superficiality of Dick’s personality through uses of syntax and diction. Perry starts by explaining that there “must be something wrong” for the two of them to “do what they did”, and Dick responds with, “Did what?”(29). Though the reply may seem simple and insignificant, that is exactly the reason it is important. Capote utilizes short and abrupt sentences in order to further portray Dick as a two dimensional character.…

    • 1064 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Capote brings up arguments in the story commonly used by anti death penalty people. For example, Capote added details in the story about how the lawyer did not really want to serve in this case. In the novel Perry’s lawyer even confesses, “I do not desire to serve. But if the court sees fit to appoint me, then of course I have no choice.” This shows that from the onset of the case the defense lawyer did not even want to defend Dick and Perry.…

    • 865 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    This was something that Dick opposed, he wanted believed masks were unnecessary as they would leave no witness alive. This detail greatly served to show, the difference in there morality. Capote also believed that Perry never meant to kill the clutter. In an interview with the New York Times, Capote was asked wether he believed if Perry and Dick were surprised about their own action, he responded with, “Perry never meant to kill the Clutters at all. He had a brain explosion.…

    • 1199 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Capote’s choice of not describing the killings, makes it clear that he did not want to write a horror novel. The fact that he reveals the identity of the killers early on also establishes that it was not meant to be a mystery novel. Perry’s placement as the occupant of the woman’s cell corresponds with they way Dick used to call Perry “honey” and how he always thought Perry had feminine qualities. In Truman Capote’s novel, In Cold Blood, he uses juxtaposition to emphasize the differences between the two murderers.…

    • 1208 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Capote gives the readers what the jury did not want to hear, “Perry Smith shows of definite signs of severe mental illness.” Dr. Jones talks about how Perry wasn’t thought the fixed sense of moral values. Perry Smith was different from Dick Hickock in a way that even though they committed the crime together, their state of mind wasn’t. The judge completely refused to question Perry mental stability, because he saw murder as black and…

    • 1445 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Capote seemed to focus on the murderers of the Clutter by providing in depth background knowledge, describing their family, and showing inside the killer dreams. In addition, he focuses on their lifestyle while on the run.…

    • 1016 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He is very manipulated over and to Perry and leads us to believe he got Perry to kill the entire family. Dick is more on the nature side of things because he was raised in a good stable family. This shows that Dick was naturally psychotic and demented he was raised right but turned to evil because it was just simply in his nature. He was very demented in the fact that he used Perrys weakness of liking him to his advantage but also wanted to rape one of the girls he killed. Which brings us to the difference between nature vs nurture and what effects what in who.…

    • 1311 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Dick being much more masculine and a natural leader, noticed Perry’s odd personality and stated that there was “something wrong with Little Perry. Perry could be such a kid, always wetting his bed and crying in his sleep. And often [Dick] had seen him sit for hours just sucking his thumb. In some ways old Perry was spooky as hell. Take, for instance, that temper of his.…

    • 1083 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Capote explains that Smith’s criminal record is just an extension of the harsh environment in which he had to grow up in. Capote also inferred that Dick was the one who knew about the Clutters first, and made the plan to kill them. Perry only went back to Kansas to see his friend from prison, Willie-Jay. When Perry learns that Willie-Jay had already left, he then makes the decision to go along with Dick. His mind was not set on murder in the first place, and he had no clear motive.…

    • 1358 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Through the use of rhetorical strategies, Truman Capote manipulates the reader’s emotions by portraying Perry Smith in In Cold Blood as a sympathetic character. Perry Smith, along with his partner Dick Hickock, murder the Clutters, a well loved family in the town of Holcomb, Kansas. This small town consists of people, who immediately outkast the murders because they only understand their own lives, and nothing outside of Holcomb. Although there are two murderers, this rhetorical analysis will solely focus on Perry’s traumatic childhood. To share an outsider’s point of view of the situation, Capote uses simile, alliteration, and theme to influence the reader to sympathize with Perry, rather than to condemn him.…

    • 1113 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Cold Blood is a compilation of Capote’s six years of research on the Clutter Murders. Many believe that Capote changed the facts of his story and added details that were not there in order to support his claims. Capote even admitted, at one point, that his book was very opinionated. However, Capote had a way of using his writing to bring forth a deeper meaning. Capote was a very talented man.…

    • 724 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    After a key witness gives Perry Smith and Dick Hickock up, Truman Capote and investigators digs into their backgrounds. Capote finds out quickly that these two men have nothing in common. Dick never had any troubles throughout his childhood, while Perry…

    • 197 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The reader can finally get a real feel for the character’s negative personality when they are able to see it described from someone who knew him. Until now, Perry has been the more likeable of the two criminals, with his reluctance to kill and semblances of normalcy, but this is foreshadowing stipulates that Perry may just as ruthless as Dick, if not even more…

    • 710 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays