The main theme for In Cold Blood is madness. Capote challenges the readers by having them determine if Dick and/or Perry are mentally unstable and if that it is the main cause of them murdering the Clutter family. They both go under a trance at different points and it is to the point where they cannot remember what they are doing or what had actually happened. However, both Perry and Dick easily plan out the murder and their escape routes with their so called unstable minds. The definition of madness is “a state of severe mental illness” or “behavior or thinking that is very foolish or dangerous” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). Both Perry and Dick had gone mad when they murdered the Clutter family.
