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by Truman Capote
Table of contents
1. The author Truman Capote 2. An epic nonfiction novel 3. Short presentation of the four parts The Last to See Them Alive Persons Unknown Answer The Corner 4. A suggestive title 5. A real story 6. Dick and Perry psychiatric issues 7. A modernist novel 8. Concluding remarks
be with them in order to obtain what they want. Their motto is no witnesses. Dick, thinking about the problems they might be confronted with, says: There's him. Her. The kid and the girl. And maybe the other two. But it's Saturday. They might have guests. Let's count on eight, or even twelve. The only sure thing is everyone of them has got to go." And, even more coldblooded, he says to Perry: "Ain't that what I promised you, honey - plenty of hair on them-those walls?" Dick and Perry arrive at the Clutter home, but we are not informed about what they do there. All we know is what some friends of the family see the next day, i.e. the dead bodies of the Clutters. The murder is announced on the radio and everyone is shocked by the news, while the criminals are presented as being miles away from the crime scene, acting totally normal and returning to their everyday life.
Persons Unknown
The KBI, headed by Alvin Dewey, investigates the scene. The only clues found are a footprint and a missing radio. Dewey is unsure of the motive for murder, but he visualizes how he thinks the crime occurred. He thinks that the killer must be someone close to the family. Rumor sets the small town of Holcomb on fire. Meanwhile, Perry and Dick pass some false checks, and the two flee to Mexico. Perry has always dreamed of finding sunken treasure in Mexico. Perry tells Dick he is surprised that he was able to go through with the killings. While the investigation in Kansas begins to methodically follow up dead end leads, Perry and Dick run out of money in Mexico City and they plan on returning to the states. Perry goes through his personal belongings and remembers his childhood. His mother and father rode the rodeo circuit until they had a falling out. Perry was passed from home to home as a child. Now, two of his three siblings have killed themselves. He reads a letter from his father, which fills Perry with both hatred and love. He also reads a letter from his sister Barbara, whom he loathes, and who, in turn, is afraid of him.
Answer
The investigation of the Clutter murders seems to be heading nowhere. However, Floyd Wells, an inmate, hears of the murder case and, being sure that Dick Hickock is responsible, gives the information to the authorities. Dewey is careful to keep this secret because he wants the accused to feel falsely safe. Meanwhile, Dick and Perry pick up hitchhikers, mean to kill them, but their plan is deterred.
Dewey gets a phone call from another agent, who informs him that Dick is in Kansas and has been passing fake checks. Dick and Perry are captured and they deny the murder at first. Then, being separated, Dick admits the killing but blames the murders on Perry. The latter says he murdered the men while Dick murdered the women. The officers tell them that there is a witness and Dick knows it is Wells. On a car ride to Garden City, Kansas, the police tell Perry that Dick told them about the story of Perry killing the negro. Perry is very surprised because he thought the police were bluffing, but now he knows that Dick truly placed the blame on him. Perry gives a full confession and even says that he takes full responsibility for all four murders because he thinks Dick's parents are good people. Perry describes exactly what happened at the Clutter house that night, how calm and trusting Mr. Clutter was, how exactly he locked them in the bathroom, tied them up and killed them one by one, and how Dick wanted to rape Nancy. They go to the jail amid a watchful crowd.
The Corner
At their trial, a psychologist asks Dick and Perry to write him an autobiography, and he psychoanalyzes them to determine if they can claim temporary insanity. The defense makes its case. Perry and Dick's lawyer hopes that the psychologist can claim temporary insanity, but when questioned whether Dick was sane, the psychologist said "yes." When questioned whether or not he could determine whether or not Perry was sane, he said "no." He is not allowed to give further information, but Capote presents to the reader what he would have said about Dick and Perry's characters. Judge Tate calls for death penalty for Dick and Perry. They are assigned cells in "The Corner," the death row, with other cold-blooded criminals given the death penalty, including Lowell Lee Andrews, a scholar who Perry detests. Perry tries to starve himself while Dick writes letters to various appeals organization. However, after five years, Dick and Perry are hanged on April 15, 1965. When death comes, Dick is awkward and Perry is remorseful.
Dicks opinion about Perry: Dick became convinced that Perry was that rarity, a natural killer absolutely sane, but conscienceless, and capable of dealing, with or without motive, the coldestblooded deathblows. Perry about Dick: The glory of having everybody at his mercy, that's what excited him. Dick to Perry: And then after we've found the safe, we'll cut their throats. Can't shoot them, that would make too much noise. Mrs. Meier about the criminals: They'd cut out your heart and never bat an eye. Perry to a friend who visits him in jail: Am I sorry? If that's what you mean - I'm not. I don't feel anything about it. I wish I did. But nothing about it bothers me a bit. Half an hour after it happened, Dick was making jokes and I was laughing at them. Maybe we're not human. I'm human enough to feel sorry for myself. Sorry I can't walk out of here when you walk out. But that's all. Perry, about his crime: And it wasn't because of anything the Clutters did. They never hurt me. Like other people. Like people have all my life. Maybe it's just that the Clutters were the ones who had to pay for it.
When Dick and Perry were brought to Garden City, Kansas, Capote was among the crowd of people who waited to see them. He tried to interview them the next day, but Perry was suspicious and Dick so talkative that he said essentially nothing. Over the next five years, as they were convicted, sentenced to be hanged and appealed their convictions, Capote got to know Perry much better. Ironically, Perry told him that all he'd ever wanted to do in his life was to produce a work of art, and now his crime was going to do that for him. He didn't like the title, though. The murders, he insisted, were not committed in cold blood. As he went to his execution, Perry kissed Capote on the cheek and said "Adios, Amigo. The writer examines the events so closely and the dialogues seem to be so vivid, that the reader has the impression that he is in the middle of the action. The letters, testimonies and interviews revealed throughout the novel add to this effect of verisimilitude.
Capote even introduces in the novel a psychiatric analysis made by a professional doctor, which reveals the criminals split personalities. Both Dick and Perry manifest antisocialism, emotional abnormality, impulsiveness and low selfesteem, which is in fact a sign of the complex of inferiority. They are also above average in intelligence. Although they share these characteristics, what distinguishes Dick from Perry is Dicks pedophilic tendencies, with which Perry totally disagrees. Before killing Nancy, Dick intents to rape her, as Perry informs us: Then he says to me, as we're heading along the hall toward Nancy's room, I'm
gonna bust that little girl. Nevertheless, Perry strongly opposes, saying that he is totally against people who cannot refrain their sexual desires. The psychiatric diagnosis for Dick is severe character disorder.
Perry is different from Dick in many ways. He is also antisocial, but in comparison with his friend, he feels the need for affection; however, he cannot appreciate when a person tries to establish a relationship with him. This inability to form close ties is due to his paranoia, as he is suspicious and distrustful of others. In addition, he has an inclination to feel that people discriminate against him, are unfair to him or fail to understand him. Also linked to his paranoia is his sensitivity to criticism. He thinks people are hypocritical, hostile, and deserve whatever he is able to do to them. Thus, he attaches little value to human life and he sees even his life as worthless; he considers his idea of suicide as a possibility to escape from the real harsh world. Unlike Dick, he has poor ability to organize his thinking because he has a weak personality. Thats why he needs Dicks guidance in everything Dick plans to do. Perry is easily influenced by his friend, whose proposition he immediately embraces.
One of the most important and fatal features of Perrys temperament is the fact that he cannot separate the real situation from his own mental projections. This incapacity is associated with his psychiatric diagnosis, paranoid schizophrenia. Even though he was the one who committed the crimes, he didnt feel as if he were involved in this murder process. At a certain moment, he says: It was like I wasn't part of it. More as though I was reading a story. And I had to know what was going to happen. The end. Even Dewey, the detective of the crimes, realizes Perrys mental illness: The crime was a psychological accident, virtually an impersonal act. At times, Perry is not regretful, while at others he cannot understand why he even does such evil acts like killing the Clutter family. Dick, on the other hand, is always laughing and smiling getting the last word in on everything. Yet, he truly believes that this world is one filled with cruelty and emptiness, since he believes life after death will be better than living ever was for him.