Perry Smith The Serene Man with the Explosive Temper Perry Smith is perhaps the nicest, most gentle-hearted man I've ever met in my life. If he and I were to have met under different circumstances, I would never have hazarded a guess that this kind man could be a cold-blooded killer. He's such a gentle man that it startles me to think that a man such as he would ever so much as touch a hair on a human head. However, it is the story of his past that lends credence to the fact that he slaughtered four members of the Clutter family. Built up emotions of hatred and rejection have been bottled up inside of him for so long, that he sometimes explodes with little cause. Although he appears soft on the outside, it is the build up of emotion …show more content…
They enjoyed seeing their parents perform, but they were forced to live in a truck with little to eat as they traveled the country hunting work on the rodeo circuit. During the Depression in the 1930s, the family moved to Nevada in search of work. Tex John Smith, Perry's father, began moonshining for money. It was around this time that Flo Buckskin, Perry's mother, began drinking. The marriage ended in a huge fight "in which horsewhips and scalding water and kerosene lamps were used as weapons." Flo ran away with the children. John later went to San Francisco to get his children back. Perry was the only one that showed any love for his father. After the divorce, John was granted full custody, but he took only Perry and put the other children in foster care because he could not care for all of them. Perry got into trouble in school and was in a fight. His father summarily removed him from the school, and they left town. Perry says that although he wanted to go to school, his father wouldn't let him, "because he didn't want [him] to learn anything, only how to tote and carry for him." Perry joined the Marines in the Second World War, and he went to Korea, where he displayed signs of his sinister side by throwing a Korean man over a bridge for no reason. He returned from the war and went to find his father in Alaska, where they
Perry does a phenomenal job of relating to his patients as a human being and not just another person to be “fixed” to get his paycheck. He sees beyond their list of symptoms to the daily struggles they experience and the effect their past has on their daily lives. He does not just slap diagnosis on them and prescribe medication based on a limited chart. He looks for new and inventive ways to help ease their everyday problems and recover from the psychological and physical damage that has been inflicted upon them. Each patient has a personalized treatment plan that is tailored exclusively for them. Dr. Perry does not solely rely on the evaluation of others to construct a road to recovery. He talks to the patients and listens to their point of view without judgement which is one of his biggest assets in my opinion. Overall, Dr. Perry does a remarkable job of balancing the boundary of a professional psychiatrist with the personal relationships between him and his
To many Europeans in the early 17th century the Americas seemed as a new land of opportunity. John Smith and William Bradford were two of the first men who left England seeking adventure and freedom in the New World. Both groups had difficulties while trying to form their colonies and Smith and Bradford were both elected to lead. While they were both great leaders they had very different lives before their journey from England. While starting their new colonies they also took different approaches to making the land habitable. One of the most notable differences between John Smith and William Bradford was their writing style. John Smith and William Bradford were very different people in
As a child Perry grew up with a limited education. When he is young and after his parent’s divorce Perry is living with his dad and is going to school. He finishes grade three but after that he never returns. Perry’s father moves from state to state throughout his childhood and prevents Perry from returning to school. Perry’s father wants Perry to stay with him instead of going to school so he can do work and take care of him. As Perry grows older however he understands that his father kept him out of school and Perry becomes extremely angry with him. Smith stated, “That bastard never gave me a chance. He wouldn’t let me go to school…. he didn’t want me to learn anything, only how to tote and carry for him. Dumb. Ignorant. That’s the way he wanted me to be. So that I could never escape him” (Capote 185). However, Perry is an intelligent and talented man with great potential. He has natural music ability, he likes to read and improve his vocabulary, and he also knows how to draw. In spite of this he never received encouragement from his father or anyone else: “Oh, the man I could have been! ... But the time came I begged to go to school. I happen to have a brilliant
John Smith is one of the most famous people in American literature history. He was a dedicated man to his country of England, and wanted nothing more than to claim America in the name of the king. During his adventures to the new land he encountered many new things and people including a young Native American woman named Pocahontas. He also wrote many journals enticing people to want to come to America. This shall tell you the story of John Smith from his journeys as a young man all the way to when he finally came to America, and how his writings still influence people to immigrate to America still today.
When Perry was in the basement with Dick he was trying not to kill Mr. Clutter. “But I didn’t mean it. I meant to call a bluff, make him argue me out of it, make him admit he was a phony and coward” (244), shows that Perry knew right from wrong, but he dissociated and couldn’t control what was going to happen. When he was standing there he says he remembers being on the floor looking for the silver dollar. He felt horrible and disgusted and didn’t know what was going on, until he heard a scream. Another reason is he has mental lapses. When Dr. Satten told the jury the synopsis about Perry he stated that “In general, these individuals are predisposed to severe lapses in ego-control which make possible the open expression of primitive violence, born without previous, and now unconscious, traumatic experiences.” (298-299) He loses his judgment about what he’s doing and acts on impulses, doesn’t know from what is right and
In Cold Blood is a true story based on two men, Dick and Perry. The two of them had very serious psychological issues, with Dick being a psychopath and Perry being a sociopath. Dick and Perry served time in prison together, which is where Dick heard about the Clutter family and that’s where he created the whole plan to murder them.
Richard Hickock can be seen as possessing significant traits of psychopathy, while his partner Perry Smith is seen with traits similar to that of a life-course persistent offender. Through the described personality characteristics and brief histories of Hickock and Smith, this essay will address this assertion with the two in question as individuals themselves, within their relationship to each other, and also as other characters see and analyze their psychological well being.
This book presents two individuals, named Richard and Perry, who strived to do a few things once they were out of prison that were very horrific, and unbearable which by any means is not permissible. During and after the killings of the Clutter family, Perry comes to his senses and speaks on the aftermath of what these killings have brought upon him. “The sounds of breathing, the gasps, the hysterical inhalations of a man with a severed windpipe. When Perry said, “I think there must be something wrong with us,” he was making an admission he “hated to make” (110). Criminals who admit on their behavior. The position becomes, are they human beings anymore, or are they dehumanized? The fact that Perry Smith comes to the realization that they are demented, should they be given a chance? The level of detail that speaks
Perry Smith came from a very dysfunctional family. Growing up Perry was never taught right from wrong. His parents divorced after years of domestic violence, his mother became an alcoholic. Due to the stresses at home he is a cronique run-away. He was “in and out of detention homes many times” (277); an orphanage. The cottage mistress severely beats and humiliates Smith for wetting the bed. During Smith’s teen years two of his sibling’s committed suicide, and the surviving sibling refusing to interact with him. Smith was angry, conflicted, and scarred by years of abuse. Taking the opportunities his adulthood gave him to act out against the world that hurt him.
“...but Dick became convinced that Perry was that rarity, “a natural killer”-- absolutely sane, but conscienceless and capable of dealing, with or without motive, the coldest-blooded deathblows.” Page 55 Plain and simple, this quote identifies Perry as a sociopath. It’s fair to say that each man silently belittles the other just to prove their own masculinity to themselves. But when Dick thought this, the reader can sense the tinge of jealousy and amazement he has. He thought Perry was the rational one of the two, always sure to think things through.
Andrew Morris was just an ex-detective who wanted to relive his glory days. Without his psychic wife, he needed a new way to get unwarranted attention. His way of doing that was to commit heinous crimes and use Stephens to get into the thick of things. Even after he is caught and exposed as a sick serial killer, he still attempt to manipulate Stephens into believing he’s insane, screaming from jail that his dead wife had framed him and that he was innocent. Stephens sees him for what he is at last, and realizes that serial killers all have something in common, “a [desire for a] sick thrill, and a vivid imagination” (179)
When Perry remembers his childhood memories, he tells
Albert DeSalvo, more commonly known as The Boston Strangler, was born on September 3, 1931 and died on November 25, 1973 due to a tragic stabbing while in prison. The reasoning behind DeSalvo’s placement in prison were the heinous acts he had conducted in which he raped over 300 women (The Boston Strangler, (n.d)). However, this was not DeSalvo’s first run-around in prison. Years prior to the imprisonment of DeSalvo, he had been imprisoned for breaking and entering into a house During his second imprisonment, DeSalvo admitted to committing a series of 13 murders called “The Silk Stock Murders.”(insert citation) These murders consisted of the killing of 13 women, ages ranging from 19 to 85, in the Boston area. Due to the extent and absurdity of DeSalvo’s crimes, an investigation was lead into his health to determine if something there was something psychologically altered about DeSalvo. It was later found that DeSalvo was a paranoid schizophrenic. However, in order to trigger these behaviors, something must have psychologically deepened his urge to kill.
On December 6th, 1941 the world welcomed Richard Benjamin Speck, who would become a well-known mass murderer. Speck, having a rather rough childhood, had an extensive criminal background before committing the unspeakable murders that made him famous. After being found guilty, Speck spent his remaining days in Chicago’s Stateville Penitentiary. One can look at Richard’s personal history, crime and criminal history to try and pin him to one criminological theory, when in reality, none will really fit him to a “T”. He was a psychopath who was in great need of psychological help, among other things.
The green grass has nothing on his beautiful, emerald eyes. The soft smiles he gives me in the hallways light up the world. A face like heaven, but with a jawline so sharp it could cut your fingers. The way his muscles tense when I rub his arms after a long, sweaty day of baseball is like holding a bowling ball. Messing with his fluffy hair is like cotton candy I could tear into everyday. The noises he makes are so crazy they become comforting. His smell is very unique, just like a cozy house on a winter day. A mammoth’s heart is non comparable to how big of a heart he has for the ones he loves.