Truman Capote's Character Analysis Of Perry Smith As A Human Soul

Throughout In Cold Blood Capote goes through the lives of the killers, Dick and Perry. Both convicts released from jail and at first glance seem to have a lot in common, but as the book continues the reader can see that the two characters are in fact very different. To characterize the killers Capote frequently uses flashbacks into their pasts, giving the reader a sense of what their lives were like and why they became who they are. Capote also utilizes detailed descriptions of the men’s appearances, quirks, and habits to characterize the murderers.

Besides using anecdotes and stories from his childhood, Capote also used analogies to invoke a sense of sympathy for Perry, thus further using the means of pathos. In specific, a constant ‘comparison’ or analogy coupled with Perry is typically his ‘childish’ like structure. Short legs, small feet. This analogy is used constantly, including the hanging scene, where it is said Dewey had “open his eyes [and] saw the same childish feet, tilted, dangling”(Capote 341). This comparison is seen often when describing Perry and seems to give the man a childlike presence, making him come across as more innocent and understandable. This connection to Perry takes away from the ‘severity’ of his actions and instead reminds readers of his childhood and how it has affected him all through life. Using pathos to soften the personality of a killer and bring to life his struggles helped Capote to better exemplify the ‘makings’ of a murderer. When creating this book, Capote wanted to analyze how a murder came to be and thus how a murderer came to exist - in particular, Perry. The use of pathos in correlation to one of the main characters helped break down the hostile killer into a damaged, young, sensible young man who simply had a tough go at life. The device allowed for connection and personalization.

Truman Capote includes finite details such as Perry’s middle name, and goes down to even the name of the county that Perry was born and grew up in to appeal to his audience’s logic. By giving more detail to Perry’s past life, the audience is able to better grasp the image of Perry, which humanizes the murderer, and is more likely to create an emotion of sympathy towards the criminal and alter the audience’s view on capital punishment. This information is irrelevant to the plot, however, is very strong in supporting Capote’s argument.

Although Dick and Perry may both be killers, Capote uses language to portray Perry as a victim of Dick;therefore, Perry is seen through the eyes of the reader as an innocent man who was simply taken advantage of and molded into a killer by Dick.

Following the emotionally ‘flat’ perspective by Dick, is Perry’s self-pity attitude during his own chapter. Perry knows the annoyance of his voice to Dick, but has no control over his actions. With only having one thought repeated indefinitely, “I think there must be something wrong with us” (capote 30), one would need to vent in some manner. To continue, Perry’s pity persona even has the author himself take pity on him: “Look at his family!” (Capote 30). Capote demands the reader to acknowledge Perry’s grim adolescence and suicidal family: “His mother, an alcoholic, had strangled to death on her own vomit...Fern...jumped out a window...Jimmy...had one day driven his wife to suicide and killed himself the next” (Capote 30). Capote pities Perry and portrays him as human, instead of the monster everyone believes him to be. Capote explains how Perry’s mental state and upcoming is the reason he is mentally unstable. Capote exposes not all criminals are monsters. Referring back to Dick’s passage, Dick claims “Perry could be “such a kid,” always wetting the bed and crying in his sleep” (Capote 29). Perry never matured from his depressing childhood, and he remained a in this state into adulthood. Returning to Perry’s

Does a man who brutally murdered four humans-for the sole reason that he had the power to-deserve any ounce of sympathy? “In Cold Blood”, Truman Capote uses “pathos” to appeal to the emotions of the readers about the two murderers, Perry Smith and Richard Hickock. Capote certainly sympathizes with one more than the other. He portrays one of the cold-blooded murderers in a positive light, but portrays the other murderer as a despicable and disgusting human being. For instance, Capote utilizes righteous and simple diction to advocate Perry’s emphatic nature with choices like, “compassion” and “uncharitable”. Furthermore, the author’s piteous tone emphasizes the tragic and hopelessness of Perry’s life with choices like, “You think I like myself?”(Capote 185) and “...the Black Widows were always at me. Hitting me”(Capote 132). In addition, Capote’s tone and diction paint Dick as a tasteless, vicious creature who deserved to take the full blame of the murder. Lastly, there are several rhetorical strategies that author employs to encourage the audience to empathize with Perry and to hate and despise Dick. Primarily, diction is one of the most persuasive literary device in the novel.

Capote use three layers of trauma to completely develop the character of Perry Smith. Capote describes Perry’s childhood, mental state, describes why he does certain things

The most dominant strategy that Capote utilizes in order to achieve his purpose is pathos, as he plays on our emotions to get us to feel true sympathy for Perry Smith. This is strategy is overall the most effective one because it allows the viewers to perceive Perry differently. Capote mentions Perry’s abusive and neglectful childhood several times throughout the story’s course in order to make the readers feel empathic, and pitiful towards him. In one instance of the novel, Capote makes out Perry as a hero in a way. He sets up a picture of the killers at the beach, and he mentions how uncomfortable Perry is when he sees Dick talking to a young girl. He describes another instance like this when he says, “Hadn’t they almost got in a fight when quite recently he had prevented Dick from raping a terrified girl” (Capote 202). Perry is willing to stand up to his partner when he comes to situations like this. Readers can’t help but view Perry as a hero in his own way as he protects the young girls from Dick’s pedophilic mind. Capote plays on the assumption that everyone hates child predators, which is almost always true. In a way, Capote makes us feel admiration for Perry’s heroic effort in protecting the innocent, as he “prevented Dick” from doing something horrible. As Perry confesses his crime to Dewey and Duntz, he admits, “But I hoped we could do it without violence” (234). This is one of several moments where the readers get a sense of reluctance from Perry to commit the crime. Although Perry did eventually

Capote uses Perry as a sympathetic character; asking the reader if Perry’s life had been easier growing up, would he have committed the murders? A point often overlooked is Capote’s detailed exploration into Perry’s childhood and life

The best novels are the ones that connects with the reader and just toys with their emotions, as if they too were also in the story by using pathos, the most powerful appeal. This holds true with Truman Capote’s, In Cold Blood and his writing appealing to the reader’s emotions in the portrayal of Perry Edward Smith and Richard “Dick” Eugene Hickock, the two murders with an addition of Capote showing a great deal of favoritism to Perry over Dick. Throughout the novel, Capote uses tone and diction to allure the reader into the novel’s world and into every character’s life, just as if we knew their whole backstory.

Aren’t we all a bit crazy at times? In Truman Capote’s rhetorical masterpiece, In Cold Blood, is about a murder that actually occurred in a small town in Kansas. Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, also known as Dick and Perry, are the criminal minds behind the murder. Capote’s work is regarded to as a masterpiece because he uses many rhetorical devices to convey his message. He uses rhetorical devices such as diction, imagery and pathos. Capote’s purpose for writing the book is to show the insights of what goes on in these two’s criminal minds and to humanize Perry.

These emotions could go one of two ways- the first would be to feel pity for his parents, while seeing Dick in a slightly more pitiful light, rather than not even seeing him as human. Or it go go the second way, you feel pity for his parents, and begin to hate Dick even more for, not only what he did to the Clutter family, but also what he did to his parents. He not only ruined the Clutter family’s lives, he also ruined his life, his parents’ life, and even Perry’s life, even though he willingly participated in the murder. Capote’s use of pathos really humanizes the Clutter family murders, but also makes them more pitiful. They had a chance at a good life, Dick’s father even said that he used to be a good kid, but they threw it all away, robbing and killing an innocent family. Capote does a very good job of depicting Dick and Perry, creating a good balance between despicable and pitiful, while sharing their side of the story in a very accurate, yet interesting, way.

Truman Capote forms a close relationship with convicted murderer, Perry Smith, and allows his own personal perception of Perry to influence his story. Capote repeatedly puts emphasis on the fact that Perry comes from a troubled background and

By using this example, Capote is able to strengthen his argument by implicitly claiming Perry was made to be a murderer because environment shapes person’s nature especially when they are young; therefore, it evokes feelings of pity within readers toward Perry’s criminal record. It seems that his criminal record was an extension of godforsaken environments which he had to grow up. Furthermore, Capote shows Perry’s internal emotion he was murdering the Clutter family. “I didn’t want to harm the man. I thought he was a very nice gentleman.

Similar to the first descriptions of Perry, Capote first introduces Dick with physical description, writing that “It was as though his head had been halved like an apple… [his] lips were slightly aslant, the nose askew, and his eyes not only situated at uneven levels but of uneven size, the left eye being truly serpentine, with a venous, sickly-blue squint that…seemed nevertheless to warn of bitter sediment at the bottom of his nature” (Capote 31). Capote creates an image of Dick that clearly portrays him as a monstrous-looking creature on the surface with an inner evil to complement his features, suggesting hateful feelings for this character. As descriptions of Dick’s internal thoughts appear throughout the novel, readers begin to compile a broader picture of Dick’s psyche, such as his blatant narcissism: “He thought himself as balanced, as sane as anyone - maybe a bit smarter than the average fellow, that's all…But Perry - there was, in Dick's opinion, "something wrong" with Little Perry” (108). Examples of Dick’s internal thoughts not only act as clear versions of irony, but offer an insight into the darkness and evil of his persona; through this simple expression of distaste for Perry, readers can understand the serious narcissism that makes up an enormous part of Dick’s character. A final window into Dick’s sinister head comes just