As with the first novel, this is a work on nonfiction. Obviously, it is of a different genre! I feel that it is a book you never forget reading, probably because it introduces us to the kinds of people with whom we do not associate. It also illustrates the depravity mankind can demonstrate. What are your ideas on the novel? Consider discussing any or your idea os any of the following:
1. Character development
2. Impact of the various settings on the novel
3. The stylistic choices of the narrator of the story
4. Themes of the work
5. Motivations for behaviour
I look forward to reading your comments and cannot wait to discuss this with you when school begins.
27 comments:
In Cold Blood was a realistic, graphic novel. It was difficult for me to read about the gruesome details of the murders which took place. If you follow the events of Dick and Perry's lives, their entire lives seem to be filled with envy. They were envious of other possessions people had, even as children. As the storyline continues, it was the greed and envy of wanting the money that the Clutters had which lead them to murder.
I agree with Maci, when she says that they had greed in their life. These men seemed as if they always wanted more than what they had, and thought that they would be more happy if they had the possesions that they thought were important.
I have to say that I agree with Maci and Sydney about Dick and Perry having greed in their lives. They wanted what other people wanted, but in the long run those things can't give them happiness. They work together to kill the Clutter family so they can have the Clutter's money, because they are so greedy.
The motivations for the behaviour of both Dick and Perry come from early in their lives. Perry didn't have much of a father influence in his life. Dick got married and went through hard times which made him start to commit different kinds of crimes. They both had negative influences upon them that made the motivation for their behaviour not so good.
I agree with my classmates that Dick and Perry were in fact greedy. They not only wanted other people's lives, but to have control of it. Dick's pedophilific nature is a prime example of how he wanted to have control.
I have just finished reading In Cold Blood and the ending has to be the most surprising part to me. All the people that grieved over the Clutter murder had almost moved on. Time heals more wounds than most people realize.
I was also surprised how some of the characters in the story overcame the tragedy, and were able to look back upon the people who were no longer around and smile because of all of the plans that they had made with them. It showed me how important the time is that you have with your friends really is, and how we should try and make it the best that we can.
I agree that Dick and Perry were greedy people, but when they got to the Clutter's house and found that there was no safe it turned into an act of pride and revenge toward the people in Perry's life. He did not want to be viewed as a coward by Dick. Even though it started as a greedy motivation it turned into Perry trying to prove himself.
I think that this book teaches you to value your life. The case of the Clutter family shows that no matter how well liked or how perfect a family is, none of that matters. I think this shows that you should live your life to the fullest, because you never know when it will end.
I think another issue this journalistic novel confronts is the fragility of the American dream. The Clutters were a very prosperous and successful family, who were very much living the dream. But all it takes to ruin that are the few people who would commit crimes such as Perry and Dick did. While it may have been caused by their mental illnesses, that is irrelevant to the fact that things are never perfect when we live in a society like this.
I also agree with what Riley and my classmates said, Dick and Perry were very greedy and they didn't really care about anyone but theirselves, but they also had hard lives to live as children, which what was the probable cause of their envy towards others.
this book teaches you that there are some people out there that you simply can not and should not trust because based on how they were raised, they may be very different compared to you and can be capable of anything.
I believe the only motivation for the behavior of the murderers was insanity. They both seemed in some way insane to me. I believe they simply killed for the thrill of it. The money in the safe had nothing to do with killing the Clutters. I think that Dick had the full intention of killing them from the beginning. The Clutters were innocent and had nothing to do with Perry and Dick. Perry himself said that the Clutters had never done anything to him, he just felt that they had to pay for the pain that had been caused him before. This assumption is simply insane.
In this novel, Perry is implied as more sensitive and innocent than Dick. For example, Dick liked to prey on young girls; he liked them and was ashamed of this, but Perry wouldn't allow it. Dick wanted to rape Nancy before she was murdered, but Perry wouldn't stand for it. It makes you believe that Perry is more innocent, that he wouldn't really hurt anyone, until you find out that he is the sole murderer of the Clutters. I was simply shocked to find this out. I figured if it was anyone by himself, it would have been Dick. He seemes more heartless in the beginning stages of the book.
I am in complete agreement with what Riley had to say about the subject. By the end of the novely, I was really surprised to see that most, if not all, of the characters had already moved on. That is a great accomplishment that verifies that we truly can live in happiness.
Upon the completion of the novel, I discovered that human nature can be evil at most. It may have been because of your terrible childhood, in Perry's case. Or maybe you're just greedier than your average person. Overall, the evil nature of humanity is truly shown with the descriptive details that Capote uses to describe the murder scene of innocently murdered Clutter family.
After reading the novel I felt like one quote in the book sums up what humanity faces. It reads,You are strong, but there is a flaw in your strength, and unless you learn to control it the flaw will prove stronger than your strength and defeat you. This meaning there is in fact evil in everyone but overcoming this is the ultimate test of your character. Perry and Dick could not control their flaws of childhood, pride, or greed but tried to deal with them throughout their life's.
As Maci and Sydney said above there is definatly alot of greed and evny within the lives of Perry ands Dick. Their twisted outlook on life lead them to be unhappy and their jealousy of the Cuttler family lead them to commit murder. This eventually lead to their death in the long run of things.
Dick and Perry had an interesting journey! They would of gotten off a whole lot easier if they didn't run. I think other then greedy the word jealousy would sum them up perfectly! They were under privilege kids and because of their own grief it killed them seeing someone else's success.
The ending of the novel proves that murder and heartache can only last so long. Human beings can get over anything with the will power. There's life after death!
“Dick was holding the knife. I asked him for it, and he gave it to me, and I said, ‘All right, Dick. Here goes.’ But I didn’t mean it. I meant to call his bluff, make him argue me out of it, make him admit he was a phony and a coward. See, it was something between me and Dick. I knelt down beside Mr. Clutter, and the pain of kneeling—I thought of that goddam dollar. Silver dollar. The shame. Disgust. And they’d told me never to come back to Kansas. But I didn’t realize what I’d done till I heard the sound. Like somebody drowning. Screaming under water.”
This was said by Perrry when being questioned, there is not much to say besides WOW. The way he explained what happened the night they killed the Cuttler family stuns me. This also shows why they killed in the first place, a rivalry between the two to see in Dick would really kill like he said he would.
Of the two murderers, Perry freaked me out a lot more but Dick disgusted me. I think it's because Capote kind of was more sympathetic towards Perry even though they were both dangerous. Dicks motivation for murdering the Clutters was for money, and Perrys was exactly like Caylee said, he just did it because he felt they had to pay for the pain that he had his entire life.
Perry was definitely a lot more unstable than Dick was in the way he could be ready to slit your throat in a split second. But, Dick's last words were so sarcastic, and showed he still hadn't learned any sort of lesson.The way Capote presented Perry versus Dick made me feel more sympathetically towards Perry until it was revealed that he probably killed the family by himself.
This novel opened my eyes to the kind of peolpe that are in the world today and always have been.
I agree with Jaclyn that Perry was more ustable than Dick because Dick felt some kind of remorse for what they had done and Perry was just like lets not ever talk about this.
Dick and Perry, in my opinion, killed the Clutters in greed. They wanted everything the Clutters owned because they were not happy with what they had themselves. They also thought the Clutters had a perfect life. Dick had a bad marrieage that had ended and Perry had a very hard childhood. They wanted to have the Clutters life and they could not have it; so, they took their lives. I believe, they also killed the Clutters for the thrill. They had not commited any huge crimes. They decided to go on the thrill of their life by killing the Clutters and running away.
Dick and Perry had eventually been caught. It was shocking finding out that Perry had done pretty much all of the killing. Dick seemed more coldhearted than Perry.Dick was perverted and wanted to rape Nancy, but Perry would not let him. This shows that Perry was not perverted and would not alow Dick to be either. Perry killed to get back at the people in his life.In the end of the novel, the Clutters were still remembered; but, the holes left in the hearts of the people who were close to the Clutters had been filled. This shows that overtime wounds and heartbreaks can be healed.
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