Baggage

Everyone carries baggage with them. There are things that we cannot let go of and just take them with us, whether physically or mentally. There are also those things we carry with us but we wish we could leave behind. Those memories that we wish we could forget but, thinking about it, helped shape the person we are. Perry is the prime example of what I am saying. He carries baggage, literally, but more than what he physically carries, is the meaning behind every single object that weighs on him.

In Mexico, Dick and Perry run out of money and want to go back to the United States. This is the part when the luggage comes into play. Dick doesn't really carry memories with him but Perry does. He has a bag filled with things that are meaningful to him. Now, as the result of not being able to take everything with him, Perry must choose to let go of some of his material possessions. This is easy. Give it away and that is it. The thing is, Perry's objects are more than just clusters of atoms coming together to make something, each of these objects means something.

First there is the book his dad made that details many things about Perry's life with his father. His father was a bit hard on him but they cared for each other dearly. Perry had broken his dads promises in the end and was leaving him to the side. This kind of shows an inconsistency in Perry's attitude toward his resolutions. His mother let him down when she became a drunk and whether he realizes it or not, the fact that he does not drink is a psychological demonstration of how he was affected by it. He is fearful the drink will turn him into that which made him go through so much.

The letter from his sister was very interesting. She seems to lead a normal life and if anything, the only thing the letter seems to boast about are the children. When she says: "IT IS NO SHAME TO JAVE A DIRTY FACE- THE SHAME COMES WHEN YOU KEEP IT DIRTY." I found it interesting how it is all capital letters. She is highlighting the point that Perry might have done his wrongs but if he keeps doing it, that is when it is really wrong. throughout the letter his sister continues to capitalize certain words like : respect, common decency life, and living. She seems to want Perry to follow in her path and urges him to go to their father. 

Perrys baggage makes him who he is. this is why it is so important to him to pick the right pieces. Yet, how can one simply pick out certain memories from a whole?

Full: A Documentary

Crazy?

Perry keeps bringing up the murder and its annoying Dick. He keeps wanting to talk about it and questions whether they will really get away with it. In this particular moment is when all the quirks and issues of the murderers really come out. Especially about Perry but then it highlights what a cold person Dick really is.

Perry seems serene in the surface but the more you read on in this book, you realize he has a troubled past. One of Dicks descriptions of his partner is from when they were in jail together: "Perry could be "such a kid" always wetting his bead and crying in his sleep, and often dick had seen him "sit for hours just sucking his thumb…". (pg 108) This really does show that maybe Perry was severely traumatized when he was little and clings to that child part of him. Maybe he clings to it because he doesn't feel he went through that stage and is fixated on it. There is a branch of this in psychology made by Freud that involves stages a human goes through. When someone becomes fixated on one of them he grows up to have troubles as an adult.

Dick is the badass of the two. He is only taking advantage of Perry and completely using his love for maps and treasure against him. He wants to believe Perry won't doubt what they have done since he is not bothered by it. He does not want to discuss what happened and simply chooses to go on living. Maybe this foreshadows how Perry will be the one that comes clean about the murder first. 

Perry is troubled by what happened and even says that he never thought he would do something like that. Then when Dick asks him about his previous murder, a "nigger" he allegedly beat to death, Perry seems weird. The murder of the Clutters shakes him up more because he is certain they wing get away with it. He believes that "anyone could get away with a thing like that. Because I don't see how it is possible. To do what we did. …" (pg 109). He is shaken and is bugged by the feeling that something is going to happen. this brings attention to his believe in superstitions and questions them.

I think the murder will get to Dick eventually. Right now Perry is Macbeth and Dick is Lady Macbeth. He is the first one to start "seeing the ghost" of the murder that they have done. Dick might not be a femme fatal but sooner or later his actions will catch up to his psychology and he will be rubbing spots off his skin.

Consequences Beyond Death

When a crime occurs, one normally thinks that it only affects some. The murdered, the killers, and the loved ones of the dead but it goes beyond that. In my previous post I discussed how the crime of the Clutters affected their whole immediate community, but there are others. When we watch shows like CSI or NCIS, we never stop to think how these crimes later affect the investigators. Granted these shows are fiction but in real life there are detectives and CSI's that go home after dealing with death all day long.

Capote knows this and when he subtitled his book, "A true account of multiple murders and its consequences." he thought about all kinds of consequences. More than focusing on the obvious consequences a crime entails, he decided to expand it. In the prefix the reader knows that Capote did intensive research to write this book and talked to everyone who had something to say about this case.

A very unique approach to the consequences mentioned is Al Dewey, the key investigator of the crime. Instead of simply mentioning the facts about the investigation and what was done by the team, Capote captures how this crime deeply affects the personal life of this character. The boundary between work and home is violated for Al dewey since he even gets calls to his home about the murder. Whether they be inquiries from family friends or fake confessions, the investigator can't escape the murder.

Dewey's children also feel the threat of what has occurred. The youngest son is described as feeling endangered by it even though he vaguely understands what is going on. Mrs. Dewey also feels a change in their home environment that goes beyond the crime scene photos that now sit at their kitchen table. She is supportive of her husband but the consequences of the murder are spreading to her children.

Its understandable when she asks her husband: " Alvin, do you think we'll get back to normal living?" (pg 105). After a traumatic event everyone wants to be offered security and return to what was familiar. The consequences for this family is a complete change in this and probably, no return to normal living. At least, not until the crime is solved. As if Capote knows this, when Dewey is about to respond the telephone rings and puts and end to that conversation. It practically freshadows the idea that until the crime is solved, normal living will always be interrupted.

Picture Perfect

Society always wants perfection. It seeks for there to be no mistake and for everything to be picture perfect. When this is not so, there is calamity and fear. The places where this is least expected is where it hits the hardest. The impact creates mistrust and a shock that is hard to return from.

More than just a simple murder, the death of the Clutters is a stain in the picture perfect society that they live in. They represented everything perfect about it and that is why it affects the town so much. It makes the people feel lost and vulnerable. This is the first tme anything of this nature has happened in this town and the people don't know how to react toward it. This brings out new feelings within the citizens of the town that no one knows how to filter.

The distrust begins amongst the neighbors when this act takes place. Old friends and companions now "endure the unique expierience of distrusting eachother." (Pg 88) since this community is small and everyone knows everyone, this distrust has a bigger impact than if it was a big city. The wording Capote uses to describe this is correct. It is something new to them and it is a new expierience. Most readers probably don't understand this because they have expierienced this. It really highlight how unique this is to the residents of Holcomb.

A very good example of how this has affected the citizens of Holcomb is from a schoolteacher:

"Feeling wouldn't run half so high iif this had happened to anyone except the Clutters. Anyone less admired. Prosperous. Secure. But that family represented everything people hereabouts really value and respect..." (Pg 88)

The words used to describe what people value and respect show how the view of perfection was the Clutters. There is no mention of them as individuals or admiration of them for who they were. It is only what they represent, a seemingly perfect piece of society.

Rope It Up

The murders have happened.There was not sort of indication except for the few sentences that foreshadowed the end for the Clutters. All along it was known that this book is about a murder. The title pretty much says it and the subtitle does state it. Being a narrative about murder, I would have thought the author would make the actual murder the climax of the story. The events were presented in very unemotional way.

The only moment that the reader could have know or at least infered that the murder was about to happen is when the murderers are arriving to River Valley farm. It is not that they see any sort of sign that announces to the reader their exact location but the description of the trees:"The headlights disclosed a lane of Chinese eals; bundles of wind blown thistles scurried across it." (pg 57). The description of these trees has ocurred before and I thought it was very savy of the writer to focus on the description. Along with the  description of the trees there is also the directions the murderers take. Throughout the narrative, the author is constantly bombarding us with directions on how to get around Holcom. If one pays attention, most sections begin with some sort of description of the setting.
The author does not begin the blood bath by describing how the murders were commited but leaves us as if we were as lost as the characters who found the bodies. The reader might know that the murders were commited by Perry and Dick, but the actual description of the murder doe snot ocurr. It must be kept in mind that this is a narrative of an actual murder. The reasearch Capote must have conducted was from police reports and official documents that only present hard cold facts and not lengthy descriptions. Even when describing what was seen by those who testified Capote mentions that "they later said" or "recounted", which leads back to the idea of the oficial documents.

One thing that rcaught my attention, was that among the descriptions of how the bodies were found, there was special interest in the rope. Earlier on in another section it was mentioned that "Perry studied the stock, tested it. Having once served in the Merchant Marine, he understood rope and was clever with knots." (pg 37). This detail would have seemed unimportant but, all three victims were tied by a pro. The pro being Perry. Nancy was the one tied the simplest. Kenyon and Mrs. Clutter were tied a bit more intricatly with their hands and feet tied by the same chord and attached to the piece of furniture. Mr. Clutter is was the only one that seems to have been tied in a way that was for torture. Its these sort of details that the reader has to notice but I do wonder what the importance of this rope will be.