Good guy, Bad guy...?
I have finished In Cold Blood, and I found it interesting that throughout the entire book, Capote characterized Dick Hickock as the bad guy and Perry Smith as the unfortunate guy who got caught at the "wrong place and the wrong time." He seemed intent on having the reader develop a keen dislike for Hickock while portraying him as a smart-alec punk bully. At the same time he seemed to try to develop a sense of sympathy for Smith, which prevailed to the end of the book. During his literary moments in the book he chose not to disclose or discuss most of Perry's misfortunes, misbehaviors, arrests, etc. that occurred prior to the incarceration where he met Dick, other than those that revealed mistreatment of Perry. Capote would almost have had you believe that that was Smith's first run-in with the law, and another case of "wrong place, wrong time"?. It was not until the book began the "documnentary", that most of the truth about Perry Smith's troubled life came to light. As it turned out, he was really the "bad guy", with no conscience at all. In the end, Dick may not have been the tough guy that he, nor Capote, tried to portray.
These days we hear a lot of explanation about events in our childhood that make us the adults that we become. But in the late 50's and early 60's, psychiatry was just beginning to play a major role in criminal investigation and understanding the criminal mind. It's interesting to me that Dick Hickock was raised in a normal family with loving parents whose biggest fault was that they saw no wrong in anything he did. They defended him, no matter what he had done. Perry Smith came from one of the most dysfunctional families ever, was neglected, abused, and mistreated for most of his life. They both had serious accidents, which left permanent disfigurations. That was probably their only common factor. They came from two completely different ends of the spectrum, but had the exact same criminal mind. So did some of the others that we met on death row at the end of the book, like York and Latham. So, why do we do the things we do? What makes a murderer?
Capote was probably ahead of his time in pointing out how different personalities react to the way they are treated by others.
These days we hear a lot of explanation about events in our childhood that make us the adults that we become. But in the late 50's and early 60's, psychiatry was just beginning to play a major role in criminal investigation and understanding the criminal mind. It's interesting to me that Dick Hickock was raised in a normal family with loving parents whose biggest fault was that they saw no wrong in anything he did. They defended him, no matter what he had done. Perry Smith came from one of the most dysfunctional families ever, was neglected, abused, and mistreated for most of his life. They both had serious accidents, which left permanent disfigurations. That was probably their only common factor. They came from two completely different ends of the spectrum, but had the exact same criminal mind. So did some of the others that we met on death row at the end of the book, like York and Latham. So, why do we do the things we do? What makes a murderer?
Capote was probably ahead of his time in pointing out how different personalities react to the way they are treated by others.
posted by Jana at 4:01 PM
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