In Cold Blood: Last to See Them Alive

What do you think so far?

• Generally liked it

• Like the complex characters

Who is your favorite character?

• Kenyon and followed by Perry

  • Kenyon

    • Very pure and someone I can identify the most with

  • Perry

    • Very complex character and interesting to follow

What’s your favorite part?

• Not really→just set up

  • Testimonials

  • People finding out when they were murdered

    • Like what’s going to happen

What’s your analysis of Perry and Dick?

• Perry

  • Not as guilty as Dick

    • Does not seem as malicious

      • Would not be in this situation if Willie Jay was there

      • Did not want to be apart of it

        • Had nothing better to do

        • The Bathroom scene

  • Very superstitious and interesting

    • Naive

  • Fits of rage

    • Fueled by his jealousy of others’ happiness

    • What does this say about him?

      • Very spot on→the only way to put it

“You are a man of extreme passion, a hungry man not quite sure where his appetite lies, a deeply frustrated man striving to project his individuality against a backdrop of rigid conformity. You exist in a half-world suspended between two superstructures, one self-expression, and the other self-destruction. 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. The flaw? Explosive emotional reaction out of all proportion to the occasion. Why? Why this unreasonable anger at the sight of others who are happy or content, this growing contempt for people and the desire to hurt them? All right, you think they’re fools, you despise them because their morals, their happiness is the source of your frustration and resentment. [... You] may successfully accumulate, but he does not accumulate success, for he is his own enemy and is kept from truly enjoying his achievements.”

• Dick

  • Very malicious and much more malintent

    • Manipulating Perry for the aim of committing this crime

      • Crime would never work out

  • More extroverted

    • Say something and get all messed up

“Perry possessed unusual and valuable qualities. [...] 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. It was Dick’s theory that such a gift could, under his supervision, be profitably exploited. Having reached this conclusion, he had proceeded to woo Perry, flatter him—pretend, for example, that he believed all the buried-treasure stuff and shared his beachcomber yearnings and seaport longings, none of which appealed to Dick [...] It was important, however, that Perry not suspect this—not until Perry, with his gift, had helped further Dick’s ambitions.”

What’s your analysis of Holcombe and the residents?

• Stereotypical small town

  • Everybody knows everybody else

  • Very southern and Midwestern vibes

“Such accessories, and the dust and the winds and the ever calling train whistles, add up to a “home town” that is probably remembered with nostalgia by those who have left it, and that, for those who have remained, provides a sense of roots and contentment.”

“Without exception, Garden Citians deny that the population of the town can be socially graded (“No, sir. Nothing like that here. All equal, regardless of wealth, color, or creed. Everything the way it ought to be in a democracy; that’s us”), but, of course, class distinctions are as clearly observed, and as clearly observable, as in any other human hive. [...] Finney County one is still within the Bible Belt borders, and therefore a person’s church affiliation is the most important factor influencing his class status. [...] An occasional Methodist is welcomed, and once in a while a Democrat infiltrates, but on the whole, the Establishment is composed of rightwing Republicans of the Presbyterian and Episcopalian faiths. “

What’s your analysis of the Clutter Family?

• Capote gets you emotionally attached to all the characters

• Picture perfect family

• Beloved by the town

• Nancy

  • Straight A student with lots of potential

  • Clearly liked by everybody

• Kenyon

  • Always in his own world

  • Nobody really knew him that well

• Mrs. Clutter

  • Mentally out of it

• Mr. Clutter

  • Big character in the town

  • Patriarch of the family

  • Very successful and a family man

  • Religiously strict

    • Doesn’t like Bobby and Nancy

    • Against alcohol

• Capote leaves mysteries about all the characters in this section→will he solve them in the following sections?

What’s your analysis of the crime scene?

• The different way the bodies were set up

  • Hinting how they were murdered

    • Set up for another section

  • Why Nancy was different from the rest?

    • All tied in a specific way

    • She was killed differently and in a different place

• Mr. Clutter’s body

  • Probably tortured

  • Trying to find the money?