So I'm on the second part of the book which is further than i think most people at this point. I'm still on the lookout for details because that is why I'm suppose to be reading it. At this part of the book the Clutter family has just been murdered. Capote begins to set up the investigation that occurs in order to find the killers of the Clutters. He tells of two hypotheses that could possibly explain how it happened. The reader at this point already knows how it happened and who did it but Capote still tells the story as if the reader knew nothing. He tells the story as it is unfolding to the people who are investigating it and the trials they went through to get to the real reason for the murders even happening to begin with. This detail I think aids in the readers understanding of the murders being shocking to people. The case has many open-ended clues that lead the investigators to no real answers. These details show the reader that it did take time and effort to actually find Dick and Perry. Without these details the case on the Clutter family murders wouldn't have seemed to complicated because the readers have known the story since the beginning of the book.
Another interesting detail that I noticed is on page 93. It is when Perry is telling Dick of his dreams that always have the "yellow sort of parrot" in them. Perry does not disclose some of the dream to Dick because Dick just doesn't understand and thinks the whole thing is stupid. This part of the dream states that Perry is taken to "paradise" by the bird and in this paradise is fruit that is "every bit free." This part of the dream seems like a biblical allusion to be because it is like the Garden of Eden. There is forbidden fruit that is available for Adam and Eve to consume. But after they ate the fruit they were taken away from paradise. This can be referenced to Perry because Perry's dreams are an escape to paradise to him. But once he wakes up (like Adam and Eve eating the fruit) he is also taken away from paradise because life as he is awake is far from being a paradise. I think this biblical allusion can also stand to prove that Perry is more "holy" than Dick is. Therefore if Perry is seen as a better person, he is almost seen as innocent compared to Dick that doesn't seem to have a bone in his body that cares about the act he committed.
1 comment:
so i was reading your blog and i was about to critcize the fact that 90 percent of it was summary, but even so, you're analysis was great. i didn't even think about the idea that perhaps the biblical allusion would be a subtle hint to capote's [which would be the only possible opinion since he was the author] preconception and natural empathy toward's perry's "innocence".
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