Mandalyn Kime

English- 3 /4
4 May, 2016
Feel for the Killer
Reader Response
When it comes to reading a book you relate, argue, gain a new perspective, from learning
as well as what grabs your attention. All this comes into play when reading, In Cold Blood by
Truman Capote through Reader Response. In Cold Blood is a non fiction novel that depicts a
Kansas family murder through the eyes of the killers and the town trying to find them. Capote
has no boundaries with how he delivers his story. There are you would think that Capote is
making you believe something he thought to be true but actually isnt. What Capote also does is
he gets you emotionally invested in the characters even when its characters you wouldn't want
to necessarily want to feel for.
Throughout the book you feel for the characters emotionally because you at times
remember that this is a real event that actually happened when people actually died. And I
wonder why Capote would make these men, Perry and Dick, seem so innocent and make us, the
reader have sympathy for them. Why make people feel for a person who caused others pain? You
can clearly see this when Capote describes Perrys childhood, It was not long afterward my
mother put me to stay in a catholic orphanage. The one where the Black Widows were always at
me. Hitting me. Because of wetting the bed(Pg. 132 Capote) His mother moved him to
another place, A childrens shelter operated by the Salvation Army. They hated me, too for
wetting the bed and being half Indian (Pg. 132 Capote).
I think its fair to say the Perry did have a terrible childhood but why tell us? To make us feel
bad, to make the reader blame his childhood for his actions rather than his actions as an adult?

Mandalyn Kime
English- 3 /4
4 May, 2016
Well Capote does that as well. I think a crucial line that Capote adds is when Perry says, I was
sore at Dick. The tough brass boy. But it wasnt Dick. Or the fear of being identified. I was
willing to take the gamble. And it wasnt because of anything the Clutters did. They never hurt
me. Like other people. Like people have all my life. Maybe its just that the Clutters were the
ones who had to pay for it. (Pg. 290 Capote) Capote could have described Perry in anyway, but
he chose to have him molded in the frame of his terrible childhood. He doesnt do this for Dick
as much since Dick didnt have much of a traumatizing childhood as Perry, but he still manages
to make the reader understand where they came from. And being one of those readers, I feel like
Im rooting for the bad guys. I don't want to cheer for the bad guys, but its difficult not to when
Capote explains how rough their childhood was.
Even though you dont want to feel for some characters Capote brings up point, that
make our hearts hurt. As much as Capote makes us feel for Perry and Dick, does the same for
the Clutters as well. Especially before they die, Beverly was engaged to a young biology
student, of whom her father approved; invitations to the wedding, scheduled for christmas week,
were already printed.(Pg. 7 Capote). When Capote adds these describing scenes of the Clutter
family, he does this to, one, tell you about the family to familiarize yourself, and two, to show
that these people were real and had futures but were taken away. As you read you start to get a
sense of the family and you question more and more why this family was killed; Why did this
happen to them? After getting to know the family, you start to care for them and get sad because
you know what's going to happen. Capote pulls you in just close enough for it to hurt when they
die. He does this very well and in perfect timing.

Mandalyn Kime
English- 3 /4
4 May, 2016
As the final attempt, of getting readers to feel while reading this book, Capote decides to
bring a doctor involved. He has Dr. Jones describe the psychological reasons for why Dick and
Perry did what they did, Murder without apparent motive. Obviously, three of the murders
Smith committed were logically motivated-Nancy, Kenyon, and their mother had been killed
because Mr. Clutter had been killed. But it is Dr. Sattens contention that only the first murder
matters psychologically, and that when Smith attacked Mr. Clutter he was under a mental eclipse,
deep inside a schizophrenic darkness, for it was not entirely a flesh-and-blood man he suddenly
discovered himself destroying, but a key figure in some past traumatic configuration (Pg.
301-302 Capote). You obviously at some point in the story believe that there must be something
wrong with Dick and Perry for them to do what they did and Capote goes over that. Now, at the
same time while you're receiving this information, you get a small feeling that, they are mentally
unhealthy and understandable for them get off easy, but it isnt. You feel that this was Capotes
last try of giving sympathy to Dick and Perry because after this he doesn't really go into detail
about what struggles theyve had.

Books give us imagination and reality. They pull you in with feeling and tinker with your
emotions just enough for them to affect you. Capote at numerous times, it hard for you not to
cheer for the bad guy and hits you in the face with reality, after getting to know the family he
tells it how it is about their death. He challenges the idea that maybe all of this was because of
Dick and Perry being mentally ill. Capote never allows you to grasp your feelings and take hold
of them. But he does make you feel.

Mandalyn Kime
English- 3 /4
4 May, 2016