The passage begins with a statement of Perry’s intentions; he “didn’t want to harm the man”. The man he is speaking of is Herb Clutter, “a very nice gentleman” and “soft-spoken”, as Perry describes himself. The reader already knows that Dick and Perry were behind the murders therefore with Perry’s statement one wonders how the family was killed with there being no intention behind it. This question creates suspense, which Capote capitalizes on, changing the tone of the text immediately with a new paragraph beginning with Perry “scowling”, saying, “Wait. I’m not telling it the way it was”. This interests the reader, giving the impression that what is to come is crucial and a climax of the book. The suspense is built upon, as Perry says to Dick, “leave them alive”. One begins to think that it is Dick that should take the blame for all the murders, as Perry has shown no intention of killing the family. But because the confession of Dick earlier on in the book stated that his compatriot slaughtered all four of them, it is unclear what is going to happen. The effect of suspense still lasts during this sentence, with the reader now finally ready to find out the actions of Dick and Perry.
There was clear tension between the pair during this situation, as Dick had proposed to rape Nancy before they had taped Herb Clutter. Perry disagreed to Dick’s intention in disgust, which led him to question his admiration for Dick. He now wanted to ”call his bluff” and expose that Dick “was a phony and a coward”. To do this, Perry asked for Dick’s knife and he gave it to him. Throughout the whole state of affairs Dick had remained silent, showing possible doubt, which Perry wanted to exploit. This is the absolute climax of the book, as Perry now had the knife, he is kneeling down beside Herb Clutter and he wants to expose Dick for the coward he is. The reader begins to wonder how Herb will be killed, as Perry showed no previous intention of killing him, although it is already known he will end up dead. The question arises if Dick will rise up to the occasion by killing Herb Clutter and in doing that will prove to Perry he is not a coward for all the wrong reasons.
Then another tone change comes into Perry’s confession. Suddenly he begins to reflect on his past. The sentences become short yet filled with negative emotions “I thought of that goddam dollar. Silver dollar. The shame. Disgust. And they’d told me never to come back to Kansas.” These sentences give an uneasy feeling to the reader, expecting something important to follow as the situation becomes even more serious. This is shown when Perry then continues “But I didn’t realize what I’d done till I heard the sound. Like somebody drowning. Screaming under water.” It becomes evident that Perry attacked Herb Clutter with the knife. The reader now knows that Perry is guilty of murder and in Perry’s confession it follows that he handed the knife to Dick, though he does not participate.
The suspense is continued with the short sentences Perry uses “Went blue. Just blazed up.” This follows after Perry killed Herb with the gun. The short sentences again make the situation more serious than it already is, with the reader almost hoping that what is to come does not come.
After the murder of Herb Clutter, the perspective changes to that of Capote and he summarizes the killings of Nancy and Kenyon Clutter. Capote uses Dick and Perry’s last names instead of their first names, with an intended effect to distance the writer from the two characters, because he wants to stay as unbiased as possible due to the genre of the novel being journalistic nonfiction.
In conclusion, the passage made up of Perry’s confession is the climax of the novel by Capote. The speech techniques used by Perry add to the suspense of the story, although it is questionable if Perry himself explained the situation in these exact words or if Capote altered the quote by Perry, as he never took any notes while interviewing the criminals. As the use of quotes unintentionally helps readers to sympathize with Dick and Perry, Capote then uses his perspective and their last names to distance the readers from the characters, to show that he himself shows no bias in his newly found genre, journalistic nonfiction.
by
skhandelwal (student)
