Now Mrs. Dewey said, "Alvin, answer me. Do you think we'll ever have a normal life again?"
This line is striking to me- it feels like it's not only representative of the chaos that has come into Dewey's life, but also of the town of Holcomb as a whole. It begs the question, after a tragedy as horrific as what happened to the Clutters, will life in Holcomb ever be the same as it was?
The business of the mattress box was one of the things that most tantalized Dewey.
With how subtle Capote sometimes is when it comes to getting in the heads of Dick and Perry, I love how this section takes us exactly into Dewey's mind. It definitely feels like the text wants us to "play detective," like in other works we have read, and kind of work through the case at the same time as the lead investigators.
honey
Again with the pet names! I am just so intrigued by them. These days, you really don't see heterosexual men calling each other "baby" or "honey" unless they're joking, but these seem to be somewhat sincere terms when it comes to Dick. Could this just be a quirk of the era that's going over my head? That seems like the most reasonable explanation to me.
He'll want to make them good. Like he tried to before. And he can't -he's old and he's sick, he ain't gotanything.
Something that's so interesting to me here is that even though Dick was able to commit these horrifying crimes, he still has a conscience when it comes to his family. This conscience wasn't enough to stop him from murdering the Clutters, though. It makes me wonder, why wasn't Dick's seemingly good and caring relationship with his parents enough to keep him from straightening out his life?
he'd told her goodbye and given her, by way of explanation, a poem he pretended to have written
It boggles my mind that Perry left Cookie, as she seemed like a direct link to the normalcy in life that he sought (and continues to idealize in the parenthetical statements about Dick's marriages). I wish that there was more information here about why Perry ultimately decided to leave Cookie, yet still get her name tattooed on his arm.
erry was sorry to see them go. He'd begun to half credit the make-believe bride, though in his conception of her, as opposed to Dick's, she was not rich, not beautiful
In spite of Perry's callousness thus far, this characterizes him as a romantic at heart.
A thousand people! Perry was impressed. He wondered how much the funeral had cost
This is a very callous take on the scene described above of the funeral. It comes across as very indirectly indicative of Perry's character and stance when it comes to the murders.
The four coffins, which quite filled the small, flower-crowded parlor, were to be sealed at the funeral services -very understandably, for despite the care taken with the appearance of the victims, the effect achieved was disquieting.
Capote interjecting with his voice to help portray a sense of scene in the funeral parlor.
e were like sisters. At least, that's how I felt about her -as though she were my sister
Throughout this whole section of dialogue I feel like we get a very clear sense of Susan's voice.
Speaking of her friendship with Nancy Clutter, Susan Kidwell said
Juxtaposition in sections between friendship of Dick and Perry and friendship of Susan and Nancy- very different relationships.
But it
Not an especially profound thought, but Capote LOVES using parentheses in this book- so far, stylistically, that has been one of my main take-aways.
jaw, lips, the whole face slackened; saliva bubbles appeared at the corners of his mouth
Yet another grotesque description of Dick.
Floyd
I just got super excited about this having read ahead a bit, as I get this reference now! It's such subtle foreshadowing I didn't even think of it when I originally read this section. Other than Perry's uneasy feelings about the crime, this is the only indicator that it wasn't entirely perfect.
"Perry, baby,"
I'm always so interested in the dialogue between Perry and Dick, as seen here. It begs the question for me of how much of this Capote knows for sure, and how much is "creative nonfiction," like we talked about in class. To make these fully composed scenes, as Capote does throughout In Cold Blood, I think it makes sense that there has to be a degree of speculation. Capote wasn't there when these things were taking place, and I think it's important to be conscious of the creative liberties he takes. I also always notice this quirk of Dick using pet names for Perry, like "Baby." Does he do this for everyone, or just Perry? It always seems strange to see Dick use these terms, as he is generally described as a very masculine character throughout the reading thus far.