In Cold Blood Perry Smith Character Analysis Essay

Through the unfolding of events in the second part of In Cold Blood, written by Truman Capote, Perry Smith is consistently fleshed out and brought to life in the minds of Capote’s readers in a way that compels them to see Perry in a sympathetic light. This decision by Capote gave rise to a unique perspective that allowed readers a glimpse into the life of Perry. Capote’s determination and impartial stance on his portrayal of Perry and Perry’s victims through meticulously researched background information attests to the veracity of his book. Understandably, a wide range of detail is carefully etched out by Capote through his attentive incorporation of Perry’s background history in forms of the latter experiencing childhood traumas of seeing his parents separating in correlation to the abusively scarring treatments that he received from charitable organizations; furthermore, Capote humanized Perry as someone who possess the potential to be intelligent but lacked the privilege to do so based upon his disadvantaged background, this evidently compelled  his readers to further sympathize with Perry’s plight unconditionally in an unwavering fashion.         

To begin with, Capote dedicated a significant portion of the narrative within the second part of In Cold Blood to the childhood traumas that Perry experienced, most notably the separation of his parents, that left an indelible and injurious impact upon his life. For example, in a document written by Perry’s father in the hopes of obtaining a parole for his son, a clear history is provided concerning the matter, “It all started when my wife wanted to go… I let her go and said goodbye… my children all cryed at the top of their voices…she got mad and then said she would turn the children to hate me, which she did, all but Perry…He was different… Perry later told me, his mother told him to find a new home” (Capote 126). From the summarization of events provided by Perry’s father, during Perry’s childhood, Perry went through the pain of witnessing his parents’ separation and being cruelly abandoned by his mother. Perry clearly grew up under a single parent household where he lacked motherly affection and parental harmony, such tragic deprivations set Perry on a path towards forming an unstable personality. The upbringing, or rather, the lack of upbringing that Perry received from his parents attest to the value that a nurturing environment plays a crucial role in childhood development that could have certainly prevented Perry from evolving into the ruthless criminal who slaughtered the Clutter family. 

Secondly, before Perry left his mother to live with his father, he was under the mercy of charitable organizations and abusive nuns who took care of orphaned children. This experience left a traumatizing effect upon Perry’s young self in a way that scarred his childhood development. To illustrate, Capote states that “when he [Perry] was seven years old … living in a California orphanage run by nuns- shrouded disciplinarians who whipped him… It was after one of these beatings, one he could never forget [‘She woke me up. She had a flashlight, and she hit me with it. Hit me and hit me. And when the flashlight broke, she went on hitting me…’]” (93). Evidently, Perry suffered under the tyrannically sadistic nuns who physically abused him for no apparent reasons, such experiences left indelible marks upon him. Furthermore, the behavior of the nuns cultivated a violent tendency in Perry, especially when Perry is dreaming of revenge against his abusers, “the parrot appeared, arrived when he slept… a warrior-angel who blinded the nuns with its beak, fed upon their eyes, slaughtered them… then gently lifted him, enfolded him, winged him away…” (Capote 93). If Perry had not grown up with separating parents and if he never had encounters with the abusive nuns, it is very possible that he could never metamorphose into a cold-blooded killer. The sadistic treatments that Perry received left a detrimental impact upon his mental developments, making him susceptible to violent misconducts. The traumas that Perry endured tug at the heartstrings of Capote’s readers in a passionate way. Capote wants his readers to sympathize Perry, Capote wants his readers to see Perry in a different light, and most of all, Capote wants his readers to realize that no one is a born killer. 

Lastly, Perry is further humanized by Capote through a description of his love for words and other intellectual pursuits in a way that makes him more acceptable to Capote’s readers. To illustrate, when Perry was fleeing Mexico, he had a hard time deciding what personal items of value he should take, “there were half a hundred other items he… must take… treasure maps, Otto’s sketchbook, and two thick notebooks, the thicker of which constituted his person dictionary, a… miscellany of words he believed ‘beautiful’ or ‘useful,’ or at least ‘worth memorizing’” (Capote 146). The way that Perry cherished his personal dictionary and other mementoes revealed the human side of Perry in a way that encourages familiarity among Capote’s readers, Capote clearly wants to establish Perry as a human being, not just a criminal. Capote’s choice in painting Perry as an individual underlines the fact that Perry is an intelligent person who was simply denied the opportunity to maximize his potential due to his low societal background. Capote himself sympathizes Perry through the style of description that he conveyed Perry’s story in and he compellingly encouraged his readers to also sympathize Perry, allowing them to come to their own conclusions in judging the man through his lens. 

Indubitably, Capote consistently portrays Perry as an individual who had a terrible childhood experience rampant with divorcing parents and vicious brutalities from nuns; additionally, Capote humanizes Perry as a person with interests in a way that sways his readers to sympathize the hardships that Perry suffered and understand how he transformed into a murderer out of desperation. Throughout the second part of In Cold Blood, Perry is undeviatingly fleshed out, brought to life, and put in front of Capote’s readers. He is no longer just a criminal, he is no longer just a psychopath, he is a human being as well. Capote’s intent in influencing his readers to sympathize Perry urges all to never judge a person by their immediate appearances but rather their individual qualities and background.