Quotes, Part Two

“’Know what I think?’ said Perry. ‘I think there must be something wrong with us. To do what we did.’” (Capote, Page 108)

Perry had been hinting throughout the second section that he really felt guilty about the Clutters’ deaths. The fact that he is clearly stating this fact to Dick shows that he is becoming less dependent on him. This is almost a sign of rebellion, and it reveals one thing: Perry is not a killer. We even find out later in this chapter that Perry has never murdered anyone, and he simply told Dick that he had so that Dick might like him. All that Perry does, he does for approval and love, because that’s all he really wants.

The way this quote is introduced is also interesting. Perry just kind of blurts it out, as if it had been eating at him for a while. Then, the perspective switches over from Perry to Dick. This doesn’t happen very often. My theory is that the author wants us to sympathize more with Perry, and picture Dick as the no-good, rotten-to-the-core, stereotypical bad guy. Which makes sense, because the only reason the perception changes is to show us how annoying Dick thinks Perry is for bringing it up. But, why would Dick find Perry’s regret so annoying unless deep down, he secretly felt guilty about the murders, too. It makes more sense to me that Perry is just reminding Dick of his regret regarding their “big score.” Dick considers himself to be completely sane, and Perry’s confession threatens Dick’s reality, and makes him wonder if they did the right thing. It’s much easier for him to simply regard Perry as soft or weak, than to face up to the consequences of his actions.

But back to Perry. I think this quote foreshadows problems for these two in the future. They obviously have different opinions regarding the Clutter murders, and I predict that while Dick will do anything to deny they ever happened, Perry might be taken without a fight, or even turn himself in.

“Dewey’s dedication to the puzzle had resulted in an uncharacteristic absent-mindedness.” (Capote, Page 148)

This case is quickly becoming an obsession for Agent Dewey. We discover that he doesn’t just think about it all the time. He loses weight at an alarming rate, he can’t sleep, and he always seems to be elsewhere. His anxiety is rubbing off on his family, too. They’re all so scared and they are also having trouble sleeping. His wife, Marie, desperately tries to get him to forget about the case while he’s at home, because she can see how much it’s bothering him. One of his kids is constantly crying because the phone rings all night, promising endless leads that haven’t helped at all so far. And near the end of the section, Marie has a dream, where Bonnie walks into their kitchen door, and begins to whimper and shake violently, muttering repeatedly that there’s no worse way to die, than to be murdered.

But still, Al continues to search for any clue or connection that might lead him to the murderers. Dewey even says that if the case never gets solved and forever remains in the Open File, “years from now I’ll still be running down tips, and every time there’s a murder, a case anywhere in the country even remotely similar, I’ll have to horn right in, check, see if there could be any possible connection.”

His dedication to the case in and of itself isn’t a bad thing. It foreshadows that he won’t rest until the people who killed the Clutters are put to justice. However, the fact that he’s letting it impair his ability to think and act rationally could be potentially dangerous. A detective in this kind of case needs to be quick and sharp to catch any clues others may have missed. If he’s weak and sleep-deprived when it really matters, he might just miss the perpetrators and regret it for as long as he lives.