Tuesday, October 27, 2009
To first start off I would like to talk about Capote’s opinion which is very evident at times in the story. I feel that Capote views Mrs. Clutter as an innocent figure, rather, a victim to the cruel nearly perfect world which her imperfect self lived in. I think that this is Capote’s own opinion put in about why Mrs. Clutter is so depressed, because she has too much pressure of the flawless community she lives in. Capote explains why the Mr. and Mrs. Clutter have separated over the years saying, “They began to go their semi-separate ways--his public route, a march of satisfying conquests, and hers a private one that eventually wound through hospital corridors” (27). My thoughts are, at first, why can’t Mrs. Clutter also be outgoing like her husband, why can’t the two carry the same lifestyles at the same time, while still being connected and in love with each other? Capote continues explaining how Mrs. Clutter had to leave one time to Wichita for some treatment that was only supposed to be two weeks long, Mrs. Clutter liked the place so much that she stayed for two months, the reason: “a sense of adequacy and usefulness” (28) was gained. Mrs. Clutter feels too unimportant because she thinks she’s useless, which compared to her husband and his accomplishments, she is. Capote makes this clear when they talk about how Mrs. Clutter hates making decisions and I think that Capote stresses her fear of making decisions almost to a point where I got the impression Mrs. Clutter was fearful of disappointing Herb, which was out of a feeling of wanting worthiness not out of abuse or anything like that. Capote says that Mrs. Clutter would think, “what if she made a mistake? What if Herb should be displeased? Better to lock the bedroom door and pretend not to hear, or say, as she sometimes did “I can’t. I don’t know. Please” (29). I think that it is clear here that Capote is stressing the differences in personalities and how that physical attraction I talked about in my previous blog has well been faded by the opposing social personalities.
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After our discussion in class about nature versus nurture, I think I know why Capote stresses Mrs. Clutter’s depression so much. I think that he is trying to get out about her natural ways. The fact that even though her physical attraction that she had for Herb, which could have been a nurtured thing from society’s views on what qualities make someone cute, but, I think that overall it’s her natural tendencies that ultimately push her and Herb so far away. Capote puts in a lot about Mrs. Clutter and her thoughts or experiences due to her depression, but I feel that for the overall plot of the first section, some of the detail he goes into seems a bit irrelevant. I think that Capote also puts in little clues about nature versus nurture of people throughout the story not only on Mrs. Clutter. For example Capote refers to Mr. Clutter as a natural born leader and being involved in the 4-H club, whose motto is “we learn to do by doing” (34). I think that with this Capote is saying that the nurture is what builds a person. That by what someone does can influence the decision on what someone else may do who is influenced by the first person. Capote also portrays Perry as having a natural flaw when discussing the letter from Willie-Jay. Willie-Jay says that Perry is very strong, that he has extreme passion but he talks how Perry has the flaw that covers all of these things “explosive emotional reaction out of all proportion to the occasion”(43). This explosive reaction out of all proportions is the whole reason for killing the Clutters, it’s not that Perry really is an extremely violent man, but it is because of his nurtured life in a home of abandonment and his natural tendencies to get jealous easily is what ultimately destroy Perry.
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