Although Perry initially seems simply imaginative, over the course of section two he is revealed to be far closer to a full-blown delusional. Discussion of Perry’s fantasies begins innocently enough. One of the first mentioned is his dream of becoming a celebrated singer. He imagines, “Singing, and the thought of doing so in front of an audience,” (16). This dream seems merely a way of passing vacant hours, an enjoyable fantasy to be toyed with in times of leisure. The first sign of misconception arises in his belief of his ability to see the future. He thinks himself able to see events before they happen, though unable to change these circumstances even with knowledge of their impending occurrence. The most alarming straw, however, was his absolute belief in the existence of treasure hidden in Mexico, which he and Dick could easily procure. Perry insists, “No fooling, Dick…I’ve got a map. I’ve got the whole history. It was buried there back in 1821—Peruvian bullion, jewelry. Sixty million dollars” (100). He is completely convinced of this preposterous scheme of digging up a pile of treasure, which just so happened to be missed by archaeologists, and other authorities. He is shocked to find his cohort, Dick, uncertain in the absolute unflappability of this master plan.
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At this point in my reading (although I am not quite finished part two yet), I am slightly confused with Perry’s fantasies of an “ideal” lifestyle. On one hand, he continuously talks about his dreams of exploring the world for treasure. Perry tells Dick about a hidden fortune of jewels hidden on Cocos Island off of Costa Rica. He is very enthusiastic about his plans to search for it: “Sixty million dollars—that’s what they say it’s worth. Even if we didn’t find all of it, if we found only some of it—Are you with me, Dick?” (p.100) On the other hand, however, Perry seems interested in settling down with a family. Capote writes about these alternate desires when he says, “That Dick had been married—married twice—and had fathered three sons was something he [Perry] envied. A wife, children—those were the experiences ‘a man ought to have.’” (p.98) Perry’s dreams are fairly contradictive. However, they seem to both be things he resents about other people because he never had money or a stable family himself. Perry ends up murdering the Clutters, a stable family that had money and that was very happy. The murder not only robs the Clutters of the things Perry thinks lead to happiness, but it also robs Perry himself of chances to achieve the same things.
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