Thursday, November 19, 2009
Dick is awful
In the third part, I feel more and more sympathy for Perry Smith than I do for Dick Hickcock. Throughout the book Dick uses and abuses his relationship with Perry. He repeats to Perry of being "a normal". Things he does that are not "normal", "Seducing pubescent girls, as he had done 'eight or nine' times in the last several years" (201). Tricking and raping little girls is not normal in anyone's eyes. Even though man perverted men had the same desires as Dick did, but doesn't mean people should go out and rape eight or nine girls that just hit puberty. Throughout the book Dick tries keep Perry from "spilling his guts", but at the second interrogation Dick seems to do just that, " It was Perry, I couldn't stop him. He killed them all" (230). Dick got paranoid that Perry had spilled his guts, so to prove that he was innocent in a way he got scared and blamed the murders on Perry. He chickened after he heard he was being charged with four counts of murder, he didn't want all the blame on him. Also before Dick heard what he would be charged with, he came to the conclusion that Perry told everything, " And suddenly he saw the truth: It was Perry he ought to have silenced. On a mountain road in Mexico" (228). Dick automatically came to the conclusion that Perry was the reason he was in jail, but they were both in jail because of Dick's plan. Essentially Perry wouldn't have been in this mess.
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I think Dick's motivation for acting so derogatorily towards others is selfishness. Dick wants what he wants, and to him nothing else matters. His pervertedness is, well, just plain selfish. Doing such ruins others' lives. His incriminating Perry was clearly for his own wants: he didn't want to be charged. His thoughts about silencing Perry (and Floyd) were because he thought they might be a threat to his selfish desires. Other examples include that clearly, his reasons for the murder such as the desire for monetary gain, were greedy and self-centered. He completely deserted his parents, saying "'Dad, you've been a pretty good old dad to me. I'm not ever gonna do nothing more to hurt you.'" (167) Clearly, Dick's descent into madness hurt his parents. Whenever Dick wants something he must have it, be it money, safety, or anything else. He disregards others. He may have been using Perry. It may be that he intentionally allowed Perry to carry out the murders. This way he isn't a murderer: only an accessory. If Perry gets the death sentence and Dick doesn't, it's no skin off Dick's nose. Capote explicitly mentions this personality trait as well: "Envy was constantly with him; the Enemy was anyone who was someone he wanted to be or who had anything he wanted to have." (200) My point is that this desire to have everything he wants is his motivator. He wants money, he and Perry kill the Clutters and Dick deserts his parents. He wants not to get charged, it's fine for him to incriminate Perry and have thoughts of killing him and Floyd. Everything he does is motivated by his desire for personal gain. And although some have mentioned that he wants to change, it seems like he isn't doing a very good job at it.
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