Not a Normal

After the murder of the Clutter family, Perry contemplates his sanity. He announces “I think there must be something wrong with us. To do what we did.” (108). Perry is remorseful, and soon after states, “There’s got to be something wrong with somebody who’d do a thing like that,” (108). Perry is in disbelief of the execution. He believes that there must be something wrong with them, to have committed such a monstrous crime. Dick, on the other hand, chooses to disregard Perry’s incessant questioning and briefly says, “I’m a normal.” (108). He does not want to believe that something could be wrong with him. He wants to overlook the murders so he no longer has to questions his own sanity. Later, when Perry is discussing his dream about the yellow bird and how he was “…a natural-born medium…” (90) Dick verifies “I’m a normal. I only dream about blonde chicken.” (93). Dick’s restatement of his normality, made me consider that he is simply telling himself what he wishes to hear, and is not normal. My beliefs were reaffirmed when Dick discusses his feelings about the twelve year old girl he was watching at the beach. The narrator states, “He was sorry he felt as he did about her, for his sexual interest in female children was a failing of which he was “sincerely ashamed”-a secret he’d not confessed to anyone and hoped no one suspected…because other people might not think it “normal.”” (201). Here, Dick is characterized as the counter image from what he envisions. He is troubled by the thought of judgment and criticism. He does not want to be different. Therefore, he tries to convince his conscience that he is ordinary. This is communicated when the narrator enunciates Dick’s belief that “most real men had the same desires.” (201). Again, he tries to negate his fears. While Dick may want to deem himself “a normal”, he truthfully is not.