Perrydox

After reading the first two sections of the book, it appears Perry's personality is a strange kind of paradox. According to dictionary.com a paradox is, " a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth." In Perry's case, he seems extremely sentimental in nature, yet kills people with no regret or acknowledgement afterwards. On page 146 we see him carefully packing up in the Mexican hotel room. He holds on to a letter from his sister, his bronze medal from Korea, his own "personal dictionary", and a folder full of old photographs of himself and his family. This collection of keepsakes and memories seems odd for a murderer on the loose. It seems especially mind-boggling due to the description of Perry after his murders. His sister says of his first murder, "Whether you realize it or not-your present confinement is embarrassing to me as well as Dad-not because of what you did but the fact that you don't show me any signs of SINCERE regret and seem to show no respect for any laws, people or anything"(141). This description appears out of place for Perry, whose description by Capote is a sensitive and caring man with an out of control temper that leads him to murder. It seems strange that someone who kills people would want to remember the past so well. Along with the small tidbits he keeps, Perry also gets a tattoo of his old girlfriend (who he hasn't seen in years), Cookie, while in prison. This again is an oddly sentimental and soft act by someone whose "only regret" about murdering the Clutters is that it wasn't his sister that he killed...