Dick Lacking Three Morals

In ICB Capote illustrates the importance of three morals through the character Dick. Dick has a lack of responsibility for his own actions, respect towards women, and the golden rule: to treat others how you want to be treated. Dick says “I believe in hanging. Just so long as I’m not the one being hanged” (336). Dick doesn’t live by the golden rule because if he did then he would have to accept that what goes for others will and should be applied to him, hence he is getting hung for as he puts it “if I was kin to the Clutters, or any of the parties York and Latham dispensed with, I couldn’t rest in peace till the ones responsible had taken that ride on the Big Swing” (335). The next moral that Dick has troubles with following is responsibility for his actions. Like mentioned in the previous quote, “the ones responsible had taken that ride” (335), Dick believes that he shouldn’t be down there because he doesn’t see how he is responsible for the Clutters. Dick says “I never killed anybody”(334), referring to the fact that he has yet to take responsibility that he had led Perry to the Clutters and gave Perry the motivation Perry needed to kill the Clutters. But still Dick doesn’t believe he should be down there and earlier on says “All I hope is that someday we’ll get a new trial, and Perry will testify and tell the truth” (334). This quote also brings me to the third moral Dick lacks that of respect. As previously mentioned Dick was the antagonist to Perry’s killings, but before there was any thought of killing there was the thought of raping Nancy. Dick admitted “how well built he thought Nancy Clutter was, and that he was going to rape her” (286) to Perry and the process of Perry trying to delay Dick of this cause the tension that kept the two there long enough that Perry could kill them all. So for Dick part of his source of the predicament that he is in is because of his lack of respect for women. For Andy, his big problem as stated by Dick is “no respect for human life, including his own” (318). Andy didn’t care about whether his parents were living or dead, he didn’t believe in an afterlife of any sort saying “he didn’t believe in heaven or hell, just dust unto dust” (332), so for Andy there was no purpose in him living and he made it more than obvious through his actions, thus ending him up where he was, put into a grave right next to his parents and sister. To an extent it’s ironic how Andy hated his family so much and yet because of his lack of respect for their lives or his he ended up getting placed forever next to them, even though that’s exactly the opposite of what he wanted to begin with.