Don Cullivan

Don Cullivan seems to be a fairly important character to Perry at the beginning of this part. He sends a letter to Perry saying how he wants to help Perry in anyway shape or form. Perry does not remember the name the slightest but someone cares for him. Don Cullivan was an old army pal. He thought Perry was witty and clever and not afraid to go out of the way. He says, “From what I remember, though, I got along with you very well and rather liked you. You always seemed cheerful and cocky”(261). I thought this letter was very important because as we have been discussing, Perry has wanted love and friendship since the beginning. He wanted attention because he grew up lacking it all. Here, while Perry is about to be sentenced to death, someone gives him a letter of a friend, a person Perry wanted all along. And this isn’t the type of friends like Dick and Willie-Jay, who are prison dwellers and trouble makers. Don Cullivan seems like an innocent guy who got along with Perry well. It seemed more than anything, Don Cullivan admired him a little as the daring “nervy guy” (260). Throughout most of the book the people who think about Perry are usually displeased: Perry’s sister, his dad (who gets angry at him a lot), Dick’s dad, and more. This perspective seemed like a change in the view of others on Perry.