Emotional Pain Turned Physical

To better portray each characters emotional state, Capote physicalizes each person’s emotional pain. Thus, if they are in emotional distress, a part of their body will become pained. A prime example of this is when Perry is being interrogated and panics because he doesn’t know what to do he immediately begs, “You got any aspirin? They took away my aspirin” and when asked what if he was hurting he replied, “My legs do” (226). All other instances in which Perry’s legs felt this way were in times of emotional stress. Perry chooses to treat his emotional state by curing a false physical pain rather than recognize that it is his emotional despair that is causing him pain. To intensify the stress of the trial, Capote describes Logan Green who “touched a boil on the back of his neck, a mature inflammation that seemed, like its angry wearer, about to burst” (305). Instead of simply describing the anxiety Green is feeling, Capote chooses to physicalize his pain, thus heightening the tension of the scene. Mrs. Clutter also exemplifies this physical pain when going through emotional pain. When her friend Mrs. Kidwell sees her in pain and tries to open a window in her room Bonnie objects, “I’m not hot. I’m cold. I’m freezing. Please Lord don’t let anybody see me this way” (29). Mrs. Clutter’s worries about others seeing her in such a terrible state become physical as she is literally chilled by her crazy emotions. By turning people’s emotional pain into physical pain, Capote is able to make the story more detailed, thus strengthening the emotions of each scene.