Capote, In Cold Blood, Part 3: "Answers"

These are technically the last questions for the class (and the book); I will post something simple for Part 4, but it won't be a standard set of questions. So be sure to get this last set to me by next week, since that's our last week of classes. ALSO--be sure to read the post about assignments below this one. Get me Short Paper #3 (really just an e-mail) as soon as possible, but no later than Monday! 

Answer two of the following:

Q1: We get conflicting stories about the murder and its motivations: Perry claims that Dick is the "sick" one, who wanted to rape Nancy and cover the walls with blood...yet Dick claims that Perry is the one who murdered everyone, while he wished he had turned the gun on Perry. Which story do you believe? Or neither one? 

Q2: Perry's sister recalls her brother, when drunk, exclaiming that "I happen to have a brilliant mind...and talent plus. But no education, because he didn't want me to learn anything, only how to tote and carry for him. Dumb. Ignorant. That's the way he wanted me to be" (185). Do you think Capote believes that killers like Perry are made this way? Are parents and society largely to blame? Was Perry a budding genius cruelly neglected by his father? Or was he always going to be a "natural killer"?

Q3: Perry believes strongly in fate, and much of the book seems to hinge on strange coincidences and events. For example, when the Las Vegas police pick up the pair, Perry had just picked up a box from the post office (from Mexico) full of his souvenirs--including the boots he wore during the murder. Do you think Capote is trying to manipulate his narrative (like Vladek did) to make things seem divinely inspired (remember the use of fateful numbers in Maus)? Is this real, or something that the author is trying to make us see?

Q4: Reflecting on the "answers" for the murder, Dewey says, "The crime was a psychological accident, virtually an impersonal act; the victims might as well have been killed by lightning. Except for one thing: they had experienced prolonged terror, they had suffered" (245-246). What do you think this says about the nature of evil? And how might this compare to the acts of torture and death we see in Maus?