"By now, over the years, that was all I had left. Jimmy a suicide. Fern out the window. My mother dead, been dead eight years. Everybody's gone..." -Perry Edwards
Reflecting on this week's reading, it is clear that focus was placed on Perry Edwards, cold-blooded killer of an entire family. However, Capote uses a heavy pathos approach by describing Perry's tumultuous past and the catastrophic events that led up to the murders. Through a series of letters to Perry's father, readers learn of his difficult early years facing bullying and coping with the tragic death of his mother. Then, with the sudden suicides of both siblings, jimmy and Fern. The letters also highlights his aspirations to play music, and the eventual destruction of this dream, due to lacks of support and money. The reading concluded with the continued search for Perry and Dick, who currently reside in Las Vegas.
Themes of the renowned "American Dream" emerge throughout the novel, and Capote brilliantly contrasts Perry's upbringing to that of the Clutters. Herb and his family are the epitome of the American dream, wealthy and polite with resources and the support of a community. Their eventual killer representing the opposite, tragedy-stricken, with no family to lean on, and a string of broken dreams. Reflecting on the murder, it is an obvious symbol of Perry "taking" that American Dream, and implementing into the quiet town the same tragedy in which he grew up with, death.
Reflecting on this week's reading, it is clear that focus was placed on Perry Edwards, cold-blooded killer of an entire family. However, Capote uses a heavy pathos approach by describing Perry's tumultuous past and the catastrophic events that led up to the murders. Through a series of letters to Perry's father, readers learn of his difficult early years facing bullying and coping with the tragic death of his mother. Then, with the sudden suicides of both siblings, jimmy and Fern. The letters also highlights his aspirations to play music, and the eventual destruction of this dream, due to lacks of support and money. The reading concluded with the continued search for Perry and Dick, who currently reside in Las Vegas.
Themes of the renowned "American Dream" emerge throughout the novel, and Capote brilliantly contrasts Perry's upbringing to that of the Clutters. Herb and his family are the epitome of the American dream, wealthy and polite with resources and the support of a community. Their eventual killer representing the opposite, tragedy-stricken, with no family to lean on, and a string of broken dreams. Reflecting on the murder, it is an obvious symbol of Perry "taking" that American Dream, and implementing into the quiet town the same tragedy in which he grew up with, death.