Several characters throughout Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood are consumed by an insatiable hunger for destruction. Most of these characters’ desires spawn from their own pain, yet some hold an organic lust for hurting. Specifically, Perry models an “injured bird,” an angry man yielded from a tormented childhood. However, throughout the book Dick’s appetite for deviant sex, crime and murder seems evidentially organic and inherent to his character. After the Clutter murders, even frightened and shocked onlookers submit to this contagious hunger. Many adopt the philosophy of, “‘an eye for an eye. And even so we’re two pair short!’” (248).
Immediately following the murders, Dick came to know “a hunger that nothing – three successive steaks, a dozen Hershey bars, a pound of gumdrops – seemed to interrupt” (90). Upon reading this, one would wonder why the completion of the intended crime – murder of the Clutters – had not satisfied Dick’s appetite. It is later revealed that Dick’s sole objective was in fact obstructed by Perry. During the trial Dick admits, “I think the main reason I went there was not to rob them but to rape the girl… That is one reason why I never wanted to turn back… Even when I saw there was no safe” (278). Dick’s hunger was stimulated at the thought of this rape, eating a bag of jelly beans at the gas station before the murders (54), and continued until the day of his death, as he was the only man to eat his last supper (334). Many times throughout the book it is shown that Dick had a very normal upbringing, with respectable and hard-working parents. This crime greatly affected the Hickocks. Mrs. Hickock wept at the trial and even lost her appetite, declining a free meal from a local restaurant (287). Just as Dick’s hunger to cause pain was voracious, others’ anguish cost them their appetite for joy.
Perry’s appetite was often absent; he even went on a hunger strike while on death row (318). By nature, Perry was extremely resentful of himself and his ultimate failure. He often begrudged others for his downfall, especially those that affected his childhood. Going into the Clutters’ home, Perry had never intended on killing any of the family. In retrospect, it seems that Perry symbolically killed those that he believed repressed him. He said that his only regret was that “I wish the hell my sister [Barbara] had been in that house” (143). Barbara had sent him a letter demeaning the validity of Perry’s excuses for his behavior. She held him responsible for his actions, and Perry was incapable of admitting such accountability. Perry could not handle such judgement from others. When he arrived to the Meiers’ house, he refused to eat. He admitted that when seeing the crowd in Holcomb, he remembered a scene from a movie “where a man was flung off a balcony, thrown to a mob of men and women, who tore him to pieces,” and feared that this would be his fate. In turn, “it scared him so bad his stomach still hurt” (253).
There are so many quotations about hunger throughout the book that I could have far surpassed the word limit for this assignment. I thought it was really interesting that Capote included this as a recurring theme. I was reminded of F. Scott’s Fitzgerald’s focus on time in The Great Gatsby. I think the two authors have a similar style of writing, though I greatly prefer the latter. If there was a character comparison of the two books, who would be Gatsby? A tragic hero in In Cold Blood? Perry is certainly tragic, and it seems Capote hinted at his heroic tendencies. However, due to the nature of his crimes, I have a hard time seeing his heroism.
