Did The Clutters Have To Die? Essay, Research Paper

Essay – Did the Clutters have to die?

Truman Capote’s book “In Cold Blood” is based on solving a crime of a first-degree murder. The victims of the massacre have been a family of four, killed by complete strangers. Was this brutality really necessary? One of the killers, Dick, believed so. He decided to wake Mr. Clutter up and question him. The second killer, Perry, on the other hand, had more reasonable ideas.

Ever since Floyd Wells, who celled with Dick, told him about the Clutters, their wealth and kindness, Dick had plans to go out there, take the safe from Herbert Clutter’s house, and kill all witnesses. He had the right idea about getting rid of the witnesses, but as long, as he did not make innocent people witnesses, and for that reason kill them afterwards. But did Dick ever plan to kill anyone? Probably not, and that’s why he had Perry, who he thought was a natural killer. Through the book, Dick is shown as a coward by killing a weak dog, and his sexual attraction to little girls, because he couldn’t get any better. This shows that Dick needed Perry to do all the dirty work for him.

On the other hand, Perry, who claimed to kill a colored man with a bike chain, had other views on killing. His ideas, unlike Dick’s, tended to be more careful, by advising to wear masks, and later on, to walk away while it was still possible. By being more careful, Perry realized the consequences of their future actions, and tried not to let them happen.

After planning everything out, Dick and Perry drove up to the house, and after little trouble, they decided to go in. Once inside the room where the safe was supposed to be in, Dick started looking for it, and found nothing. Knowing that the family was asleep, they had two options. One was to walk away and not get into any worse trouble than they were already in. As Perry recalled, he considered getting ten years, and become free again. This option would save both loves of the Clutter family, and Dick and Perry’s too. But unfortunately for all, Dick’s anger at his failure in finding the safe made them go into the bedroom and wake Mr. Clutter up. Although disagreeing, and eager to walk away, Perry followed Dick’s lead. After short questioning by Dick, Mr. Clutter said there is no safe, and asked if he would accept a check. The last statement has pissed off Dick, and therefore really shortened the life of Herbert’s family. But did everyone else have to die with Mr. Clutter? After Herbert has seen Dick and Perry’s faces, there weren t too many choices left for him. But having Perry believe that there actually was no safe, and not doing such a good job with Dick, as well as considering Dick’s temper and anger at that time, has made him go upstairs and wake up the entire family. Did it have to happen? Couldn’t they just kill Mr. Clutter and leave? As sadistic as it may sound, that could’ve been a better option for the murderers. Killing one person and killing a family of four are different things, but Dick didn’t want to acknowledge that during that night. And even after the entire family was awake, Dick and Perry could still leave, and not kill, be wanted for a while, but for robbery, and not first-degree murder.

By the end of the night, Mr. and Mrs. Clutter, Kenyon, Nancy, were dead, and Dick and Perry’s lives were to end soon too. Why? Because of Dick’s stubbornness and temper, because of Perry not willing to back out while there still was a chance, because of Herb Clutter’s check question. Once caught, Dick and Perry regretted what they did, even though they had a chance to do it before the murder. Realize what would be ahead, and what would happen to them if proven guilty. Too bad for the Clutters, Dick did not consider all his options that night, leaving Clutters no chance to live. So who is to blame for their deaths? Why did they die? And did they have to die at all? Until the first blood was spilled, the answer was no.