Sympathy at the End

Because part IV of ‘In Cold Blood, The Corner, is about the last chapter of Perry Smith’s and Eugene Hickock’s life, it becomes hard not to sympathize with the, and their families or loved ones.  Also, because they are going to be put to death as a consequence of an action that took the lives of a family of four, during their trial it is also hard not to sympathize with those who knew and loved the Clutter family, as they have to hear what the murders did.  This is why, in Part IV, Capote writes in an attempt for us to sympathize with the murderers, Dick and Perry, along with Mr. and Mrs. Hickock, who have to live to see their grown son be accused of four accounts of murder.  We sympathize with Dick on page 252, when Mrs. Meier ponders why Dick was ‘white as a ghost’, and thinks how terrible an experience it must be to walk amongst strangers, who know what you have done.  We sympathize with him again on page 259, when his father describes a conversation they had regarding the events that took place on that night in Holcomb, when he says that he didn’t plan on attacking them and that he should have shot Smith dead before he killed the rest of the family.  Concerning Mr. Hickock, we sympathize with him on page 281, when in the courtroom, he believes that they ‘shouldn’t even have a trial’ with such a prejudice judge.  On page 287, we feel for Dick’s mother when after she stops crying, lets a woman reporter know that, “There’s nobody I can talk to,” and when she questions if she is partially guilty because of the way she raised her child, not knowing if she did something wrong or could have prevented it.

As for Perry, we sympathize with him due to the fact that no one from his family was present for his trial and that he felt, “all by myself.  Like somebody covered with sores.  Somebody only a big nut would have anything to do with,” (260).