In Cold Blood Flashcards
Description of Holcomb at the start of the novel
‘Four gunshot blasts that ended six human lives’
Mr Clutter getting the American Dream
‘Always certain of what he wanted from the world, Mr Clutter has in large measure obtained it’
Phrase to describe Nancy Clutter
‘Town darling’
Description of Mrs Clutter’s mental health
‘She suffered little spells’
Dick talking to Perry about murdering the Clutters
‘I promise you, honey, we’ll blast hair all over them walls’
Description of Dick’s last relationships
‘Twice married, twice divorced’
Only person who saw Perry in a good light
‘Only Willie Jay had ever recognised his worth, his potentialities’
Dick on what he thought Perry was
‘Dick become convinced that Perry was that rarity, ‘a natural killer’
Dick wanting the American Dream
‘Dick… wanted a regular life, with a business of his own, a house, a horse to ride, a plenty of ‘blonde chicken’
Capote describing Alvin Dewey
‘Solving the crime was a personal proposition’
Dick saying what he is
‘I’m a normal’
Perry describing his family
‘Jimmy a suicide. Fern out the window. My mother dead’
Dick’s father describing his upbringing
‘he wanted to go to college, but we couldn’t do it. Plain didn’t have the money. Never had any money’
Description of Dick’s mother
‘she had a heart as big as a barn’
Barbara’s house
‘white picket fence’
Barbara’a lifestyle
‘Middle income, middle class’
Dick on the beach in Miami
‘Envy was constantly with him; the Enemy was anyone who was someone he wanted to be or who had anything he wanted to have’
Perry in the launderette waiting for Dick
‘The sound of Dick’s voice was like an injection of some potent n
Dick’s plan to leave Perry
‘he was like a wife that must be got rid of’
Perry describing Mr Clutter
‘I didn’t want to hurt the man. I thought he was a very nice gentleman. Soft-spoken. I thought so right up to the moment I cut his throat’
Perry crawling on the floor, looking for a coin
‘I thought of that goddam dollar. Sliver dollar. The shame. The disgust’
Alvin Dewey’s view on Perry
‘No bed of roses, but pitiful, an ugly and lonely progress toward one mirage or another’
Dick’s dad talking about his son whilst he is in jail
‘Having your boy hang, knowing he will. Nothing worse can happen to a man’
Perry disagreeing with the justice system
‘I’ll be damned if i’m the only killer in the courtroom’
