How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
I started drinking, and was drunk for almost a month. I neglected my business, spent more money than I earned, wrote bad checks, and in the end became a thief. For this last I was sent to the penitentiary […]. (4.64)
Dick thinks everything started with his drinking, which eventually led to criminal behavior. It's a slippery slope. We guess that murder was just the next logical step. Right.
Quote #8
"I was sore at Dick. The tough brass boy. But it wasn't Dick. Or the fear of being identified. I was willing to take the gamble. And it wasn't because of anything the Clutters did. They never hurt me. Like other people. Like people have all my life. Maybe it's just the Clutters were the ones that had to pay for it." (4.121)
Wow. Perry tells it like he sees it. It was a lifetime of trauma that led to this horrible crime. Capote and the court psychiatrist appear to agree with Perry on this one.
Quote #9
'It's a rotten world," Latham said. There's no answer to it but meanness. That's all anybody understands—meanness. Burn down the man's barn—he'll understand that. Poison his dog. Kill him." Ronnie said Latham was "one-hundred percent correct," adding, "Anyway, anybody you kill, you're doing them a favor." (4.243) "[…] why did you do it?" And York, with a self-congratulatory grin, answers, "We hate the world." (4.248)
Totally logical. Get us out of here this minute.