The Theme Of Redemption In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood
What does it mean to be Redeemed?
Trevor Jordan
5-21-11
Lampa Redemption is a black and white subject, one can either achieve it or fail and hold on to their troubled past for life. Redemption is when one admits to and repents for their bad deeds and truly feels sorry, then that person does a good deed to counteract the bad one and evens out their life’s “score”. Truman Capote and Oscar Wilde demonstrate that the characters in their books do not achieve redemption because they do not take the necessary actions to be redeemed.
In Capote’s In Cold Blood, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith committed a quadruple homicide in Holcomb Kansas; they have been caught and now are sitting in death row awaiting their final day. Now Dick and Perry could not perform a good deed to cancel out their bad one because they have been …show more content…
rotting in jail awaiting their sentence for five years, but they could have done something else.
They could have stopped prolonging their inevitable death “why haven’t Smith and Hickock got it in the neck, how come they are still eating up the taxpayers’ money” (page 335) by owning up to their action and accepting their punishment and apologizing sincerely for the crime. But Hickock fought the death penalty “I believe in hanging. Just so long as I’m not the one being hanged” (page 336) for 3 years before he and Smith were sentenced to death. Neither one of them apologized sincerely for the murder, Dick was making jokes about dying to jail friend Andy before he was about to be hung. Dick said to him “I’ll be seeing you soon…So scout around and see if you can’t find a cool shady spot for us Down There” as if he could care less about what he did and he will make no effort to set things right in his life. Also the manner in which Dick acted before he was hung, he said “You people are sending me to a
better world than this one was” and he shook the hands of the men that had tracked him down and with a smile on his face saying “Nice to see you” (page 339). Dick did not redeem himself. He did not originally come clean that he had a hand in the murder of the Clutters, he did not apologize for his crime and he did not do anything meaningful to offset the murders. Perry did not achieve redemption either because he was a coward. Before Perry faced the gallows he apologized and he was sincere, “It would be meaningless to apologize for what I did. Even inappropriate. But I do. I apologize.” (page 340) it was inappropriate; but it meant something to him and it cleared his conscience. It may have meant something to the Clutter family (even though not a single member of the family was there) but it was inappropriate because it came so late. Perry was a coward because he did not want to accept his punishment that he deserved, he tried to get out with a “phony starvation routine” (page 335) as Dick describes it (Perry tried to starve himself to death so he wouldn’t be hanged). Perry did not accept his punishment and face the gallows with dignity, he tried to starve himself, he did not do any deed to offset his bad one and his apology came at an inappropriate time; therefore one can safely say that Perry did not redeem himself.
In Wilde’s Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian Gray promised his soul to live a youthful life; what happens is that as time goes by his portrait looks older and reflects the decisions he has made in his life while his body remains as the day it was posing for the portrait. Wilde doesn’t believe one can be redeemed; he uses the portrait of Dorian to demonstrate this. During his life Dorian has led to the death of 3 people and his own self destruction. Dorian called off the engagement with his fiancée because she stopped her acting career, Sibyl Vane killed herself because she loved him so much. Dorian also blackmailed a former friend of his Allen Campbell which led to him committing suicide. Dorian killed his former best friend Basil as well because he “painted that portrait that marred his life” (page 162). And Dorian used opiates during his life; all of these acts are seen in his ever changing portrait, as it becomes older and more decrepit. Dorian couldn’t be redeemed because he wouldn’t admit to and repent for his actions “was he really to confess? Never” (page 164), he was a coward like Perry. He knew it “was his duty to confess, to suffer public shame, and to make public atonement” (page 163) but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He didn’t feel sorry either for the part he played in their deaths, “Basil had said things that were unbearable…the murder had been simply the madness of the moment. Alan Campbell, his suicide had been his own act, it was nothing to him”, even though he blackmailed his friend and he killed his friend. He did not take responsibility he blamed the circumstances or the fact that it was suicide. He did not see his hand in any of the deaths. Dorian questioned the fact if he could change his way (and therefore the image of his portrait) and tried to do a good deed. Once Dorian looked upon his portrait after he made a promise to be a good and moral person, he hoped to see a changed image, one that would resemble his physical image. What he saw was “more loathsome than even before” (page163), his portrait was even uglier. This is how Wilde shows that Dorian cannot redeem himself because his portrait (his soul) kept getting worse and worse. His bad deeds would stain his soul forever and could not be washed away despite his attempt to get rid of them with a pledge to lead a good life.
Redemption is not easy to achieve, it can be a long and difficult road or a heroic deed that changes one’s image from evil to good. However, redemption usually comes with a heavy price and that is facing those who have been wronged by the evil doer. To look them in the eye and sincerely apologize is very difficult as seen in the lives of all three characters two of them couldn’t do it. Then being able to do a deed good enough to offset what evil one has done proved to be next to impossible for the characters in this book because they all committed murders. Many people believe that there is nothing one can do to redeem a murder unless the murderer dies, which happened in to each character and I agree with this statement. But these characters did not fulfill the other aspects of the definition, therefore they are not redeemed.
Trevor Jordan
5-21-11
Lampa Redemption is a black and white subject, one can either achieve it or fail and hold on to their troubled past for life. Redemption is when one admits to and repents for their bad deeds and truly feels sorry, then that person does a good deed to counteract the bad one and evens out their life’s “score”. Truman Capote and Oscar Wilde demonstrate that the characters in their books do not achieve redemption because they do not take the necessary actions to be redeemed.
In Capote’s In Cold Blood, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith committed a quadruple homicide in Holcomb Kansas; they have been caught and now are sitting in death row awaiting their final day. Now Dick and Perry could not perform a good deed to cancel out their bad one because they have been …show more content…
rotting in jail awaiting their sentence for five years, but they could have done something else.
They could have stopped prolonging their inevitable death “why haven’t Smith and Hickock got it in the neck, how come they are still eating up the taxpayers’ money” (page 335) by owning up to their action and accepting their punishment and apologizing sincerely for the crime. But Hickock fought the death penalty “I believe in hanging. Just so long as I’m not the one being hanged” (page 336) for 3 years before he and Smith were sentenced to death. Neither one of them apologized sincerely for the murder, Dick was making jokes about dying to jail friend Andy before he was about to be hung. Dick said to him “I’ll be seeing you soon…So scout around and see if you can’t find a cool shady spot for us Down There” as if he could care less about what he did and he will make no effort to set things right in his life. Also the manner in which Dick acted before he was hung, he said “You people are sending me to a
better world than this one was” and he shook the hands of the men that had tracked him down and with a smile on his face saying “Nice to see you” (page 339). Dick did not redeem himself. He did not originally come clean that he had a hand in the murder of the Clutters, he did not apologize for his crime and he did not do anything meaningful to offset the murders. Perry did not achieve redemption either because he was a coward. Before Perry faced the gallows he apologized and he was sincere, “It would be meaningless to apologize for what I did. Even inappropriate. But I do. I apologize.” (page 340) it was inappropriate; but it meant something to him and it cleared his conscience. It may have meant something to the Clutter family (even though not a single member of the family was there) but it was inappropriate because it came so late. Perry was a coward because he did not want to accept his punishment that he deserved, he tried to get out with a “phony starvation routine” (page 335) as Dick describes it (Perry tried to starve himself to death so he wouldn’t be hanged). Perry did not accept his punishment and face the gallows with dignity, he tried to starve himself, he did not do any deed to offset his bad one and his apology came at an inappropriate time; therefore one can safely say that Perry did not redeem himself.
In Wilde’s Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian Gray promised his soul to live a youthful life; what happens is that as time goes by his portrait looks older and reflects the decisions he has made in his life while his body remains as the day it was posing for the portrait. Wilde doesn’t believe one can be redeemed; he uses the portrait of Dorian to demonstrate this. During his life Dorian has led to the death of 3 people and his own self destruction. Dorian called off the engagement with his fiancée because she stopped her acting career, Sibyl Vane killed herself because she loved him so much. Dorian also blackmailed a former friend of his Allen Campbell which led to him committing suicide. Dorian killed his former best friend Basil as well because he “painted that portrait that marred his life” (page 162). And Dorian used opiates during his life; all of these acts are seen in his ever changing portrait, as it becomes older and more decrepit. Dorian couldn’t be redeemed because he wouldn’t admit to and repent for his actions “was he really to confess? Never” (page 164), he was a coward like Perry. He knew it “was his duty to confess, to suffer public shame, and to make public atonement” (page 163) but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He didn’t feel sorry either for the part he played in their deaths, “Basil had said things that were unbearable…the murder had been simply the madness of the moment. Alan Campbell, his suicide had been his own act, it was nothing to him”, even though he blackmailed his friend and he killed his friend. He did not take responsibility he blamed the circumstances or the fact that it was suicide. He did not see his hand in any of the deaths. Dorian questioned the fact if he could change his way (and therefore the image of his portrait) and tried to do a good deed. Once Dorian looked upon his portrait after he made a promise to be a good and moral person, he hoped to see a changed image, one that would resemble his physical image. What he saw was “more loathsome than even before” (page163), his portrait was even uglier. This is how Wilde shows that Dorian cannot redeem himself because his portrait (his soul) kept getting worse and worse. His bad deeds would stain his soul forever and could not be washed away despite his attempt to get rid of them with a pledge to lead a good life.
Redemption is not easy to achieve, it can be a long and difficult road or a heroic deed that changes one’s image from evil to good. However, redemption usually comes with a heavy price and that is facing those who have been wronged by the evil doer. To look them in the eye and sincerely apologize is very difficult as seen in the lives of all three characters two of them couldn’t do it. Then being able to do a deed good enough to offset what evil one has done proved to be next to impossible for the characters in this book because they all committed murders. Many people believe that there is nothing one can do to redeem a murder unless the murderer dies, which happened in to each character and I agree with this statement. But these characters did not fulfill the other aspects of the definition, therefore they are not redeemed.