Mental Disturbances From In Cold Blood
In Cold Blood revolves around the investigation and interrogation of two murderers of a small family in Holcomb, Kansas. The novel alternates between three narratives: that of the victims, the murderers, and the surrounding community. The murderers, who were real people, are Dick Hickock, and Perry Smith, which met in Kansas State Prison. Dick had an agenda for robbery of a safe supposedly containing a large sum of money. While in the house, where they found no safe, Perry killed all four of the family members, slitting the throat of the father, Herbert, and shooting both him and Kenyon, the son in the head, then shooting the other two family members. Hickock never claimed any of the murders, and Perry confessed to all of them.
This is the most prevalent of many odd behaviors of Perry Smith. His upbringing involved innumerable tragedies, including the suicide of two of his siblings, his abusive mother, as well as his father; his abuse by nuns as a child, and people attempting to drown him all coalesce into this very disturbed social misfit. He spends many years in prison for various crimes, and even spent abundant time in the stockade during his military service for behavioral issues. At this point Perry would be considered by most to be a dangerous person, and some would even consider him homicidal--maybe. Perhaps someone could have seen what brewed inside of Perry, the apparent growing resentment for those that live a "happy life," those that are content. At this point in history though, mental illness is not something that is taken nearly seriously enough. This is where Thomas comes into play.
Thomas talks about these mental illnesses from a standpoint of understanding, because he has spent a large sum of time on this project, trying to understand mental illness. In the very least, he knows what some of the correlations of these illnesses detail, such as the lack of gray matter in specific areas of the brain in those with early-onset schizophrenia. Perry is obviously someone with a mental illness, though which one I have not the experience nor the understanding of him to give him any particular diagnosis. All I can say is there's one there, and perhaps if someone had paid enough attention to him, they might have been able to stop him. The only person that noticed him enough to see there was clearly something wrong with him was Willie-Jay, who Perry was never able to get back in contact with after his release. Had there been some early prevention, the Clutter family might have not been killed. Instead, nobody took time to notice his issues, and thus, a family had to lose its life. This is the idea Thomas tries to impress: that people should take care to notice those with mental illness early, and that there should be greater care taken to help it. That behavior is the last thing to change, and care should be taken to help it early on. Someone should have done that for Perry.
This is the most prevalent of many odd behaviors of Perry Smith. His upbringing involved innumerable tragedies, including the suicide of two of his siblings, his abusive mother, as well as his father; his abuse by nuns as a child, and people attempting to drown him all coalesce into this very disturbed social misfit. He spends many years in prison for various crimes, and even spent abundant time in the stockade during his military service for behavioral issues. At this point Perry would be considered by most to be a dangerous person, and some would even consider him homicidal--maybe. Perhaps someone could have seen what brewed inside of Perry, the apparent growing resentment for those that live a "happy life," those that are content. At this point in history though, mental illness is not something that is taken nearly seriously enough. This is where Thomas comes into play.
Thomas talks about these mental illnesses from a standpoint of understanding, because he has spent a large sum of time on this project, trying to understand mental illness. In the very least, he knows what some of the correlations of these illnesses detail, such as the lack of gray matter in specific areas of the brain in those with early-onset schizophrenia. Perry is obviously someone with a mental illness, though which one I have not the experience nor the understanding of him to give him any particular diagnosis. All I can say is there's one there, and perhaps if someone had paid enough attention to him, they might have been able to stop him. The only person that noticed him enough to see there was clearly something wrong with him was Willie-Jay, who Perry was never able to get back in contact with after his release. Had there been some early prevention, the Clutter family might have not been killed. Instead, nobody took time to notice his issues, and thus, a family had to lose its life. This is the idea Thomas tries to impress: that people should take care to notice those with mental illness early, and that there should be greater care taken to help it. That behavior is the last thing to change, and care should be taken to help it early on. Someone should have done that for Perry.