On November 15, 1959, the entire Clutter family was viciously murdered in their home in Holcomb, Kansas by two men, Dick and Perry. From the crime scene, detectives could not immediately find a motive or any clues that answered the question of why. Truman Capote, interested by the ordeal, wrote the novel In Cold Blood following the before and after the night of murder; Capote pieced together the story from all sides to give insight on what happened and why. One of the detectives on the case called the murder a “psychological accident”. Most of the detectives wondered why it had occurred in the first place. However, the “psychological accident” was a product of hypermasculinity and the manifestation of shame that ultimately lead Perry to murdering …show more content…
According to the documentary The Mask You Live In, the idea of being masculinity is drilled into the minds of men starting at a young age. Without realizing it, many boys grow up with a fixed mindset on how to be a true man; you must be strong and rely on violence, have a lot of women, and never show your emotions. In the book, Dick has a “pragmatic approach to every subject, [which] was the primary reason Perry had been attracted to him, for it made Dick seem, compared to himself, so authentically tough, invulnerable, "totally masculine."” (pg. 16) To Perry, Dick’s practicalness made him masculine hence Perry sought after him. During the murder, when they realized that there was no money and they had travel to Holcomb for no reason, Perry wanted to make Dick realize his mistake; Perry wanted to, “call his bluff… make him admit he was a phony and a coward (pg. 244)” or challenge his masculinity. At that very moment, Perry had already pulled the knife across Mr. Clutter’s neck; the deed was done and there was no coming back. Perry proving his masculinity had killed Mr. Clutter and there was no way to fix that. Three of the four preconditions can be found in In Cold Blood leading up to the murders of the entire Clutter family. The shame implemented in Perry’s mind fogged his judgement and caused the “psychological accident”; Perry’s lack of resources to fall back on, along with the pressures of masculinity and his constant disconnection with life allowed shame to manifest in his well-being and caused for him to react violently. Dick told the detectives that Perry is “a natural-born killer…. Doesn’t bother him a bit.” However, Dick didn’t know there was a lot at