Though Truman Capote portrays Dick to be the more deranged over Perry, and Perry to be the one of innocence, his main goal is to show how Dick’s derangement has manipulated Perry, furthermore showing that those who are subject to vulnerability can be easily exploited by more dominant figures. In order to prove that Perry’s ruthless behavior is simply a product of Dick’s manipulation, Capote must first prove that Perry is more virtuous than Dick, and that Perry bears the capability to act with propriety on his own. In order to do so Capote displays an anecdote about Perry’s childhood to authenticate his innocence. While Perry is in jail for the first time his father crafts a letter to send to the jail to prove that Perry is an ethical person and has learned his lesson. To exemplify how foreign the life of crime is to Perry, his father writes, “He deeply regrets his mistake he told me. I also know he feels ashamed to meet people he knows he will not tell them he was behind bars” (Capote 129). By providing a specific example from Perry’s past that reveals how unaccustomed Perry is to breaking the law, it is evident that Perry himself is incapable of committing vicious felonies. Knowing that on his own, Perry is incapable of crime, the only reason that Perry would murder the Clutters was because he was being manipulated by Dick’s…show more content… “But I know the minute I try to, the minute I reach up, a snake is going to fall on me. A snake that guards the tree” (Capote 92). In Perry’s dream the diamonds represent Perry’s wants and desires to do the right thing, but as he tries to reach for them he is hindered by the snake that guards the tree. In his case Dick is the snake. Perry is unable to reach what he desires because he is petrified of Dick stopping him. Capote uses this symbolism to subtly show the way that Perry feels about Dick’s
