Question

[ikschultz]

In the book, Capote explains the things Perry and Dick are looking for at the store to prepare for this robbery. At one point Perry asks a sales woman if the sold any stockings and when she replied back no Perry feels the need to go to another store to look. Dick however felt that sockings are a "useless expense and after all, anyone they encountered would not live to bear witness." While discussing background we learned that the robbers never planned on killing the family but this quote suggests otherwise. Any thoughts?

[ikschultz]

Also in addition to this while Mr. Hendricks was describing the way each family member looked when they found them in their house made it seem like this was a very well thought out plan with every detail down to the last minute. The way they were tied up and placed. Especially with Kenyon's head being propped up by a pillow just seems very off with what we learned in the background information.

[ellievancuren]

I too was confused about the contradicting information that we got from the book and the background information that we learned about. I also thought that the killers original intentions were not to kill anyone. But to answer Izzy's question, perhaps Dick was planning to kill them but intentionally did not tell Perry? Although they are both killers, Perry seems slightly more hesitant and careful about his actions. Like when he attempts to buy the stockings to cover his face or when he tries to avoid superstitions that he deems to be unlucky such as nuns. Maybe Dick was worried about Perry not going through with it if he knew what he was really planning? But that is just my guess of what he meant when he said that to Perry.

[ikschultz]

That's a good thought Ellie! I also noticed that Perry was more hesitant toward things and Dick was more head first towards some plans. It was just very contradicting which made that part confusing.