how much can we control?

[mollyfernandez]

Whenever perry states “…once a thing is set to happen, all you can do is hope it won’t. Or will – depending. As long as you live, there’s always something waiting, and even if it’s bad, and you know it’s bad, what can you do?”, he means that humans have no control over the fate of each person. Once the world has decided that something will happen, there is nothing that a person can do to stop it. Society has convinced themselves that they have control over every aspect of their lives and when something is out of their control it drives them crazy. Perry implies that society had no control to start with and will never have control over their lives. This could have many meanings relating to In Cold Blood. This could refer to the Clutter family as they could not do anything to stop their own murder once the killers, Dick and Perry, had decided that they were destined to die. As much as the Clutter’s put up a fight or wanted to live, they were unable to overcome the strength of the killers and the weapons that came with them. As well, Perry could be using this idea as an excuse for how he lives his life. He implies that the world or fate has chosen for the Clutter family to die and it just so happened to him who made what was already destined to happen come true. I believe that he says this to alleviate the guilt that he feels, convincing himself that what he did was not wrong but was merely speeding up the inevitable. Looking forward, Perry, who after the murder is consumed with how the investigation is progressing, could also be referencing how he believes that it is inevitable that he and Dick will be caught and thrown in jail for the crime they committed. Perry is conflicted because he knows there is nothing he can do to ensure that he won’t get caught so he must decide whether he continues to run or owns up to his mistake. Recently a story came out about a 29 year old woman, Brittany Maynard, who was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor. Her fate had been decided. The question was not is she going to die it was a matter of when. Brittany, like Perry, knew that there was nothing she could do to rid herself of this disease so she must decide if she suffers through it or takes matter into her own hands. Accepting that death was her fate, Brittany decided that she will undergo assisted suicide, not changing her fate but speeding it up. She didn’t want her family and friends to have to see her suffer through this disease and did not want to prolong the inevitable. Applying this story to the book, does Perry, like Brittany, feel that there is no use in prolonging the inevitable? Since he believes that he will be caught, does he think he should just go straight to the authorities and “die with dignity”? In one way or another, this to Perry would be like committing a form of suicide, but, unlike Brittany’s, his would be social suicide. He would be choosing to leave his life of freedom to live a life in cold, dark cell where he may never interact with the outside world. This makes me wonder will he continue to run or give up looking over his shoulder his entire life to end his suffering and rid himself of guilt? I have to say that i agree with Perry's quote. Life happens and we spend to much time trying to avoid it or prevent when in the end there was nothing we could do. However I do not think this should be used as an excuse for anything. Perry used this so he could be lazy and not own up to his actions or do something with his life. I believe life is precious and is not to be wasted with excuses of laziness because you never know when fate will take it away.

[ikschultz]

In response to Molly's question, "does Perry feel that there is no use in prolonging the inevitable?" I think that Perry while feeling guilty also feels conflicted. He wants to justify his actions as fate to subside the guilt but at the same time, Dick and himself are prospering. They are going to Mexico and they finally have money to spend. But then comes back the guilt when Perry realizes where they got their goods and how the became prosperous. Perry, in my opinion, will turn himself in. The guilt will soon eat at him until he breaks down just like Bonnie's father, Mr. Fox, wrote to the town of Holcomb. "The doer of this act is going to find it very difficult indeed to live with himself." However, Dick might scare Perry into prolonging the inevitable for a while longer. Dick seems to scare Perry at times and have a great deal of influence upon him. If Perry turns himself in, most likely he will turn his accomplice in with him.