Questions 7-12

7. Discuss the evidence against John Sr. and Jr. How is this evidence resolved?

The problem became some years earlier when John had conducted with Mr. Clutter a minor business transaction, the outcome of which angered John Jr. who felt that Clutter had thrown him "a queer ball". After that, they came to the Clutter's property full of whiskey courage intending to fight with Herb but they were denied the chance for Mr. Clutter, when he seized a gun and marched them off his property. This discourtesy the Jhon had not forgiven and Jhon Sr had told that every time he thought about Mr. Clutter he wanted to choke him. However,  this evidence was resolved because for the time of the assassination they were out of the place.

8. Explain the irony surrounding Mrs. Myrtle Clare.

She does not change her locks on the post office, and 8 months she's robbed at the post office.

9. Explain the quotation on page 88: “Imagination, of course, can open any door - turn the key and let terror walk right in.”

In my opinion, this quotation makes reference about the feeling that was in a town after the murders. People in the city felt like there were not a safe place or someone to really trust, the killer could be any of them, known people. Moreover, they think that it was not safe to let their houses or continue with their quit lives.

10. Discuss the tension between Dick and Perry after the murders.

The tension between Dick and Perry came as Perry started to have a bad feel, saying that he can predict when something bad is going to happen. Perry also felt guilty or that someone could discover what they did, but Dick refused to accept any possibility of this.

11. Explain Perry’s belief that he has ESP (extra sensorial perception). What evidence does he offer to support his assertion?

He thinks that he can in a way predict some events because he had already predicted the death of his brother, the death of his sister and his accident in a motorbike. He described it as a strong pain in his legs, he just felt when something wrong is going to happen, but he once explained that you can avoid these things, just wait for them to happen.

12. Explain the episode about Floyd on page 87. (This will be resolved later.)

Floyd was a prisoner, who heard on the radio about the crime staying his jail. He knew who were the killers, because he was the one who talked about the Finch’s family with his roommate.

Questions 43 - 47

43. Describe the Finney County murders prior to the Clutter murder.

• The Hefner Slaying: August, 1920. A fellow called WalterTunif was working on the Finnup ranch. He had a car, turned out to be stolen. He was a soldier AWOL from Fort Bliss, over there in Texas. He was a rascal. So one evening the sheriff rode out to the Finnup ranch to ask Tunif a few questions. Walter Tunif shot the sheriff right through the heart. The devil who done it, he lit out of there on one of the Finnup horses, rode east along the river. The next morning, they caught up with him; old Walter Tunif. He didn’t get the chance to explain how he did that because the boys were irate.
• John Carlyle Polk, a Creek Indian, 32 years of age, resident Muskogee, Okla., killed Mary Kay Finley, white female, 40 years of age, a waitress residing in Garden City. Polk stabbed her with the jagged neck of a beer bottle in a room in the Copeland Hotel, Garden City, Kansas.
• A pair of railroad workers robbed and killed an elderly farmer. (11-1-52)
• A drunken husband beat and kicked his wife to death. (6-17-56)
• A man named Mooney was walking around the park. He was from North Carolina, he went to the rest room, and a boy followed him inside, Wilmer Lee Stebbins, 20 years old. Afterward, Wilmer Lee always claimed Mr. Mooney made him an unnatural suggestion. And that was why he robbed Mr. Mooney, and knocked him down, and banged his head on the cement floor, then, he stuck Mr. Mooney’s head in a toilet bowl and kept on flushing till he drowned him. First off, he buried the body a couple of miles northeast of Garden City. Next day he dug it up and put it down fourteen miles the other direction. Finally, he dug one grave.

44. Why does Dewey return to the Clutter home each day?

Dewey returned to the Clutter home each day because he was obsessing about the case. He was convinced that the family knew the killer very well, and also that the motive was revenge and hatred for Herb Clutter. In addition, Dewey found those visits pleasurable.

45. Describe Marie's dream.

Marie’s dream: she had a “silly dream” that seemed to be so real for her. She dreamed that Bonnie Clutter walked through the door. Bonnie was wearing a blue angora sweater, and she looked so sweet and pretty. Then, Marie talked to her but she could not understand what Bonnie was saying. At the end, Bonnie looked at her and said that there were not nothing worse than to be murdered.

46. What example of fate is found at the end of "Persons Unknown"?

Dick and Perry continued their journey. They were waiting for someone to pick them up on the road. They also intended to murder a driver and then steal the car but they could not because the car did not stop at all. In conclusion, this might be the fate of for the killers.

47. What example of irony is found at the end of "Persons Unknown"?

a. An example of irony could be that Perry murdered the Clutters because of his deep anger towards his own family.

b. Other example could be that Perry liked Mr. Clutter, as well as the other members of the family. This at first seems ironic, but in fact it says a great deal about Perry’s motive for killing the Clutters. The murders were not inspired by a literal hatred of this specific family, but by misdirected frustration and resentment that finds a symbolic object in the Clutters and the values that they represent. The family is unlucky enough to be on the receiving end of this fury, but they are by no means its source.

In Cold Blood: Questions 25-31

Persons Unknown (pages 96-123)

25. One of the main arguments which In Cold Blood interjects is the question over which is more important: nature or nurture. What information do we learn about Perry’s past? How do you think these events have changed him?

We learn about Perry’s past that he had a difficult childhood. His parents got divorced when he was very young, and his mother took him with her. Then he spent some years in an orphanage run by nuns, where he was whipped by the nuns. I think these events made him feel insecure and afraid of building bonds with others.

26. Describe and explain Dick’s episode with the dog in the road. What do we learn about Dick from this episode?

Dick was driving, and when he saw a dog trotting along the side of the road he hit him with the car. It was something he did always he had the chance. From this episode we can see his lack of compassion for living creatures, because he felt satisfied for killing animals.

27. What evidence exists that the killers may have been after Taylor Jones?

The evidence that the killers may have been after Taylor Jones was that he was richer than Herb Clutter and lived near the Clutter farm. The killers, if they weren’t from Holcomb, could have taken the wrong road and ended up at the Clutter’s house instead of Jones’s.

28. Look at the story about Mrs. Archibald William Warren-Brown on pages 110. What is the purpose of this story?

I think the purpose of this story is to show that Holcomb was a very quiet and safe town, that’s the reason why Mrs. Archibald moved there. After the murderers, the place seemed to bother her and she found her house too noisy. The noises in the night, of the wind and animals outside, made her feel nervous and think silly things. She remembered what happened to the Clutters.

29. Name the people who plan to leave Holcomb and explain why each will leave.

The first who decided to leave was a tenant farmer who worked for Lester McCoy. He said his wife couldn’t sleep, because she was too worried after what happened with the Clutters.

The second who decided to leave was Mrs. Hideo Ashida. She said her husband decided it was better for them to leave and go to Nebraska. Mrs. Hideo Ashida thought that after what happened with Herb and his family, anything was the same.

30. What does Hideo remember about the last time she saw Herb Clutter. Explain the irony.

The last time she saw Herb Clutter, she told him she could never imagine him ever being afraid, and that he could talk his way out of any situation. After that, Hideo thought he wasn’t afraid the night he died. The irony was that Hideo thought that nothing bad could ever happen to him because he could solve everything, but finally it happened.

31. Describe Dick and Perry’s visit to Mexico.

After a week in Mexico, Dick and Perry met Otto, a rich middle-aged German. He had a native Acapulcan friend who called himself the Cowboy. Every day Otto hired a boat and the four friends went fishing. After Otto went back to Germany, Perry and Dick had to sell their car because it was the only thing they had left. Three days after Dick sold the car, the money they had had vanished. Dick tried to find a job, but he discovered that the wages in Mexico were very low, and he thought it was better to go back to the United States.

LANGUAGE IV

In Cold Blood

PART II – PERSON UNKOWN (pages 73-96)

1. Describe Alfred’s feelings. Do you think he was involved in any way? Explain. How can he convince people of his innocence?

Alfred was nervous and concern about what people thought about him and his family. People couldn`t believe how he couldn`t hear the shots. But, he convinced them when the police explained that the wind and a big barn which was in between the Clutters and Aflred`s house covered the noise of the massacre.

In my opinion, Alfred was innocent. He didn`t have motives for killing them. Mr. Clutter gave him home, work and was comprehensible to Alfred`s problems. Why could Alfred be angry with Mr. Clutter? It doesn`t make sense to think that.

2. Describe Alvin Dewey.

Alvin Dewey was 47 years old and got married 17 years ago with Marie (they met in New Orleans when they worked for the F.B.I.). He was the man in charge of the Clutter`s investigation. Dewey was determined to solve the case because he respect the Clutters. Herb and him went to the same church. After investigating a while, Dewey discarded the connection between the insurance and the murders. He thought in two possible hypothesis, one involving a single murderer and other with 2 perpetrators.  

3. Why do you think Nancy was not gagged?

I think Nancy was the first victim of the massacre. She must be slept when Dick and Perry killed her. But first, they tied Herb, Kenyon and Bonnie up. In that way, when they heard the shot they couldn`t do anything.

4. Discuss the evidence the KBI has accumulated so far.

The evidence they collect were:

• ·         Footprints with a particular pattern soles (diamond). The only sustainable clue they have.
• ·         They discarded a robbery because jewellery wasn't been stolen.
• ·         The murderer/s could be from outside the town. There isn`t possible that 2 people from the same place could think about committing such a crime.
• ·         The adhesive tape and the cord the police collected from the crime scene.

5. Explain Dewey’s major reason for believing that the murder was the work of only one individual. Do you agree?

Dewey thought in the hypothesis where there was just one murderer. The perpetrator woke Herb up and made him tie all his family. But, without reason took Kenyon to the playroom and Herb to the furnace room. The fact that the Clutters were tied with the same knot made Dewey think that one person was the responsible for the crime.

No, I don`t support this idea. First, there could been 2 or more murderers. But, they could arrange that just one of them was in charge to tie the victims. Second, as Dewey thought, when Kenyon was taken to the playroom with Herb, they could been fought with the murderer. Finally, If Herb tied his family, where did he learn to make that kind of knot? The police should have looked for the same knot in the farm. I don`t remember well now, but I think Perry learnt to make that knot in the army/navy (I don`t remember).

6. What evidence exists that the murder may have been the result of a feud?

Despite of the Clutters were beloved by all Holcomb, Herb had had a problems with two men.

John Senior and John Junior: Senior had made a business transaction with Herb which ended bad for John. He and his son became alcoholics after that. One day, they went drunk to speak with Herb, but he threw them out with a gun. One month earlier, John Senior told he would like to kill Herb.

Mr. Smith: His haunting dog was killed by an employee of Mr. Clutter. When the agent Church went to investigate Smith saw a similar knot in the barn of Mr. Smith. The same knot which was used to tie the Clutters.

If someone wants to add something that I missed, please do it. 

Write to be Read

Since we have missed six hour of classes, I will ask you to continue working on Chapter 7. Please complete part 4 (p. 179-185). We will check everything next week!

In Cold Blood Part 2

Dear All,
Here is a set of 47 questions that deal with Part II. I will ask you to choose 7 questions each and develop them fully in the blog. Also bring them to class next week. The idea is that after you have posted an answer, your classmates contribute with a comment. it could be of any nature (agreeing, disagreeing, adding something, posting a video, etc). Make sure you tell in the blog which ones you are answering, so you do not overlap. This will compensate for my sick leave.

In Cold Blood

Section II:

Persons Unknown (pages 73-96)

1. Describe Alfred’s feelings. Do you think he was involved in any way? Explain. How can he convince people of his innocence?

2. Describe Alvin Dewey.

3. Why do you think Nancy was not gagged?

4. Discuss the evidence the KBI has accumulated so far.

5. Explain Dewey’s major reason for believing that the murder was the work of only one individual. Do you agree?

6. What evidence exists that the murder may have been the result of a feud?

7. Discuss the evidence against John Sr. and Jr. How is this evidence resolved?

8. Explain the irony surrounding Mrs. Myrtle Clare.

9. Explain the quotation on page 88: “Imagination, of course, can open any door - turn the key and let terror walk right in.”

10. Discuss the tension between Dick and Perry after the murders.

11. Explain Perry’s belief that he has ESP (extra sensorial perception). What evidence does he offer to support his assertion?

12. Explain the episode about Floyd on page 87. (This will be resolved later.)

13. What promise do Perry and Dick make to each other?

14. Describe Perry’s dream. Analyze this dream.

15. Describe the episodes when Dick cons people. How is he able to do this?

16. Explain why Cookie was so important to Perry. What does this tell us about Perry?

17. Why does Dick worry about his family? Why is this ironic?

Persons Unknown (pages 96-123)

18. What new evidence does Mrs. Elaine Selsor provide?

19. What concerns the detectives about the mattress box, bed covers, etc?

20. What can we learn from Dick and Perry’s possessions?

21. Explain Mr. Howard Fox’s letter. What does this tell us about the family?

22. Describe the argument between Dick and Perry. What does this tell us about them?

23. Why is the story of Perry killing King so important?

24. Describe the memories Perry has about the murder.

25. One of the main arguments which In Cold Blood interjects is the question over which is more important: nature or nurture. What information do we learn about Perry’s past? How do you think these events have changed him?

26. Describe and explain Dick’s episode with the dog in the road. What do we learn about Dick from this episode?

27. What evidence exists that the killers may have been after Taylor Jones?

28. Look at the story about Mrs. Archibald William Warren-Brown on pages 110. What is the purpose of this story?

29. Name the people who plan to leave Holcomb and explain why each will leave.

30. What does Hideo remember about the last time she saw Herb Clutter. Explain the irony.

31. Describe Dick and Perry’s visit to Mexico.

32. What information does Paul Helm remember about the day before the murders?

33. Describe the incident with Jonathan Daniel Adrian.

Persons Unknown (pages 119-151)

34. Why will Dick and Perry return to the states?

35. Explain why Perry is afraid to leave Dick.

36. List the items Perry and Dick ship to America and the things Perry leaves with Jesus. What can we learn about the two men from their possessions?

37. Why had Perry’s father written “A History of My Boy’s Life”? Explain the major points hemakes in the letter.

38. Look back at question #28.What new information about the argument does the reader learn from the essay?

39. Why does Perry so value this essay? What does this tell us about him?

40. Explain why Perry and his father fought and finally separated.

41. Explain the major points that Barbara makes in her letter to Perry.

42. Critique Willie-Jay’s synopsis of Barbara’s letter.

43. Describe the Finney County murders prior to the Clutter murder.

44. Why does Dewey return to the Clutter home each day?

45. Describe Marie’s dream.

46. What example of fate is found at the end of “Persons Unknown”?

47. What example of irony is found at the end of “Persons Unknown”?

The Clutter Farm