In Cold Blood

Perry comes across as a man with multiple personality disorder. He has different attitudes towards everything. Was he brought up this way? Was he born this way? Did he have people that influenced him to be whom he is today? Why did he a family that he had no connections too? Perry is a victim based upon the facts that he was manipulated by Dick, his upbringing was rocky, and he had mental issues.

Dick manipulates Perry in many ways. Firstly, the relationship established shows Perry as the subordinate and Dick as the dominant. Dick, being the dominant, takes charge of almost every situation through the entire book. For example, when they run out of money Dick takes charge and forge checks to steal money. Dick shows signs of being the dominant, thus showing how easily Perry can be taken advantage of. Children are some of the easiest prey to take advantage of. They trust everybody, think highly of people, and want to be accepted. Perry, being a child, wants Dick to like him. In this quote Perry states that Dick means something to him, "...it was because he'd wanted Dick's friendship, wanted Dick to 'respect' him.." (p.107). Why does Perry care so much for Dick? Is it because Dick acts like a caring parental figure that Perry so desperately needs? Perry states that". --I'll be honest--I had faith in Dick; he struck me as being very practical, the masculine type.."(p 234). But, how can Dick be a practical figure, when he himself is not right? Some may argue that no matter how attached these two are, everybody makes their own choices. Letting someone make choices for you is giving into peer pressure; therefore, you can't be the individual you truly are.