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'None had been closer to the Clutter family than Andy Erhart. "We were friends for thirty years." "He was a modest but proud man as he had a right to be." 

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Mr. Erhart had been a family friend for so long. He never expected to be cleaning Mr. Clutter's house especially after he had passed. The irony of this situation is the fact that he left the house wiping away the Clutter's dreams as he cleaned away the mess left behind after they were murdered. Although it was crushing for Erhart to be the one to pick up what reminds him of the Clutter's, it showed a sense of closure for him as he had known Mr. Clutter for so long and was able to give him that peace of mind that his house will be cleaned and back to "normal" as it was before the tragedy. - Miranda C

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"However long it takes, it may be the rest of my life, I'm going to know what happened in that house: the why and the who." 

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Detective Dewey was ready to dedicate his whole attention to the Clutter case. He was willing to spend sleepless night over this case because it was such an eerie and unusual crime to happen. The whole reason Detective Dewey was "undecided" was because of how rare a crime this tragic were to happen in Kansas city. All he could think was how unlikely the Clutter family was to be murdered and targeted that it made him that much more attracted to find out why they were murdered. -Miranda C

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"Feeling wouldn't run half so high if this had happened to anyone except the Clutters."

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The whole town, even people you would not even think about cared deeply for the Clutter's. They sympathized with the remaining Clutter's as they too were in distraught. The Clutter's death affected everyone and more since they were that family that everyone knows. They represented "respect" and "value" to those who were friends with them which deepen those emotional feelings neighbors felt for them. - Miranda C

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"That's incorrect. The grammar is. It ought to be "For the killer or these killers." 

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Ironically, the most important thing that stuck out to Perry was of course, the grammar the newspaper used. It only showed how much he let his persona take over as he was reading the newspaper that was talking about the killers of the Clutter's. The grammar being the first thing he noticed first hand as he didnt care about what was being said about himself and Dick, portrays Perry as nonchalant because he truly overlooked how he was characterized and only focused on spelling. - Miranda C

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"Nancy wore her dress of cherry-red velvet. All I could see was Nancy's red dress. And Nancy in it. Dancing." 

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Nancy's red dress and Nancy herself radiate the type of person she was. Nancy radiated warmth and friendship everywhere she went. Its what stuck with people the most about her. The cherry-red dress shows how much of a caring person she was because it was just like the cherry pie she decided to fit in on her last day to teach her neighbor how to bake. The similarly of the dress being cherry red and the pie being cherry flavored only shows how much of an impact she left on the community because she would do anything you'd ask because she was just that type of friendly and kind hearted woman. - Miranda C

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"Perry was sorry to see them go. He'd begun to half credit the make-believe bride"... "nicely groomed, gently spoken"

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Possibly due to the unstable childhood Perry held, through multiple scenarios, he is hinted as someone who gets emotionally attached fairly easily. When stealing to make easy money, after buying an engagement ring and wedding band to later pawnshop dispose, he had already created delusional facades in his head over these. Attaching himself to an ideal "bride" and love story that weren't even real. -Emily S.

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"For, as Dewey had told his team, "we have to keep going till we know the Clutter's better than they ever knew themselves." 

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Detective Dewey couldnt rest. He spent many sleepless nights obssesing over the Clutter case because there was so much missing information that didnt add up to what he assumed had happened. He was conflicted on what connected to what evidence as he wanted to figure out so badly what prompted the killers or killer to murder and target the Clutters. He is conflicted about the case because he does not understand why the Clutter's were the killers targets in the first place if they were the "ideal" family for the most part. - Miranda C

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"Perry, who sat clutching the old Gibson guitar, his most beloved possession."

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Ironically, because Perry contributed to the murder of an entire family, we'd expect him to have specific hobbies and preferences leaning with violence and insensible forms of cruelty. However he is quite the opposite, he values the virtue of intelligence and views his guitar as his most "beloved possession". Revealing the internal connection he has with his own self for he attains amenity and peace through various pieces of art. -Emily S.

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"the church in which, three days earlier , the bride had formally mourned her parents, her brother, and younger sister." (107)

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Typically after a family member's death, out of respect, what is expected is for familial celebrations to shut down. Juxtaposing this thought, Beverly, the second Clutter member to live after the murders, threw her wedding just three days after "mourning" her family. She took economical advantage of this unfortunate situation, and lacked to show genuine grief. For she celebrated love when most of the town lamented the missing presence of four keystones. -Emily S.

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"I can't get it out of my head that some thing's got to happen"

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In contrast to Dick, Perry was a stronger overthinker, much more skeptic, and tenderhearted person. He had a conscience that lifted a heavy weight against him for what he had done to the Clutters. And by constantly feeling and sensing that in one way or another Dick and him deserved a punishment or some sort of consequence for their poor actions, this ongoing thought in Perry's "head" foreshadows their proximus death penalty. Because although they were sure they had left no self-sabotaging evidence behind, this became a gut feeling bugging Perry's personal tranquility. -Emily S.

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"blue light exploding in a black room, the glass eyes of a big toy bear"

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After the insensible murders Perry and Dick committed, Perry became constantly haunted by such immoral act. Capote showcases this through the use of imagery, revealing the small details that stuck with Perry from the murder. Such as the "glass eyes" of Nancy's toy bear and a "blue light", although very specific, the fact that Perry isn't able to forget them contributes to the idea that committing the murder was not something he was proud of, that corresponded with his true self. -Emily S.

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Hartman's Cafe partly united the fragmented town of Halcomb, Kansas. It was the place many civilians took to express themselves and announce their newest updates and theories from the Clutter's murders. As Mrs. Ashida conveys to Mrs. Hartmans her intentions in leaving the town, in italics, Capote contributes to emphasize the confidence Mrs. Ashida held in believing not even a gun could intimidate Mr. Clutter. Her respect for him was so true, his death wasn't enough to challenge this thought. -Emily S.

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"a tall yellow bird had hauled him to heaven."

Perry felt like he was in paradise after fishing out a big catch because his dream of living in Mexico was becoming true. Even though they are running out of money, Perry recalls his dream and feels like he was "hauled to heaven" because he still has hope that his life will turn out alright. -Haydy

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"But one can never get quiet enough..."

Bonnie Clutter's words hold some irony because the only way for someone to be quiet enough is if they're dead. The quote implies she has found freedom. Even though her life was brutally taken away, she is now also free from her depressive life, and is now quiet enough to hear the trees and flowers talk like she wanted to. -Haydy

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"when it was too cold hardly to breathe, I'd think about Hawaii."

Perry dreamed since little to live in a warm place. Capote brings up the fact Perry does not like the cold to trick the readers into thinking of him as a warm person when in fact he is very cold-blooded since he is able to murder people. -Haydy

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"the Clutter family were not the first persons ever murdered in Finney County, or even in Holcomb."

The book first described Holcomb to be very peaceful and nearly-perfect before the Clutters' murder. However, there have been many other cases of murder before them, revealing how normal something may look on the outside but can actually turn out to be evil. -Haydy

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"yet the atmosphere of a house still humanly inhabited had not thereby been diminished."

Even though furniture and clothes were taken from the house, the Clutters' home still felt as if they were living there to Detective Dewey as he walked in. The Clutter family and their memory will remain alive in Dewey's head as long as the case is unresolved because, even in years to come, any new murders would have to be tied back to the Clutters' case, restraining him from being able to forget their tragedy. Similarly, the Clutters will not be able to rest in peace until their case is resolved and the culprits are caught. -Haydy

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"a stranger to rob, strangle, discard on the dessert."

Dick and Perry were unbothered at the thought of taking another life to steal a car. It shows how insignificant others' lives are to them, and predicts how unlikely it is for them to grow to feel remorse or regret for their murders. They are basically purely evil. -Haydy