Literature Quotes

Capital Punishment

“Four shotgun blasts that, all told, ended six human lives”

“I’ll be damned if I’m the only killer in the courtroom”

“M’Naghten rule (…) a formula quite colourblind to any permutations between black and white”

“How about hanging the bastard? That’s pretty cold-blooded too”

“Wouldn’t be humane if he did”

American Dream

“Handsome white house, groomed bermuda grass”

“Decay’s cobwebs were being spun”

“Another day of peasant season perfection”

“it was ideal apple eating weather”

“The cider tart of spoiling apples”

“I was disgusted (…) here I am crawling on my belly to steal a child’s silver dollar”

“I thought of that goddamn dollar (…) the shame. Disgust”

“Urchin dependent on stolen coins”

Animal representation

“A tall yellow bird hauled him into heaven”

“truly serpentine”

“He (Floyd Wells) shied away from the betrayed man’s venomous vicinity”

“saliva bubbles appeared at the corners of his mouth”

“Aura of an exiled animal, a creature walking wounded”

Tomcat quote: Perry sees himself in the tomcats.

Perry Smith

“his tiny feet (…) would have neatly fitted into a delicate lady’s dancing slippers”

“his feet, as small as a child’s, couldn’t quite reach the floor”

“the same childish feet, tilted, dangling”

“this other bacteria (…) leaves in it’s wake a creature torn and twisted”

“I didn’t realise what I’d done until I heard the sound. Like somebody drowning”

“Maybe I had something to contribute. Something”

Alvin Dewey = moral compass

“I’ll talk facts, not theories”

“How many animals can you find in this picture?”

“Unless these boys still happen to be wearing the boots”

“I hope to see Perry and his partner hanged — hanged back to back”

“At least one of the killers was not all together uncharitable”

“Sorrow and profound fatigue were at the heart of Dewey’s sorrow”

“Perry’s life had been no bed of roses but pitiful”

“He closed his eyes”

Perry vs Dick

“We’ll blast hair all over them walls” This is compared to Perry wanting stockings.

Perry: “There must be something wrong with us” Dick: “I’m a normal”

About Dick: “Bitter sediment at the bottom of his nature” This is compared to Perry being a victim of circumstance.