Something that is really striking to me is that Perry's guilt dream is of him being specifically eaten by a snake with Dick is stuffing himself with food. If Perry did not associate himself with Dick and go along with his plan to rob (and ultimately kill) the Clutters, then he could have been fine. Since Dick solidified his fate and downfall, is he Perry's snake?

The opening lines of Perry's goodbye poem to Cookie exemplifies the notion that he is inherently different and meant to be a social outcast. While it's clear that Perry cared for Cookie and she was his "ticket out" of the situation he was born in, he ultimately rejects her. This shows his self-destructive nature and downwards spiral towards committing the Clutter murders. While Perry wants us to believe this was inevitable and always in his future, it's easy for us to see his relationship with Cookie and wonder what was going on in his mind that made him do this (as seen by the annotation above). This is another of Capote's "what-if" moments in conjunction with a series of coincidences that all lead to the Clutter murders. Even though Perry shows regret with his "Cookie" tattoo on his arm, he ultimately believes that he doesn't "fit in" the race that is a "normal" life.

This sentence reminds me of the "what-ifs" mentioned by Professor Gardner in lecture. Even though Bobby is saying that he will never love another girl again, he and Nancy had serious barriers to their relationship that Herb, Nancy, and almost all of Holcomb recognized. It's interesting to wonder if they would've overcome the societal challenge of religion if the murders never happened. Capote is almost leading us straight to that with this sentence. Additionally, I think it's worthwhile to note that Bobby and Nancy didn't have to break this expectation because they never got the opportunity. On a societal level, everything in terms of this issue of religion remained in place and unquestioned. While the Clutter family is gone and Holcomb is forever changed, it is also characteristically unaltered in this respect.

While this sentence appears to showcase Dick's cavalier attitude and confidence, when examined with the previous two, it's clear that this behavior is simply a facade. Similar to Perry's painkillers and root beer, Dick is almost compulsively eating as a coping mechanism (as mentioned by others). These clear coping mechanisms are contrasted by Dick telling Perry to essentially chill out and that "It was perfect" (which we clear know it wasn't. The contradiction between Dick's face-level confidence and inner nervousness becomes even more clear when he admits he had wrong information and talks about getting caught on the next page.