Chapter 3 - Answer

Chapter 3 - Answer

Answer (noun) - a thing that is said, written, or done as a reaction to a question, statement, or situation.

Chapter 1 & 3 are very similar. Although it is established who the murderers are in Chapter 1, Capote is very clever about the sequence in which he wants the reader to discover the motives and true connections between the murderers and the Clutters.

He establishes the true concept that surrounds trust. 

Chapters 3 and 4 are the “meaty parts of the book”.

We are introduced to Floyd Wells, who gives us the dirt that we need to know about Dick and Perry, and their plan to kill the Clutters.  

Floyd reveals what Dick confessed to him. 

By this point, we can denote that Dick is very loose-lipped and has essentially imprisoned himself and Perry before they’ve even committed their carnival of carnage against the Clutters.

Floyd was afraid to step forward as he felt his life “wouldn’t be worth a dead coyote”. Capote used this quote to connote the idea of coyote hunting, and fur stripping. Fur would be taken off the skin of a coyote or another animal, washed, tanned and then made into a lavish coat or pair of shoes. Capote has used this quote in the form of a strong antonym as in to say “we’ll kill you, however, were going to kill you in a way that your fur can’t be sold and your carcass will be thrown.”