In Cold Blood: The Problems with Our Status

People in the lowest class of society tend to live their lives in a way that perpetuates their status. A change of class from the lowest up, or from the highest down is rare. In the movie In Cold Blood directed by Richard Brooks, we see convicts in Dick and Perry living their lives on the lowest rung of society, and get by on a life of crime. The driving force behind Dick and Perry's lifestyle can be further explained by the article "Our Sinful Economy' by Matthew Rothschild. This article develops the notion that there are economic reasons for Dick and Perry's actions. Matthew Rothschild would explain the actions of Dick and Perry as foreseeable actions of me who lacked health care, education, and livable wage in a society without a floor of decency.

A livable minimum wage does not exist in the United States. Every year the minimum wage falls further from the livable standard of living. Eight dollars an hour is no where near what a mother of two, a couple, or even an individual can live off of alone. Dick and Perry are products of the low wages that the United States imposes. The lower the wages for the proletariat, the higher they are for the bourgeoisie. In a society that's mindset if capitalist, any given individual with this mindset is looking for money. The cycle of the rich rising while pushing the poor down leads the poor like Dick and Perry finding other means of income. The psychological process that occurs when contemplating murder occurs from anger; this anger commonly coming from a lack of money. There is a reason our country has a higher crime rate than any socialist or communist country. In a country without a floor of decency, the thought of murdering for money becomes less vile and more of an option for those in the "pit". The factors that lead Dick and Perry to murder can all be traced back to one root cause; money. This problem is prevalent in America because of our nations leaders "lack of change" in terms of wages. It's quite ironic that the "richest" nation in the world hosts some of the worst monetary conditions in the world. A lack of money in Dick's family lead to a dad struggling with cancer, who was unable to afford medical care. Dick's whole experience in this sense grew his mindset about the importance of money. There is little in the world more important to most children than the health of those close to them. If money is preventing those people from being healthy, the value of money is magnified in the child's eyes. Perry's household was small and humble. His father's idea of opening a tourist shack for money ultimately instilled the notion in Perry's mind that a humble home was not acceptable. Perry's lust for treasure and pots of gold was created from a capitalist society. The lust for wealth is not an innate human trait. Dick lived in a similar meager home to that of Perry. Dick is not in search of money due to lust, an easy way out of working, or even to feed some deep urge of his. Dick's search for money is simply for survival. The misdistribution of wealth that occurs in the United States pulls Dick into the cycle of poorness that he cannot get out of. This maldistribution affects the people harshly, causing them to go "hungry and poor". The lower class remains as the maldistribution has not dissipated. Dick was born poor, raised poor, and continued to live poor for the rest of his life. His desperation from this mindset eventually leads him to a life of crime for money. This mindset cannot occur in a communist or even a socialist economy, as there is a much smaller emphasis on the value of money. The lower class is happy to find a dollar, while the wealthy class is happy to take it away. Dick and Perry's actions are a result of a capitalist mindset instilled in people that are in the "pit" in a society lacking a livable floor of decency.

The root problem with education is that it is an option. Careers with livable wages almost always require extensive qualification; mainly education. A poll done by Penn State University notes that 95% of jobs paying over $50,000 in the United States require some form of college degree. Many Americans fail to recognize that education is something that the government has not abused. Education is offered with no strings attached to any American through the 12^th grade. Past this point in education, colleges are the next step up. Unfortunately, the majority of the American public is "unable to afford" a college education, and the majority of these people "feel compelled" to settle on meager jobs with poor pay. This cycle of mediocrity of what perpetuates the impoverished lifestyle. College education is what empowers people to get out of the "pit" of society. Unfortunately this education rarely offered to those in the "pit". There are usually three main reasons of why people deny the offer of education; an 'easy way out", drugs, or a need to work immediately. Dick and Perry both fit these criteria for school dropouts. While both Dick and Perry lived the lifestyle of the proletariat, neither of them had an immediate need to work to support the family. They lived lives at the top of the bottom; able to pay the bills but unable to receive the "equal opportunity" of college education. Perry's dad succumbs to an idea that is an "easy way out", dragging Perry along with him. The tourist shack was their way of coping with life without education. Dick's situation is different. While his education level is uncertain, it is clear that he hasn't been to college. Whether it was the lack of money to pay for college or the mindset that college isn't necessary, he didn't go. His lack of education meant that 10$ to him would be much more valuable than 10$ to an educated individual with a high paying job. Dick slowly spiraled down the drain, from passing checks for a quick 100$ to collecting bottles for a meager 12$. When a future in education seems bleak, people resort to other means to make money. Education also provides a medium for people to derive morals from. Group activities teach children that working together is beneficial, while time out and punishments shun poor behavior towards other human beings. While these traits in a human seem common to even a high school student, someone who drops out of the 3^rd grade such as Perry may not have developed this. When both money and morality are lacking, things that are crazy to an average human being become normal to a person. Perry's morality is a product of unfinished education. He feels bad about taking the money from the clutter girl; yet does it anyway. The American Medical journal states that as education goes down, the crime rate rises. The morality that Dick lacks from education is not direct. Had he gone to college and gotten a degree, he would be much more likely to get a secure job with good pay. He not going to college meant that he would have fewer opportunities for money, and therefore put money before morality. Dick and Perry not pursuing education meant that they were less likely to make money and were less likely to have moral values beneficiary to society.

Good health is the most important thing a human being can have. The three aspects of health that are important to human beings are psychical health, mental health, and psychological health. Dick and Perry are products of a society with poor a poor health care system. The United States health care system is a business. In a business, the main goal is not to help people; it's to make money. A system that aims to help people while making money will find that one must be chosen over the other. Dick and Perry both have very serious health conditions that have remained unattended to simply because they are in the "pit" of society. If Dick's family had more money, his dad may have received better treatment for his cancer, in turn enabling Dick and his father a calmer lifestyle. The health problems with Dick are subtle. He does not have the glaring psychical problems that Perry does, or any serious mental conditions. He seems to have a clear mind and the ability to plan elaborate schemes such as passing checks for money and denying the poor plan of searching for gold that Perry has. However, the psychology of Dick has been beaten down over time to that of a criminal. In an environment "lacking moral guidance", an individual will develop a mindset more closely related to this environment over time. Dick feels no remorse picking up hookers, passing hot checks or even switching license plates. Dick has lost all the seemingly normal moral values of human beings as the environment he has been in has been detrimental to his psychological health. Perry is more obvious with his health problems. He supplements his leg pain with an unhealthy aspirin addiction. Perry cannot afford proper health care in order to treat his legs. He hasn't received the so called "equal opportunity" of health that Bush and other leaders of America would wish you to believe. His abuse of aspirin is trading pain for many other serious conditions. The ironic thing is that Aspiring has been shown to cause increased bleeding (Scher, K.S. (January 1996)), most likely causing his leg problem to be worse over time.His psychology has been morphed as well, he may know the risks of abusing drugs but continues this trend anyway as it is the only available option to quell the pain. Perry's father pulling a gun on him left a serious mark in his mind and removed most normal human thinking. Perry's flashbacks to his father while murdering Mr. Clutter and in the hotel room with Dick show how a mind can be morphed to think that murder is acceptable. The environment that a child is in while growing will most likely be the environment that the child mimics, according to the New York Health Association. Perry learned from his father that pulling out a gun and shooting was normal. The situation with him and his father also had serious psychological effects. Perry looks for the "easy way out" searching for gold and treasure just as his dad searched for the "easy way out" opening up the tourist shack. Perry's health problems are all affects of a society with a floor of decency that is not acceptable for a large portion of the people in it.

Dick and Perry's actions are how the majority of people stuck in the "pit" of a society without an acceptable floor of decency would be. The lack of a livable minimum wage and available jobs left Dick and Perry finding other means of income; the easiest available being crime. This lack of money instilled a lifestyle where education was seemingly less important than many other things. Crime and making easy money was more important to Dick and Perry than their education. This lack of money and education lead to Dick and Perry having a poor environment for health. Dick's psychological health deteriorated while Perry mental, physical, and psychological health deteriorated. Dick and Perry are merely products of a society with an unacceptable floor of decency and a "pit" that is much too low.

Imdb.com

In cold Blood

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061809/

Matthew Rothschild

"Our Sinful Economy"

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1129-23.htm

Penn State
http://www.psu.edu/