How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"There's got to be something wrong with somebody who'd do a thing like that," Perry said. "Deal me out, baby," Dick said. "I'm a normal." And Dick meant what he said. He thought himself as balanced, as sane as anyone—maybe a bit smarter than the average fellow, that's all. But Perry—there was, in Dick's opinion," something wrong" with Little Perry. (2.106)
Who's more dangerous—the guy who thinks he's perfectly sane after killing a family of four, or the one who questions his sanity? For all Perry's craziness, he does have a little insight into his behavior.
Quote #5
All that belonged to him, Dick, but he would never have it why should that sonofabitch have everything, while he had nothing? Why should that "big-shot bastard" have all the luck? With a knife in his hand, he, Dick, had power. Big-shot bastards like that had better be careful or he might "open them up and let a little of their luck spill on the floor." (3.209)
Since Dick feels people are rich because of luck, not because they earned it, he feels entitled to take it from them. Herb Clutter was the victim of this kind of envy and bitterness. But you also see Dick's sense of powerlessness in life. It takes a knife to solve that problem.
Quote #6
I still think the reason he started doing stunts such as that was connected with the smash-up. Concussed his head in a car smash-up. After that, he wasn't the same boy. Gambling, writing bad checks, I never knew him to do them things before. (3.22)
Dick's father was way ahead of his time. Now that scientists can look inside the brain, they're looking at what kinds of brain damage might lead to criminal behavior by affecting aggression and impulse control. Think about all those former NFL players who attacked their families or killed themselves because of repeated blows to the head. Because of the M'Naghten rule, the defense psychiatrist wasn't even allowed to present his suggestion that brain damage couldn't be ruled out in Dick's case.