Grego, AlessandraMisuraca, NefeliRowley, Maisie2024-10-072024-10-072023Rowley, Maisie. "The Only Crime is the Punishment: An Analysis of Prison Letters in Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood and Oscar Wilde’s De Profundis". BA Thesis, John Cabot University, Rome, Italy. 2023.https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14490/427Thesis (B.A. in English Literature, Minor in Creative Writing)--John Cabot University, Spring 2023.Letters written by prisoners in literature provide fascinating perspectives on the realities of the prison experience. Prison is often considered a substitute society for individuals who do not conform to what is expected of them in society, reducing the imprisoned to the crimes they committed. By allowing prisoners to speak for themselves, their letters convey their humanity, even to readers who consider them deserving of their punishments. Using the letters written by prisoners Dick and Perry in Truman Capote’s nonfiction novel In Cold Blood and Oscar Wilde’s autobiographical letter De Profundis, this thesis investigates the ways they show the humanity of the characters and draw the sympathy of the reader. Despite the differing crimes, eras, and geographical locations in these texts, the prisoners present sympathy evoking events in various ways that allow readers to question why they did not conform to societal expectations. We see Perry present himself as a victim of abuse by authority figures during his formative years and Dick relying on his insanity to lessen his punishment. Capote does not directly critique the system, but instead allows the murderers space to write about who they were prior to committing murder. In contrast, Wilde does not conform to Victorian ideals of refraining from having relations with other men. He critiques what the society he was writing in expects of him, relying on the unjustness of his punishment to prove his point that his individuality was compromised by society. The ways that these two literary texts show the humanity of the characters and draw the sympathy of the reader show that there must be a balance between individuality and collectivism, but also that compassion is a necessary component to considering an individual’s punishment when they break the law.62 pagesenAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Truman Capote, 1924-1984In cold blood (Truman Capote, 1924-1984)Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900De profundis (Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900)Thesis