Bonnie and Clyde: Psychology, Finance, and Social Motives

Introduction: The Enduring Fascination with Bonnie and Clyde

Songs, movies, books, and articles have memorialized the famous crime duo of Bonnie and Clyde — the couple who turned homicidal when their robberies grew violent. Unlike other criminals, however, Bonnie and Clyde stand out in history for several reasons. The most obvious is their partnership. The Romeo-and-Juliet relationship they shared, ending in calamity, is the stuff of romance novels and Hollywood. Yet another aspect of their fame is the way they were perceived: even though they could be considered among the most ruthless criminals of their era, many people looked up to Bonnie and Clyde because they were seen as a couple who stood up to the conventions of society and government during a trying time. Further, interest in the couple endures because of Bonnie Parker's poems, which seem to eerily foretell the couple's death while also offering insight into the purpose of their crimes.

It is Bonnie Parker's poems that serve as the vehicle for this paper, tracing the couple's criminal journey through three main reasons it was undertaken — psychological reasons, financial reasons, and social reasons. While evidence exists to prove that the couple committed their crimes for each of these reasons, Bonnie Parker's poetry gives the student of history cause to suspect that all three were impetuses for their life of crime. This paper also takes a deeper look at the woman who was Bonnie Parker. Although she is often portrayed as the sensitive female companion of Clyde Barrow, Bonnie Parker deserves to be considered just as much of a criminal — if not more so — as Clyde. This paper therefore follows the criminal journey of Bonnie and Clyde using Bonnie's poetry and other evidence to illuminate three reasons for their crime spree — psychological, financial, and social — while also assessing the criminal character of Bonnie Parker herself.

Consider the following stanza from one of Bonnie's ballads:

"They don't think they're too smart or desperate,
They know that the law always wins;
They've been shot at before, but they do not ignore
That death is the wages of sin."
— Bonnie Parker

While these lines may not be Pulitzer Prize material, they conform to the ballad form rather competently — employing end rhyme, Biblical allusion, and parallelism. Like many poets, the writer became famous, and her works became even more so after her tragic death. But Bonnie Parker did not make history because of her use of words. She and her partner Clyde made the history books because of robberies, murder, and an action-packed end. Despite the fact that the two were as ruthless as many modern killers, Bonnie and Clyde have been memorialized not necessarily for their crimes, but for their gangster attitude, their loving relationship, and Bonnie's poetry. They were often seen as "modern-day Robin Hoods," and their criminal escapades "fascinated the public" ("Bonnie Parker"). Still, they were ruthless criminals who deprived others not only of their money, but also of their lives. Their unique characters, however, make their story all the more fascinating, leaving others asking: why?

Psychological Motivations: Power, Oppression, and Identity

At nineteen and twenty-one respectively, Bonnie and Clyde met in 1930 ("Famous Cases"). She had been through a rocky first marriage, was technically still married to an inmate, and was working as a popular waitress at two cafes in Dallas ("Famous Cases," "Bonnie Parker"). Together, the couple participated in a variety of armed robberies during the Depression of the 1930s. The fact that Bonnie and Clyde engaged in such behavior during such a difficult economic period led many to believe they were acting as robbers of the rich and givers to the poor, though some evidence suggests this was not the case ("Bonnie Parker"). The pair was killed by police officers in Louisiana on May 23, 1934, a fate eerily foretold by Bonnie's poem "The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde," in which she writes:

Some day they'll go down together;
They'll bury them side by side;
To few it'll be grief — to the law a relief —
But it's death for Bonnie and Clyde. ("Bonnie Parker")

The case of these endearing criminals, engaged in romantic love, has fascinated many. By focusing primarily on Bonnie's poetry — namely "The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde" and "The Story of Suicide Sal" — and considering additional evidence, it can be seen that Bonnie and Clyde committed their crimes for psychological, financial, and social reasons.

As is true of nearly all major criminals, psychology played a role in Bonnie and Clyde's decision to pursue a life of crime. Both were victims of circumstance in other areas of their lives, and crime offered them a means to gain power in the midst of oppression — oppression that arose from financial hardship, family difficulties, and bad luck. Being just one member of a large, poor family ("Bonnie and Clyde") must have left Clyde feeling voiceless and powerless. Because the era was the 1930s, the common sentiment that large corporations held all the power — leaving the poor weak in terms of finances, politics, and control over their own lives — was widely shared. Clyde's first arrest, for auto theft ("Bonnie and Clyde"), underscores the point: vehicles confer the power of mobility and freedom, commodities that could not be taken for granted in the 1930s the way they can today. Furthermore, Clyde had always felt overshadowed by more powerful people around him, perhaps because of his physical size, which author and historian Paul Schneider argues had long affected his "self-image" ("The Real Bonnie and Clyde").

Bonnie's involvement in the crime spree can also be traced to psychological factors. Her background similarly placed her in a position of oppression. Her first marriage began when she was fifteen or sixteen ("Bonnie Parker," "Clyde Barrow Biography") and was an unpleasant affair. Her husband would leave home for days at a time ("Bonnie Parker"), and before the couple had been married a year, he was serving a fifty-five-year prison sentence, forcing Bonnie into the working world ("Clyde Barrow Biography"). While she was well-liked as a waitress ("Bonnie Parker"), it is easy to see how such overwhelming circumstances could have driven a young woman to desire power over her own life — power she found in the form of a man and financial freedom. She found a way to satisfy both of those psychological desires when she met Clyde Barrow. Her love for him is evidenced by the fact that she helped him escape from jail, something she never did for her husband ("Bonnie Parker"). Thus, Bonnie's motivation for crime was rooted not only in her psychological longing for power over oppression, but also in her love for Clyde.

Financial Motivations: Greed and the Economics of the Depression

Bonnie's poetry strongly suggests that psychology played a major role in the couple's involvement in robberies, murders, and gang activity. She writes that the rumors spread about their exploits contained "untruths," and asserts: "they're not so ruthless as that. Their nature is raw, they hate the law —" ("Bonnie Parker"). This reveals a psychological feeling of hatred toward law enforcement — an institution they viewed as their oppressor. "The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde" similarly contains references to police oppression, camaraderie with other outlaws, and misrepresentations of their deeds, all of which can be interpreted as psychological motivations for their crimes. Moreover, the public's fascination with Bonnie and Clyde — a fascination Bonnie continually references in her ballad — may itself have been a psychological incentive to continue. Being recognized as "America's most famous outlaws" ("Bonnie Parker Biography") would have been sufficient encouragement to sustain the criminal lifestyle for the sake of notoriety.

Bonnie and Clyde did not commit their crimes for psychological reasons alone. Greed and the desire for wealth also drove them. Bonnie's poetry communicates this as well. In "The Story of Suicide Sal," whose female protagonist can be read as the idealized image Bonnie had of herself, Bonnie writes: "one year we were desperately happy; Our ill gotten gains we spent free" ("Bonnie Parker"). The association between money, happiness, and love in this stanza supports the argument that this is what Bonnie herself felt about the pursuit of wealth. Other sources confirm that "their motivation was personal greed" ("Bonnie Parker").

Conclusion: Legacy and Implications for Criminology

Bonnie and Clyde's story of criminal escapades is a tale that will continue to fascinate Americans because of its Romeo-and-Juliet aspects, its historical drama, and its action and adventure. Bonnie's poetry, however, provides students of history with a meaningful framework for understanding the motivations behind these crimes — psychological, financial, and social. While this may not bring Americans closer to reconciling the images of Bonnie and Clyde as murderers and as Hollywood heroes, the analysis has clear implications for the study of criminology and literature, as well as for the historical record of their crimes. A further study of Bonnie's writings in relation to the specific actions that she and Clyde took would yield a more in-depth analysis of their characters and the forces that shaped them.