Nancy is a sixteen year old golden girl whose overachieving tendencies are evident in the dozens of commitments she keeps on the day of her death. She is an accomplished musician, student, horse rider, chef, and community leader who also takes time to tutor other young girls in her various talents. In some sense, she fulfils the role of the household matriarch, despite only being a teenager, as her mother is often unable to do so. That she does this with a “radiant jauntiness” furthers this image of her as a perfect daughter, as her disposition makes it hard for anyone to resent or be jealous of her. She even engages with Perry on the night of the murder and attempts to talk to him, demonstrating her bravery and maturity.
Like her father, Nancy is just fundamentally good, and hence her unrealised potential is all the more tragic. As with all of the Clutter deaths, Nancy’s is a life left unfulfilled – would she have gone on to defy her father and pursue a relationship with Bobby? Would she have one day left Holcomb and accomplished something great? Her death means these are just some of the many questions in the text we will never know the answer to.
