The talented Mr Ripley

Talented Mr. Ripley, Patricia Highsmith has created a character who is both charming and disturbed, but the reader gets involved because we see everything from Ripley's point-of-view.

From the author shows us a young man who is willing to break the law, although he does not seem dangerous. He wonders, "Was this the kind of man they would send after him? ... He didn't look like a policeman ... " (p. 3). By the beginning of the second chapter we find out what Tom Ripley's crime is: he sends out fraudulent IRS bills to vulnerable individuals, and keeps the checks. He doesn't try to cash them, because the people keep insisting on making them out to the IRS instead of to his pseudonym for this scam: "A pity that ... some idiot hadn't paid in cash yet, or made out a cheque to George McAlpin ... " (p. 13). Ripley holds the checks, but does not want to get caught. He has no intention of going to jail. So far Ripley seems to flirt with serious crime, but he hasn't done anything that would truly harm anyone when Mr. Greenleaf asks Tom to travel to Italy, all expenses paid, to convince Greenleaf's son Dickie to come back home.

Throughout the book the author finds ways to keep the reader at least a little sympathetic to Ripley, even though we can see he has no scruples. We find out that Tom is afraid to sail to Europe because both his parents drowned when he was very young. She says it gave him a "sick, empty feeling at the pit of his stomach" (p. 25) to imagine being on the boat. This reveals a greater truth about Ripley, however: he is completely selfish. He worries often, but only about his own welfare.

Gradually, Highsmith lets us see Tom's more menacing traits. He becomes obsessed with Dickie Greenleaf. He seems to fall in love with Dickie and becomes jealous of his female friend Marge: "Dickie was kissing her ... he had to strain to see ... what disgusted Tom was that he knew Dickie didn't mean it ... " (p. 77). Tom is convinced he has become more important to Dickie than Marge ever could be to him. "That kiss -- it hadn't looked like a first kiss." (p. 77) In a rage, he throws Dickie's art supplies out the window. Then Tom shows the depth of his growing obsession. He puts on Dickie's clothes and imagines himself as Dickie, telling Marge he doesn't love her: " ... you must understand I don't love you ... " (p. 78) and then imagines himself, as Dickie, strangling Marge. "You were interfering between Tom and me ... " (p. 79).

When Dickie returns, however, he tells Tom he isn't "queer," but that Marge suspects Tom is. Secretly, Tom worries that he might be homosexual and remembers a time when he said, "I can't make up my mind whether I like men or women, so I'm thinking of giving them both up." (p. 81) Dickie's revulsion toward gay men becomes apparent when Tom and he visit San Remo, and Dickie needles Tom about his possibly being gay. Then he openly rejects Tom, saying he is going to go skiing with Marge, and asks Tom not to come along. He remembers his Aunt Dottie insulting him in the same way: "Sissie! He's a sissie from the ground up. Just like his father!" (p. 99) Tom has thought of killing Tom several times, and on a boat in San Remo, he does it -- and begins pretending that he is Dickie Greenleaf. Highsmith writes, "Tome had an ecstatic moment when he thought of all the pleasures that lay before him now with Dickie's money, other beds, ships, suitcases, shirts, years of freedom, years of pleasure." (p. 111-112). The reader can no longer sympathize with Tom, but Highsmith has sucked the reader in, to see how Ripley can pull off such a charade.