Daniel Cohen
Professor Pindell
English Narrative 114N
Section 1
American Sociopath?
“Tom glanced behind him and saw the man coming out of the Green Cage, heading his way. Tom walked faster. There was no doubt the man was after him.” (3). The novel, The Talented Mr. Ripley, by Patricia Highsmith, begins by immediately pulling us into the wary and suspicious mind of Tom Ripley. Highsmith plays the Devil and invites us to identify with every twisted compulsion and trivial resentment gyrating inside the head of a madman. In the film, The Talented Mr. Ripley, directed by Anthony Minghella, and based on Highsmith’s novel, we are able to view another angle in which we are asked to feel pity for an unfortunate murderer. We consider his desires and motivations. Throughout the novel and the film, Tom takes on many different identities. He is not satisfied with himself, and wants to become someone else. “I would not call him insane, because his actions are rational. I consider him a rather civilized person who kills when he absolutely has to. If there is not much to be admired about him he is also not entirely to be censured.” (Patricia Highsmith). Highsmith’s accusations of Tom are not only inaccurate but also absurd. Tom’s true identity is that of a murderous, irrational, and conniving person.
Ripley is a man of many faces, talents, and identities. From the beginning he is impersonating an Internal Revenue agent. He tells a few, select individuals that they owe additional money to the government. This shows that Tom is manipulative. Tom’s plan is not successful. Tom finds himself in a struggle for money and sponges off of his friends. He is in search for a new scam and identity at all times. The mysterious man that follows Tom is Herbert Greenleaf, a wealthy shipbuilder. Greenleaf heard that Tom is acquainted with his son, Dickie, who moved to Italy two years ago as an aspiring painter. Greenleaf’s wife is dying of leukemia. He wants his son back in America, to be with his mother. Tom’s memory of Dickie is faint, but he pretends otherwise. Tom always has different intentions in every situation. He must play all circumstances out to the end. Throughout the conversation, while Tom dazzles Greenleaf with fictitious anecdotes, he is actually thinking the complete opposite. “He was bored, God-damned bloody bored, bored, bored! He wanted to be back at the bar, by himself.” (8). Greenleaf sees only the surface of Tom. Tom appears to be charming, intelligent, and thoughtful. In reality, he is bad and selfish. Greenleaf asked Tom, “ ‘Did he ever show you his frame models? Or his drawings?’ Dickie hadn’t, but Tom said brightly ‘Yes! Of course he did.’ ” (8). From the very beginning, Tom shows how he is an imposter. Eventually, Herbert Greenleaf is begging Tom the con artist, to accept an all expense paid trip to Italy. He wants him to visit Dickie and convince the young man to return home.
