The Talented Mr Ripley Violence

Violence and Instability in The Talented Mr. Ripley

Imagine a world in which there is no morality, no sense of empathy or concern of the well-being of loved ones, and no feelings of remorse, no matter what actions one takes. This is the world of an unstable and violent individual. This is the world of Tom Ripley, in Patricia Highsmith’s novel, The Talented Mr. Ripley. Due to the ramifications of Tom Ripley’s troubled past of his parents dying and the neglect of his Aunt, the reader is better able to understand the forces that guide Ripley’s cruel actions and the inevitable consequences he must face. It is clear that the unpredictable and instinctive tendencies of Tom Ripley’s constantly changing identity throughout the novel contribute to his

downfall into a life of insanity and crime. Nonetheless, Tom Ripley manifests the qualities and makings of a violent and mentally unstable individual as a result of his numerous struggles and lack of identity.
Not much is known or presented by Highsmith about Tom’s childhood, however, it is obvious that his life has gradually progressed into an immoral lifestyle because of it. His parents died when he was very young and he was raised in Boston by his aunt, whom he strongly hated. His relationship with his aunt is the source and reason for the way he is when it is described, "He remembered the vows he had made, even at the age of eight, to run away...the violent scenes he had imagined---Aunt Dottie trying to hold him in the house, and he hitting her with his fists, flinging her to the ground and throttling her, and finally tearing the big brooch off her dress and stabbing her a million times in the throat with it” (Highsmith 42). Tom undoubtedly hated his aunt, and even felt the need to kill her, which explains the basis for his violent acts that occur later in the novel. It is explained, "She used to take her handkerchief and nearly wrench his nose off, wiping it" (Highsmith 42) and this shows how her mistreatment and insensitive acts led to Tom’s animosity and resentment towards her. Because of his aunt's treatment, he blamed her for "his lack of perseverance" (Highsmith 41) and the reason he knew so little about how the world worked. Therefore, he developed the idea that "you had to be an animal" (Highsmith 42) in order to make a living and survive in the world. He stole a loaf of bread one day and after taking it home and eating it, he felt like the world owed him a loaf of bread, and even more. This attitude of stealing and feeling like the world owes him things evidently came from the upbringing of his aunt and the effects of the struggles he experienced with her were the first signs of a mentally unstable individual.
While Tom is already presented to be an individual with a dishonest and thievish nature in the early stages of the book, his true darkness and instability is revealed throughout the story as a result of his inner struggles. Consequently, he does literally anything to obtain the lavish lifestyle that he believes he deserves. Ripley is so focused on dishonesty that his crimes later on in the novel are basically second nature to him. His transgressions such as when he wrongly accepts the task by Greenleaf of bringing home Dickie, he exhibits the behavior of a truly unstable person because it escalates until even murder becomes an acceptable task for him. As long as the consequences of a situation are favorable to Tom, he will immorally act accordingly, which reveals how he is essentially a troubled individual due to his inner struggles. Tom’s unstable subconscious for example, is displayed when, "He imagined the exact words, so that he could quote them to Marge, if he had to. And he even made himself feel the slight surprise he would have felt at Dickie's change of mind" (Highsmith 112). This apparently shows how Tom struggles in being content with his own state of mind, so therefore, he feels the need to switch his character to that of Dickie in order to feel sane and get a favorable reaction from Marge. This struggle he experiences shows how he is mentally unstable because he changes his personality which is unusual and he even gets pleasure from doing so.
Furthermore, his struggles with his identity is a major reason why he acts both unstable and violent towards other individuals. Tom Ripley never feels comfortable being himself and this is evident early on; “He re-parted his hair and put the part a little more to one side, the way Dickie wore his" (77). Tom was in Dickie’s closet and he was attempting to impersonate his personality, usual habits, etc., and this is an evident indication that Tom is uncomfortable in being himself. Moreover, when he kills Freddie Miles especially, he only feels remorse when he is Dickie and when Dickie’s identity becomes risky/unsafe to use, Tom is forced to go back to being Tom Ripley, and that is when he can feel no sorrow. Since Tom hates being himself, his sick and twisted logic of switching back and forth between personalities allows him to choose which emotions he experiences in a sense. When, “it relieved his mind of guilt for the stupid, unnecessary murder of Freddie Miles” (Highsmith 184), Tom switches back to being himself and is satisfied with his malicious act and this proves how his constant struggle with his identity leads him to manifesting such vile and insecure qualities as an individual. The vile and insecure qualities he adapts throughout the novel because of his struggle and troubled identity reveals how his mental instability and violence is merely a byproduct.
In addition, Tom greatly exaggerates his friendship with Dickie in order to gain Greenleaf’s trust and this too shows how he is psychologically unstable, since he feels the need to lie in order to gain someone’s trust. Tom has an insecurity that he belongs to a higher social class in society and he wrongfully and manipulatively takes the task by Mr. Greenleaf of bringing Dickie home by stating, “I'd be very glad to go over and see if I could persuade Richard myself. Maybe I could have some influence on him, ‘he said, just because Mr. Greenleaf wanted him to say that’” (Highsmith 15). His manipulation is truly exemplified in his exchange with Greenleaf and it is most likely originally due to his aunt’s treatment and his struggle with her when he was a youth because she was essentially the basis for him developing a selfish attitude and the desire of lying to get what he wanted in life. His instability is greatly offset by his struggling passion for a lifestyle of affluence and sophistication. He is saying certain things just because he knows the other person will like hearing it, and this unstable quality is obviously due to his struggle with reaching affluence. All of his life he has struggled in being rich or reaching a higher status, so this causes him to display unstable qualities such as manipulation and egotism and thus take advantage of others to reach his goals.
Highsmith shows Tom’s deceit and extremely odd actions and makes it clear his mental disturbance and corrupted state of mind is immensely due to his unbalanced identity.

Other characters such as Marge and Dickie are used to emphasize Tom’s strange nature by questioning his sexuality and weird behavior. Marge believes that Tom’s actions are unusual because of the peculiar way he would act when she and Dickie were together, leading her to believe he is homosexual and she even expresses his oddity to Dickie. For example, after Tom sees the two of them kiss, he rushes to Dickie’s room, “wanting to scream… his mind stunned and blank,” (176) throwing Dickie’s art materials out of the window, and this shows how he is mentally disturbed and behaving bizarre as a result of his struggles with both his identity and sexuality. In addition, when Tom is caught wearing Dickie’s clothes, it exhibits his odd actions, craziness, and how mentally disturbed he really has become due to his lack of identity. When it is said, “This was his room, and what was Tom doing in it? Tom stood petrified with fear. ‘I wish you'd get out of my clothes,’ Dickie said’” (78), this emphasizes Tom’s struggle of how overly obsessed he has become over taking on someone else’s personality, and how it causes him to take on the qualities and makings of a mentally unstable

individual.
Tom struggles with being himself, so therefore he feels obligated to imitate others and his struggle of trying to carry on Dickie’s character is why he manifests mentally unstable qualities such as greediness.

When Tom realizes he can just fully take on Dickie’s personality to get what he wants, this is when it becomes clear that he is a product of his past. His fruition of taking ones identity points back to his belief earlier on in the novel of being an animal to get what you want in life when it is said, “He could become Dickie Greenleaf himself. He could do everything that Dickie did. He could go back to Mongibello first and collect Dickie's things, tell Marge any damned story, set up an apartment in Rome or Paris, receive Dickie's check every month and forge Dickie's signature on it” (98). This criminal mindset was first developed since his struggle in the beginning of the novel due to his aunt, and it is strengthened when Tom sees how easily he can manipulate others around him to get whatever he

wants.
All in all, Tom ultimately has the struggling desire to be part of a community, to receive affirmation that he is "somebody," but he lacks the class status of the other characters and an identity. Tom believes that "It was impossible ever to be lonely or bored . . . so long as he was Dickie Greenleaf," (118) and this ultimately explains how he must attempt to create an identity that is worthy of attention and remain relevant. Although the root of Tom’s mental instability and violent nature is clearly due to the struggles he experienced in his upbringing, his state of mind and violent actions is further intensified as he struggles with trying to make a living and the other characters he interacts with. Highsmith uses Tom Ripley to essentially stress the idea that when one endures struggles early on in life, they may exhibit or manifest a mentally instable or violent persona in order to fit in with society.