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...
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