The Talented Mr. Ripley

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1955

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-5

Chapters 6-10

Chapters 11-15

Chapters 16-20

Chapters 21-25

Chapters 26-30

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Rings

Dickie’s rings are a symbol of everything to which Tom aspires and that Dickie embodies: social class, family connections, wealth, and sophistication. When they meet, Tom notices Dickie’s rings almost immediately: “a large rectangular green stone set in gold on the third finger of his right hand, and on the little finger of the other hand a signet ring, larger and more ornate than the signet Mr. Greenleaf had worn” (51). Dickie’s signet ring illustrates his family’s high social class and long family line, contrasting with Tom’s background as an orphan, raised indifferently by an unfriendly aunt. Highsmith underscores the importance of the signet ring by showing Dickie’s father’s own “gold signet ring with the nearly worn-away crest” (15). The gold and the signet stand for money and class, and the worn-away quality of Herbert’s ring signifies old money. The rings symbolize the distinction of Dickie’s upper-class, old-money family line.

While Dickie’s signet ring operates as a symbol of class and family, his other ring, with its “large rectangular green stone” (51), functions as a symbol of sophistication as well as money. In addition to being clearly expensive, the stone’s green color is itself a nod to both money and envy. But the ring also speaks to a sophistication that Tom longs to cultivate, as it appears more European than American for a man to wear a large, ornate stone. As the novel continues, Tom remains clearly attached to the rings. He insists on retaining them—a risky choice, as the unique rings are clearly identifiable as Dickie’s. To Tom, the rings represent the life he aspires to and the background he wishes he had.

Water

Water is continuously present in the novel, running as a motif that echoes Tom’s relationship to risk. When Tom was young, his parents drowned in Boston Harbor, and as a result, he has never learned to swim. Yet throughout the story, Tom finds himself in close proximity to water. This first occurs when he travels to Europe by ship, a step that causes him to feel sick just thinking about it, and yet it does not stop him from pursuing this new opportunity. From this point on in the story, water is a constant, from the beach in Mongibello to the waters surrounding his final destination, Greece. Notably, he kills Dickie in a boat despite the risk, which nearly kills him as well. It is a practical choice in terms of disposing of the body, but it also increases the risk and heightens the sense of danger that Tom seems to thrive on, even as he hates it.

Tom suffers physically when he is risking something and in true danger, but when he is not, he is bored and lonely. As with risk, Tom stays in constant contact with water, the thing he fears, treading on the edge of danger. He buys a house on the canals in Venice, even though the steps to his home, covered in water, are “repellent to Tom” (215). Walking this edge between danger and safety is when Tom feels most alive and engaged; his constant compulsion to test himself in proximity to water vividly illustrates this.

Deep Voice

To Tom, a deep voice symbolizes confidence of the sort that Dickie possesses naturally. Throughout the novel, Tom uses a deep voice, purposefully, whenever he is uncertain: at one point he notes that he is speaking “in the deep voice he always used when he was embarrassed” (78). Later, when Marge confronts him with Dickie’s rings, Tom, shocked and afraid he has been caught, apologizes to Marge “in a deep voice” (238). When he and Dickie have a falling out, Tom collects himself: “‘I’m okay,’ Tom said in a quiet deep voice” (88).

Tom’s belief that a deep voice symbolizes the confidence and entitlement that he rarely feels shows in his attention to Dickie’s deep voice. He uses the voice when he wishes to be trusted as well as when he occupies Dickie’s identity. He notices and admires “Dickie’s happy, deep laugh,” and reflects that “[t]he timbre of the voice was deeper, richer, better than Tom had even been able to make it in his imitations” (158). Tom seems to believe that his inability to fully inhabit Dickie’s deep voice connects to his inability to fully occupy the entitled space that Dickie lives in. It is not until he has assumed Dickie’s identity and is confident in his deception that he feels able to properly imitate Dickie’s voice: “He sang in Dickie’s loud baritone that he had never heard, but he felt sure Dickie would have been pleased with his ringing tone” (171). At this point, Tom feels secure enough in his impersonation that he attributes a deep singing voice to Dickie that he has never actually heard and judges his interpretation to be so good that even Dickie himself would like it. To Tom, his ability to finally inhabit Dickie’s voice signifies that he himself is beginning to feel the confidence of being Dickie.