What Is Tom Ripley The Perfect American Character

The essential character of America as a nation embraces so many good

qualities, that makes the ideal American character be seen as a hero to the

public, but within those qualities there are always contradictions that play a big

role in almost any success story, that later produces this ideal American

character. Highsmith's creation of Tom Ripley as the main character in the novel,

makes one question the honesty and the dignity behind any example of the

perfect American character, that we do admire and often sometimes look up to as

mentor in life. Tom Ripley in the course of the novel, he lies, cheats, kills, yet

most of us want him to succeed, and we applaud him every time he escapes

justice, and these are the unspoken contradictions

Yet, he aspires to have Dickie’s life, he has a dream,

a vision, he sees himself in the future, he is not stuck with his current situation,

he doesn’t give up, he is not willing to accept the life that was giving to him by

parents and society, and wants to thrive for more. and those are the essential

qualities that makes the American character. We tend to like and admire people

like Tom, people take risk in life, and who are unsatisfied with their current social

economic life, and want to have the American dream. The character Tom Ripley

also displays negative qualities such as cheating, and killing innocent people, in

order for him to work his way up to a success story, that later we call its hero the

American character. The way Highsmith displays these negative qualities on Tom

are often seem to be irrelevant to his final goal, she makes it seem that its

justifiable, as long as the final goal is reached, for Tom its about a dream, its

about changing lives, and what happens along the way its irrelevant, and its