Imagine a world in which you have no morality, no sense of empathy or concern of the well-being of loved ones, and no feelings of remorse, no matter what actions you take. 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. As a result 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 his cruel actions and the inevitable consequences he must face. It is clear that the unpredictable and instinctive tendencies of Ripley’s constantly changing identity throughout the novel contribute to his downfall into a life of insanity and crime. Nonetheless, Tom Ripley manifests
