After class discussion on Friday, I was really struck by the importance of materialistic wants. I understood that Ripley was a psychopath and enjoyed material possessions but I guess I had never completely comprehended that his want for the material possessions may have been the driving factor for Dickie's murder. I always believed that Ripley had enjoyed the social status change, but that the money and materials came second to being treated much differently. Instead, class clarified that his desire to have better things, his materialistic desire, was what drove his actions. His impression of the rich and their belongings was what drove him to act.
I found this surprising since I had believed that he had murdered Dickie because he felt rejected, but the materialistic reasoning also made sense. Even without reading Strangers on a Train, Dr. Lukin's article was very informative and I found many similarities between Tom and Guy in terms of their material wants. Who knew that envy of material possessions could drive someone to murder?
I think it's less about the want for material things for the sake of having them and more about what having these material objects represent. Tom desires to find where he belongs, and he see that place as being in the intellectual, upper class. He wants Dickie's approval and companionship because that would be akin to acceptance in his higher social realm. For Tom, the possessions themselves are not the goal, but the status that they suggest. I think this idea was highlighted really well in the scene was saw in the Minghella adaptation - Freddie commenting on the apartment as being decorated by someone who thinks they know what high class is. Tom has filled his space with so many objects, yes, but not just for the sake of having them. Rather, they are there as a means of existing in a higher class than his socioeconomic reality. He wants to be Dickie, and the only way he can is by ornamenting himself and his life in the same symbols of wealth and high intellect.
ReplyDeleteI mean, we already know that taste is a big issue for Tom -- one of his criticisms of other people is that they have poor taste or that they're vulgar. The real problem is that Tom might not actually know what what "good taste" is. Like Nicholle mentioned, the Minghella adaptation apartment is probably one of the best examples of that. On top of Freddie already being a potentially disastrous situation, Tom takes quite a bit of offense at his apartment comments and his "gaybaiting." And I agree that Tom is a very materialistic individual, but I think that so much of that is because it helps him become other people.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Nicholle, Tom wants the status behind such objects of materialism, and not the very objects themselves. At the core of Tom is a deep-seeded issue involving his upbringing by his dotting Aunt, and his subsequent loss of self-esteem due to this and his lifestyle. In short, I think Tom is ashamed of himself, hates himself, and seeks the status of Dickie's class, not the literal things (those are just a perk). Above all, Tom wants to love himself, and it is only logical for a person with this goal in mind to search for an exceptionally wealthy, good-living person to start imitating. It would be illogical for him to start with a normal Joe, or homeless wanderer... he searches out someone who would likely give reputation and self-worth to his name because of how far up Dickie is on the socio-economic ladder.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to separate these two things because to show society that you have "moved up in the world" you have to buy things. No one would know Tom was rich if he continued to live as normal and just have a bunch of money. I think that all he desired was the status, but he knew that the things that he would be able to get would come with it. The way he was so obsessed with Dickie's rings I think shows that he can connect things to his emotions. He felt like he needed the rings to pull of being Dickie and showing that he was rich.
ReplyDeleteI did notice that Tom has the odd distinction of wanting to be upper class, while being disgusted by certain aspects of it at the same time. Even though Tom thinks he could live Dickie's life better than him, he doesn't necessarily want to the world to be divided up into classes, gender roles, sexual orientations, etc. He acknowledges that is how the world exists, but he doesn't necessarily condone the blind pursuit of wealth. If he wanted to be wealthy he would rob a bank. I think he chooses to murder and impersonate though to subvert traditional norms- that is why Tom gets away with his crime and is presented as the good guy.He is simultaneously attracted and repulsed by elitism.
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