I know we stopped talking about Tom Ripley and Dixon Steele, but I just thought I'd throw this idea out for you. Are Dix and Tom immature? The more I think about it, they kind of are. Tom does rather childish things, such as wanting to travel to Paris in coffins. And then when Dickie understandably turns down the idea, he gets upset, like a child would. There is no denying that Tom is definitely confused mentally, however I would argue that many of his tendencies come from his immaturity.
Dix on the other hand may not look immature on the surface, but I really think he is. He is so quick to act with violence, it's like he is a bully in high school. The second you step to him, he resorts to violence. In addition, his work ethic is even immature. He refuses to read the book he has to adapt, he gets a girl to read it for him, and when he does finally decide to do work, he acts like he is the only person in the world. To me, that is very childish. As a grown adult, you have to live by certain standards and jumping to violence and being a needy worker are not those standards. I know there are so many readings of Tom and Dix, but I just think the immaturity aspect is certainly plausible.
Yea, Dr Lukin has mentioned Tom's immaturity in the past. I agree with you, although I think it might be simpler to say that these two characters feature id-dominated personalities which, I suppose, is true of children as well. The only problem with the childish thing is, I think, that Dix actually has a mature understanding of right vs wrong (he apologizes a couple times IIRC), it's just that this gets overridden by his temper (possibly b/c of PTSD or whatever the consensus was).
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, a child doesn't know right from wrong at all. I think that the term "childish" could be better applied, as you suggest, to Tom. People were mentioning psychopathy in relation to his character, and I think that they were probably doing so primarily because of his apparent lack of guilt/remorse. I can't remember enough of developmental psychology to know whether children feel guilt/remorse or just feel bad when they get yelled at/punished.
I'm not sure if they are necessarily immature. It appears to me that they are more so dealing with various 'complexes' created by varying factors from their past. Whether it was Tom's sissy accusations from his Aunt or Dix's violent tendencies stemming from who-knows-where, it looks as if these men are variants upon the traditional noir protagonist yet eerily similar in their hunt for self-identity.
ReplyDeleteWhere exactly do you see a "hunt for self-identity" in Dix? He seems pretty sure of himself to me, might be that violence is the mark of insecurity though.
DeleteIt appears to me that both Dix and Tom are searching for something within their respective novels. Both are haunted by past events and looking for an escape. Whether it's Tom fleeing New York to live abroad or Dix' search for normalcy and love within Laurel, both men want to attain something that they are currently lacking within their lives. Furthermore, both men equate these issues with their success in life and therefore their identity within society.
DeleteBoth these characters seem pretty immature to me. Dix is immature because he resorts to violent outburst whenever something doesn't go his way, just like a child has temper tantrums. Ripley also has that same type of thing going on too when he decides to murder Dickie. I think their immaturity might stem from their insecurities though as men; they feel they need to be violent to prove their manhood (as Gilligan discusses) yet their violence is always caused by taking an insult or act against them very personally and emotionally. Their violent tempers seem to be dsyfunctional emotional reactions (like that article Dr. Lukin showed us on Gloss.com explained)and demonstrate their lack of emotional maturity. In fact, whenever these men use violence to assert their manhood/masculinity it seems that they are just reasserting that they can't settle disputes like a rational, mature adult can.
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