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Chapter 4
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Talented Mr. Ripley, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Obsession, Identity, and Imitation
Wealth, Luxury, and Excess
Appearance vs. Reality
Escapes
Summary
Analysis
Though Tom has told Bob Delancey that he doesn’t want to be seen off, when he arrives at the ship that will take him to Europe, he finds Bob and several of Bob’s friends drinking and reveling raucously inside his cabin. Tom is annoyed and distressed and leaves to wander the ship; soon, though, visitors are called ashore, and when Tom returns to his cabin, it has been neatened and cleaned. There is a fruit basket from Emily and Herbert waiting inside, and Tom begins to sob at the sight of it.
The final obstacle between Tom’s life in New York and his journey abroad comes in the form of his circle of acquaintances, whom he sees as obnoxious. When they finally leave him and he receives the fruit basket from the Greenleafs, he is so overwhelmed by the joy and potential of his new life that he experiences another rare moment of vulnerability.
Themes
