Elements of Crime Writing: Unseen extract
Elements of Crime Writing: Unseen extract Explore the significance of crime elements in this
extract. Remember to include in your answer relevant detailed analysis of the ways that
Highsmith has shaped meanings. [25 marks]
This extract is taken from the middle of Patricia Highsmithʼs novel, The Talented Mr. Ripley
(published in 1956). Tom Ripley has decided to murder his friend Dickie Greenleaf to assume
his personality and continue his life of wealth and luxury. They are sailing off the Italian coast in
a small motorboat.
Similarities to Crime and Punishment and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
The motivation for the murder – linking to what Poirot stated.
The method of murder and brutal killing.
The juxtaposition of the murder on the boat versus the calm landscape.
The extract presents a murder of an upper-class man in an apparent attempt from the
perpetrator to assume his identity in a crime of malice aforethought. The extract explores the
crime elements of class motivation, the description of the killing, and contrasting pragmatism of
the murderer and landscape to the violent actions committed. In this essay I will therefore
discuss the significance of this to the genre of crime writing as a whole.
In Agatha Christieʼs Hercule Poirot novel ‘Murder on the Nileʼ, in a conversation with a possible
suspect he states to her that motivation of “money, love, and betrayal” are the most common
sources that he has discovered in his many years. Through this these motivations have been
implemented into the genre of crime fiction being used frequently and commonly as sources of
reasoning behind crimes – such as the one explored in this extract described as being one of
‘assumed personalityʼ, so that Tom Ripley can assume his friends “life of wealth and luxury”. This
becomes clear as the crime progresses past the murder with Ripley violating the manʼs body
further in death by pick pocketing him removing his rings and valuables before dumping him
into the ocean; “He stopped and yanked at Dickieʼs green ring. He pocketed it. The other ring
was tighter, but it can off”. However, interestingly Ripley does not pocket the “French and Italian
coins”, leaving them as though the suggestion of taking money from the corpse is simply too
much, however the rest of his possessions; “He took a keychain with three keys” are acceptable
to be stolen. It also hints that the life of wealth which he will attempt to assume into will provide
him with enough sustenance so that a few measly coins would be meaningless in terms of the
grander picture. Through this the extracts significance can be seen in the exploration of
motivation for the crime which is to surge into the upper class reflected in the high value
possessions being stolen such as the “silver lighter”, “cologne package”, and “alligator wallet”
contrasting with Tomʼs won “corduroy jacket” a reflection of his lower-class status compared to
the man he killed revealing a Marxist class motivation.
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