Dickie Greenleaf Talented Mr Ripley [upd]

To Tom Ripley, Dickie is not a fully realized human being but a collection of desirable attributes : wealth, ease, social freedom, masculine beauty, American confidence, and a life without consequences.

Dickie’s casual cruelty is key. He befriends Tom out of boredom, flirts with his admiration, then discards him when Tom becomes “too much” (needy, clingy, obsessive). dickie greenleaf talented mr ripley

The heir to a shipbuilding empire, Dickie has "absconded" to Italy to escape his overbearing father and live as a bohemian artist. To Tom Ripley, Dickie is not a fully