The intention of this assignment is to analyze the character of Patricia Highsmith, Tom Ripley, as a moral being, and the complex position in which we, the readers, we find when we look at the character of Ripley. This mission will also establish whether there is a morality or ideology underlying Highsmith's work, and whether this ideology is socially reinforced or purely subversive. Patricia Highsmith was a successful American writer whose career spanned from 1945 until her death in 1995. (Wilson, 2010). During this period, Highsmith was credited with writing 22 plays, many of which were recreated in successful film adaptations. According to the New York Times (2013), Highsmith specialized in novels of murder and physiological intrigue. Critics have often classified Highsmith's genre as detective fiction (Peters, 2003), but by her own admission she did not like this label. Greene quoted in the New York Times (2013) said that a more accurate description of her style is that "she creates her own world, an irrational and claustrophobic world, which we, as readers, enter every time with a feeling of personal danger. ". This ideology presented by Greene is particularly apparent in the Ripley series. The Ripley series conforms to all descriptions of Highsmith's writing style and personal idiosyncrasies. This is a thrilling five-book trilogy revolving around an attractive young man who is an opportunistic killer named Tom Ripley. Mr. Ripley has been orphaned since the age of five and is a master con artist and impersonator. Throughout the series, the audience is presented with a man of free conscience, who actively engages in various activities against the law, ranging from petty theft to cold-blooded murder. "The Talented Mr. Ripley" is the first of the Ri...... middle of paper ......0169.pdfStarr, J, 2012, What's to Love About Tom Ripley ?, accessed November 14, 2013, http: //www.weeklylizard.com/blog/2011/03/17/whats-to-like-about-tom-ripley/ The New York Times, 2013, Patricia Highsmith, accessed on November 12, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h/patricia_highsmith/Silet, C, 2012, Patricia Highsmith's, Thomas Ripley, accessed November 17, 2013, http://www. mysterynet.com/books/testimony/ripley/Bronski, M, 2000, The Subversive Mrs. Highsmith and the Talented Mr. Ripley, accessed November 16, http://www.zcommunications.org/the-subversive-ms-highsmith- and-the-talented-mr-ripley-by-michael-bronski.htmlWilson, A, 2010, Beautiful shadow: a life of Patricia Highsmith, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2010.Peters, F, 2003, Proximity in Patricia Highsmith's Ripley Novels, Cultural Expressions of Evil and Wickedness: Wrath, Sex, Crime 3: 189.