"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

The story begins in the summer of 1860, with Roger Button, a socially prominent man who owns a hardware
company in Baltimore. Roger heads to the hospital to meet his newborn son, only to find that his "baby" is
actually a 70-year-old man.

It turns out that Benjamin Button (as the "baby" ends up being called) ages in reverse. He was born at 70 and
gets younger at the same rate that everyone else gets older. His parents are filled with shame at their
abnormal child and force him to act like a baby, even though Benjamin has the body and mind of a much
older man. (He ends up being great friends with his grandfather.) Most people blame Benjamin for his
peculiarity – they wish he could just start acting normally – but Benjamin takes the whole thing in stride.
He’s a pretty easy-going guy.

When Benjamin appears fifty (and has actually been alive 20 years), he meets and falls in love with the
beautiful young Hildegarde Moncrief. Luckily for Benjamin, Hildegarde has a thing for older men, and the
two marry and have a son, Roscoe. Unfortunately, as Hildegarde gets older, Benjamin gets younger – he
quickly loses interest in his wife.

Benjamin heads off to the Spanish-American War, getting younger every year. By the time he returns, he
and his son are pretty close in apparent age, much to his son’s dismay. Benjamin continues to grow younger
and finally enrolls at Harvard when he looks about eighteen. By the time he graduates, he’s young enough to
go to prep school. Roscoe is increasingly dismayed with his father, especially since Roscoe’s own son is
approaching Benjamin’s apparent age. The two of them – Benjamin and his grandson – end up playing
together as children.

Eventually, Benjamin is young enough to go kindergarten, and finally too young even for that. As he gets
smaller and smaller, he forgets all the things he’s ever done in life. At last, Benjamin can sense only colors
and the smell of milk, and finally even those small sensations fade away into darkness.
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
The story begins in the summer of 1860, with Roger Button, a socially prominent man who owns a hardware
company in Baltimore. Roger heads to the hospital to meet his newborn son, only to find that his "baby" is
actually a 70-year-old man.

It turns out that Benjamin Button (as the "baby" ends up being called) ages in reverse. He was born at 70 and
gets younger at the same rate that everyone else gets older. His parents are filled with shame at their
abnormal child and force him to act like a baby, even though Benjamin has the body and mind of a much
older man. (He ends up being great friends with his grandfather.) Most people blame Benjamin for his
peculiarity – they wish he could just start acting normally – but Benjamin takes the whole thing in stride.
He’s a pretty easy-going guy.

When Benjamin appears fifty (and has actually been alive 20 years), he meets and falls in love with the
beautiful young Hildegarde Moncrief. Luckily for Benjamin, Hildegarde has a thing for older men, and the
two marry and have a son, Roscoe. Unfortunately, as Hildegarde gets older, Benjamin gets younger – he
quickly loses interest in his wife.

Benjamin heads off to the Spanish-American War, getting younger every year. By the time he returns, he
and his son are pretty close in apparent age, much to his son’s dismay. Benjamin continues to grow younger
and finally enrolls at Harvard when he looks about eighteen. By the time he graduates, he’s young enough to
go to prep school. Roscoe is increasingly dismayed with his father, especially since Roscoe’s own son is
approaching Benjamin’s apparent age. The two of them – Benjamin and his grandson – end up playing
together as children.
Eventually, Benjamin is young enough to go kindergarten, and finally too young even for that. As he gets
smaller and smaller, he forgets all the things he’s ever done in life. At last, Benjamin can sense only colors
and the smell of milk, and finally even those small sensations fade away into darkness.
They Do It with Mirrors is a detective fiction novel by Agatha Christie.
While visiting her American school friend Ruth Van Rydock in London, Miss Marple learns that Ruth is
seriously concerned for her sister Carrie Louise. She asks Miss Marple to visit Carrie Louise at Stonygates,
her home in England. Miss Marple agrees to the visit. She is impressed by the size of the Victorian mansion,
which now has a separate building for delinquent boys, the cause which engages Carrie Louise and her third
husband, Lewis Serrocold. Carrie Louise has her family living with her, as her granddaughter Gina has
brought her American husband Walter to England to meet her family. Daughter Mildred Strete moved back
home after she was widowed. Stepsons Steven and Alexis Restarick, now grown, are frequent visitors, and
present during Miss Marple's visit. One of the first people Miss Marple encounters is young Edgar Lawson,
a juvenile delinquent being shepherd by Serrocold, who seems to have mental issues.
Miss Marple learns of Carrie Louie's health problems from old age, but is pleased to see that she is still the
sweet, idealistic, and loving person she has known. An unexpected visitor arrives at Stonygates--Christian
Gulbrandsen--a trustee of the charitable foundation that his father set up with the wealth he generated in his
life. Lewis walks from the train station and meets Christian on the terrace. Miss Marple watches them
through her bird-watcher's binoculars and tries to learn the reason for Christian's unexpected visit. She hears
a few phrases, concerning the importance of keeping a problem from Carrie Louise, and that they should call
for outside help. Both men enter for dinner, and afterwards, Christian retires to his room to write letters.
The rest of the household is held entranced by a scene that plays out in the office of Lewis Serrocold.
Lawson enters it with a gun, locks the door, and speaks loudly of Lewis, whom he now claims is his father
and has treated him badly. Lawson threatens to shoot him, while Lewis tries to calm him. Tension is added
to the scene by darkness; Walter knows how to fix the overloaded fuse, so he fixes it, and rejoins the group.
The family hear shots and intervene by trying to open the door. Another shot is heard by some, but not all.
When the door is open, Lewis scoffs at any concern for himself, and they see that the shots hit the wall.
Lawson collapses in tears and apologies. "Jolly" Juliet Believer, housekeeper and companion to Carrie
Louise, returns to the room saying she has called the police, because she has found Christian, dead in his
room from a gunshot.
Lewis proceeds to Christian's room, followed by Carrie Louise and Miss Marple. Alex Restarick arrives at
the house. His brother Steven was already there, playing the piano after dinner. Then the police arrive.
Inspector Curry quickly establishes that none of the people from the facility for the boys are involved, nor
any of the servants who live outside Stonygates. He discovers that there was a sheet of paper in the
typewriter when Jolly entered the room. Lewis removed it, afraid his wife would read it and discover that the
reason for Christian's visit was his fear that someone had been poisoning Carrie Louise. Lewis suggests that
the poison is in her medicine, a liquid which is shown to contain arsenic. Miss Marple comments that most
of the family would be pleased if Walter were found to be the killer, but Christian was not killed by Walter's
gun, which was in Lawson's hand during the interval. Police find the weapon that killed Christian on the
piano bench. Alex explains that his drive to the house was slowed by the fog, and that what he saw and
heard in the fog, such as someone running and one of the shots, gave him an idea for a stage set. Alex
envisions the house as a stage, which causes Miss Marple to begin thinking differently about the murder.
The next evening, Alex and the boy Ernie Gregg are killed by stage weights.
Miss Marple explains to the police how one person could run from Lewis's study to Christian's room along
the terrace in under two minutes--Lewis Serrocold. Lawson spoke as both himself and Lewis, while Lewis
killed Christian and returned out of breath. Lewis was embezzling from the Gulbrandsen Trust, explaining
Christian's visit. Lawson is the illegitimate son of Lewis. The suspicion of Carrie Louie's poisoning was a
ruse created by Lewis.
When confronted by the police, Lawson flees the house, jumping into an old boat to cross a lake on the
property. The boat begins to sink, so Lewis Serrocold jumps into the lake to rescue his son. Both are caught
in the reeds lining the lake, and drown before the police can reach them. Carrie Louise walks indoors with
her daughter Mildred, and Gina and Walter head back to America.
Crime and Punishment novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, a former law student, lives in extreme poverty in a tiny, rented room
in Saint Petersburg. He has abandoned all attempts to support himself and has devised a plan to murder and
rob an elderly pawn-broker, Alyona Ivanovna. While still considering the plan, Raskolnikov makes the
acquaintance of Semyon Zakharovich Marmeladov, a drunkard who recently squandered his family's little
wealth. Marmeladov tells him about his teenage daughter, Sonya, who has chosen to become a prostitute in
order to support the family. Raskolnikov also receives a letter from his mother in which she speaks of their
coming visit to Saint Petersburg, and describes at length the problems of his sister Dunya, who has been
working as a governess, with her ill-intentioned employer. To escape her vulnerable position, and with
hopes of helping her brother, Dunya has chosen to marry a wealthy suitor. Raskolnikov is inwardly enraged
at her sacrifice, feeling it is the same as what Sonya felt compelled to do.
After much deliberation, Raskolnikov sneaks into Alyona Ivanovna's apartment, where he murders her with
an axe. He also kills her half-sister, Lizaveta, who happens to stumble upon the scene of the crime. Shaken
by his actions, Raskolnikov manages to steal only a handful of items and a small purse, leaving much of the
pawn-broker's wealth untouched. Raskolnikov then flees and, due to a series of coincidences, manages to
leave unseen and undetected.
After the bungled murder, Raskolnikov falls into a feverish state and begins to worry obsessively over the
murder. He hides the stolen items and purse under a rock, and tries desperately to clean his clothing of any
blood or evidence. He falls into a fever later that day, though not before calling briefly on his old friend
Razumikhin. As the fever comes and goes in the following days, Raskolnikov behaves as though he wishes
to betray himself. He shows strange reactions to whoever mentions the murder of the pawn-broker, which is
now known about and talked of in the city. In his delirium, Raskolnikov wanders Saint Petersburg, drawing
more and more attention to himself and his relation to the crime. In one of his walks through the city, he sees
Marmeladov, who has been struck mortally by a carriage in the streets. Raskolnikov rushes to help and
succeeds in conveying the stricken man back to his family's apartment. Calling out for Sonya to forgive him,
Marmeladov dies in his daughter's arms. Raskolnikov gives his last twenty five roubles (from money that
had been sent him by his mother) to Marmeladov's consumptive wife, Katerina Ivanovna, saying it is the
repayment of a debt to his friend.
In the meantime, Raskolnikov's mother, Pulkheria Alexandrovna, and his sister, Avdotya Romanovna
(Dunya), have arrived in the city. Dunya had been working as a governess for the Svidrigaïlov family until
this point, but was forced out of the position by the head of the family, Arkady Ivanovich Svidrigaïlov.
Svidrigaïlov, a married man, was attracted to Dunya's physical beauty and her feminine qualities, and
offered her riches and elopement. Mortified, Dunya fled the Svidrigaïlov family and lost her source of
income, only to meet Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin, a man of modest income and rank. Luzhin proposes to marry
Dunya, thereby securing her and her mother's financial safety, provided she accept him quickly and without
question. It is for these very reasons that the two of them come to Saint Petersburg, both to meet Luzhin
there and to obtain Raskolnikov's approval. Luzhin, however, calls on Raskolnikov while he is in a delirious
state and presents himself as a foolish, self-righteous and presumptuous man. Raskolnikov dismisses him
immediately as a potential husband for his sister, and realizes that she only accepted him to help her family.
As the novel progresses, Raskolnikov is introduced to the detective Porfiry, who begins to suspect him of
the murder purely on psychological grounds. At the same time, a chaste relationship develops between
Raskolnikov and Sonya. Sonya, though a prostitute, is full of Christian virtue and is only driven into the
profession by her family's poverty. Meanwhile, Razumikhin and Raskolnikov manage to keep Dunya from
continuing her relationship with Luzhin, whose true character is exposed to be conniving and base. At this
point, Svidrigaïlov appears on the scene, having come from the province to Petersburg, almost solely to seek
out Dunya. He reveals that his wife, Marfa Petrovna, is dead, and that he is willing to pay Dunya a vast sum
of money in exchange for nothing. She, upon hearing the news, refuses flat out, suspecting him of treachery.
As Raskolnikov and Porfiry continue to meet, Raskolnikov's motives for the crime become exposed. Porfiry
becomes increasingly certain of the man's guilt, but has no concrete evidence or witnesses with which to
back up this suspicion. Furthermore, another man admits to committing the crime under questioning and
arrest. However, Raskolnikov's nerves continue to wear thinner, and he is constantly struggling with the idea
of confessing, though he knows that he can never be truly convicted. He turns to Sonya for support and
confesses his crime to her. By coincidence, Svidrigaïlov has taken up residence in a room next to Sonya's
and overhears the entire confession. When the two men meet face to face, Svidrigaïlov acknowledges this
fact, and suggests that he may use it against him, should he need to. Svidrigaïlov also speaks of his own past,
and Raskolnikov grows to suspect that the rumors about his having committed several murders are true. In a
later conversation with Dunya, Svidrigaïlov denies that he had a hand in the death of his wife.
Raskolnikov is at this point completely torn; he is urged by Sonya to confess, and Svidrigaïlov's testimony
could potentially convict him. Furthermore, Porfiry confronts Raskolnikov with his suspicions and assures
him that confession would substantially lighten his sentence. Meanwhile, Svidrigaïlov attempts to seduce
Dunya, but when he realizes that she will never love him, he lets her go. He then spends a night in confusion
and in the morning shoots himself. This same morning, Raskolnikov goes again to Sonya, who again urges
him to confess and to clear his conscience. He makes his way to the police station, where he is met by the
news of Svidrigaïlov's suicide. He hesitates a moment, thinking again that he might get away with a perfect
crime, but is persuaded by Sonya to confess.
The epilogue tells of how Raskolnikov is sentenced to eight years of penal servitude in Siberia, where Sonya
follows him. Dunya and Razumikhin marry and are left in a happy position by the end of the novel, while
Pulkheria, Raskolnikov's mother, falls ill and dies, unable to cope with her son's situation. Raskolnikov
himself struggles in Siberia. It is only after some time in prison that his redemption and moral regeneration
begin under Sonya's loving influence.

Simple summary: Crime and Punishment is about the troubles of Raskolnikov, a young man living in St.
Petersburg. He used to be a student, but he became so poor he had to stop studying. He plans to kill a selfish
old pawnbroker for her money, and he acts on his plan. Raskolnikov argues that with her money he can do
good things, and that he was simply killing a person who was not worth anything. He also murdered her to
test his idea that some people are naturally better than others and have the right to murder. Several times in
the novel, Raskolnikov justifies himself by comparing himself to Napoleon, saying that murder is allowed
for a higher purpose.
However, after he kills the pawnbroker, questions which he cannot answer and feelings he had not
expected terrify him. He feels separated from mankind, nature, and truth. Because of this, he decides at last
to confess to the police and accept suffering.
The coral island
The story is written as a first person narrative from the perspective of 15-year-old Ralph Rover, one of three
boys shipwrecked on the coral reef of a large but uninhabited Polynesian island. Ralph tells the story
retrospectively, looking back on his boyhood adventure.
The account starts briskly; only four pages are devoted to Ralph's early life and a further fourteen to his
voyage to the Pacific Ocean on board the Arrow. He and his two companions – 18-year-old Jack Martin and
13-year-old Peterkin Gay – are the sole survivors of the shipwreck. The narrative is in two parts. The first
describes how the boys feed themselves, what they drink, the clothing and shelter they fashion, and how
they cope with having to rely on their own resources. The second half of the novel is more action-packed,
featuring conflicts with pirates, fighting between the native Polynesians, and the conversion efforts of
Christian missionaries.
Fruit, fish and wild pigs provide plentiful food, and at first the boys' life on the island is idyllic. They build a
shelter and construct a small boat using their only possessions: a broken telescope, an iron-bound oar, and a
small axe. Their first contact with other humans comes after several months when they observe two
large outrigger canoes in the distance, one pursued by the other. The two groups of Polynesians disembark
on the beach and engage in battle; the victors take fifteen prisoners and kill and eat one immediately. But
when they threaten to kill one of the three women captured, along with two children, the boys intervene to
defeat the pursuers, earning them the gratitude of the chief, Tararo. The next morning they prevent another
act of cannibalism. The natives leave, and the boys are alone once more.
More unwelcome visitors then arrive in the shape of British pirates, who make a living by trading or
stealing sandalwood. The three boys hide in a cave, but Ralph is captured when he ventures out to see if the
intruders have left and is taken on board the pirate schooner. He strikes up a friendship with one of the crew,
Bloody Bill, and when the ship calls at the island of Emo to trade for more wood Ralph experiences many
facets of the island's culture: the popular sport of surfing, the sacrificing of babies to eel gods, rape, and
cannibalism.
Rising tensions result in the inhabitants attacking the pirates, leaving only Ralph and Bloody Bill alive. The
pair succeeds in making their escape in the schooner, but Bill is mortally wounded. He makes a death-bed
repentance for his evil life, leaving Ralph to sail back to the Coral Island alone, where he is reunited with his
friends.
The three boys sail to the island of Mango, where a missionary has converted some of the population
to Christianity. There they once again meet Tararo, whose daughter Avatea wishes to become a Christian
against her father's wishes. The boys attempt to take Avatea in a small boat to a nearby island the chief of
which has been converted, but en route they are overtaken by one of Tararo's war canoes and taken prisoner.
They are released a month later after the arrival of another missionary, and Tararo's conversion to
Christianity. The "false gods"[30] of Mango are consigned to the flames, and the boys set sail for home, older
and wiser.
The talented Mr Ripley
Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) is a young man struggling to make a living in late 1950s New York City using
his "talents"; forgery, lying and impersonation. One day, while working as a restroom attendant at a fancy
Manhattan hotel, he meets a Princeton graduate who bribes him to work at an alumni party at playing the
piano because the Princeton guy just broke his hand and cannot play. Ripley accepts.

While playing piano at a cocktail party, Ripley is approached by wealthy shipbuilder Herbert Greenleaf
(James Rebhorn), who mistakenly believes that Ripley went to Princeton with his son, Dickie, because
Ripley is wearing the borrowed Princeton blazer. Greenleaf recruits Ripley to travel to Italy and persuade
Dickie to return to the United States, for which he will pay Ripley $1,000. Ripley accepts the proposal, even
though he did not attend Princeton and has never met Dickie.

Ripley's personal life is soon revealed after the party where he lives in a small, two-room apartment in a
rundown part of the city. His home town and orgins are unknown. It is implied that several years earlier,
Ripley came out as a homosexual to his parents who reacted by throwing him out of their house and
severing all ties with him. Now alone, Ripley struggles to get by without family support as well as search for
his one true love as an outlet for his loneliness.

Upon arriving by ship in Europe, Ripley meets a young and wealthy textile heiress named Meredith Logue
(Cate Blanchett). During their brief conversation he impulsively pretends to be Dickie, later commenting in
voice-over that "it is better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody."

Shortly after his arrival in Italy, Ripley fakes a chance encounter on the beach with Dickie (Jude Law) and
his fiancée, Marge Sherwood (Gwyneth Paltrow), and attempts to convince Dickie that the two met at
Princeton. Ripley later visits Dickie and Marge and discloses that Dickie's father paid him to travel to
Europe and persuade Dickie to return home. This revelation infuriates Dickie; he declines the invitation and
suggests Ripley go back to America and inform his father that he has no intention of ever returning. Ripley
instead insinuates himself into Dickie's life under the pretext of being a fellow jazz lover. The two concoct a
scheme for Ripley to wring additional funds from Herbert Greenleaf by regularly mailing letters suggesting
Dickie is wavering and will likely return to America if Ripley can remain in Italy and continue applying
pressure.

On a jaunt to Rome, Ripley meets Dickie's friend Freddie Miles (Philip Seymour Hoffman), who treats
Ripley with barely concealed contempt. A local girl, whom Dickie had impregnated, drowns herself after he
refuses to help her financially; this sends Dickie into a downward spiral. He begins getting tired of Ripley,
resenting his constant presence and suffocating dependence. Ripley's own feelings are complicated by his
desire to maintain the opulent lifestyle Dickie has afforded him, and his growing sexual obsession with his
new friend. As a good-will gesture before Ripley returns to America, Dickie invites Ripley to sail with him
for a last trip to San Remo, where Dickie is shopping for a new residence. While at sea, Ripley suggests he
return to Italy the following year and the two become housemates. Dickie dismisses Ripley's plan, informs
him that he intends to marry Marge and admits he has grown weary of Tom. Upset by this news, Ripley
confronts Dickie about his behavior and lashes out in rage, repeatedly hitting Dickie with an oar, killing him.
Ripley holds Dickie's dead body as the boat slowly drifts to shore. To conceal the murder, Ripley scuttles
the boat with Dickie's body aboard before swimming ashore.

When the hotel concierge mistakes him for Dickie, Ripley realizes he can assume Dickie's identity. He
forges Dickie's signature, modifies his passport and begins living off Dickie's trust fund. He uses Dickie's
typewriter to communicate with Marge, making her believe that Dickie has left her and has decided to stay
in Rome. He checks into two separate hotels as himself and as Dickie, passing messages via the hotel staff to
create the illusion that Dickie is still alive. His situation is complicated by the reappearance of Meredith,
who still believes that he is Dickie.

Ripley rents a large apartment and spends a lonely Christmas buying himself expensive presents. Freddie
tracks Ripley to his apartment in Rome through the American Express office, expecting to find Dickie.
Freddie is immediately suspicious of Ripley as the apartment is not furnished in Dickie's style, while Ripley
appears to have adopted Dickie's hair-style and mannerisms. On his way out, Freddie encounters the
building's landlady who refers to Ripley as "Signor Dickie" and remarks on the piano music constantly
emanating from the apartment. Freddie notes that Dickie does not play piano and goes back to confront
Ripley who attacks Freddie, hitting him over the head with a heavy statue, murdering him. Ripley carries the
heavy body to Freddie's car, drives to the woods, abandoning the vehicle and leaving Freddie's corpse lying
on the ground in a creek, where it is quickly discovered.

Ripley's existence then becomes a cat-and-mouse game with the Italian police and Dickie's friends. Ripley
eludes imminent capture and clears himself by forging a suicide note addressed to Ripley in Dickie's name.
He then moves to Venice and rents an apartment under his real name.

Though trusted by Dickie's father, Ripley is disquieted when Mr. Greenleaf hires American private detective
Alvin MacCarron to investigate Dickie's disappearance. Marge suspects Ripley's involvement in Dickie's
death and confronts him after finding Dickie's rings in Ripley's bathroom. Ripley appears poised to murder
Marge but is interrupted when Peter Smith-Kingsley (Jack Davenport), a mutual friend, enters the apartment
with a key Ripley had given him.

At the climax, Marge, Dickie's father, and MacCarron all confront Ripley at his apartment in Venice, but
luck seems to stay with Ripley; MacCarron, after uncovering certain sordid details about Dickie's past,
reveals to Ripley that Mr. Greenleaf has requested the investigation be dropped. MacCarron will not share
his revelations with the Italian police and asks Ripley to promise to do the same. In exchange for his candor,
and implications made in Dickie's suicide note, Herbert Greenleaf intends to transfer a substantial portion of
Dickie's trust fund income to Ripley. Marge is dismayed at the resolution, furiously accusing Ripley of
involvement in Dickie's disappearance before Greenleaf and MacCarron drag her away. Alienated with them
and Ripley, Marge leaves to return to America.

Now lovers, Ripley and Peter go on a cruise together, only to discover that Meredith is also on board. Ripley
realizes that he cannot prevent Peter from communicating with Meredith and discovering that he has been
passing himself off as Dickie. Peter and Meredith know each other and would certainly meet at some point
on the voyage. He cannot solve this dilemma by murdering Meredith, because she is accompanied by her
family. Ripley enters Peter's room and suggests the two remain below deck for the duration of the cruise, but
quickly dismisses this idea as he cannot offer Peter a legitimate reason for doing so. Ripley sobs as he
strangles Peter to death, throws his body overboard, then returns to his own cabin, where he sits alone.
Although Tom Ripley knows that he has gotten away with his crimes and will never be brought to justice, he
has sadly resigned himself to a solitary life without love or acceptance.

brief analysis of The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith.

The book begins with Tom Ripley as a young man, struggling to survive in New York City. What little
money he has, he makes by performing a series of small cons and scamming whoever he can. One day, an
opportunity falls in his lap when he’s approached by Herbert Greenleaf, a rich shipping magnate with a
wayward son. Greenleaf is looking for someone to travel to Mount Etna in Italy to bring his son back home
to rejoin the family business. Ripley, always an expert at seeing an opportunity and taking advantage,
fabricating a history between himself and Dickie Greenleaf to make him seem like the ideal choice. Soon,
Herbert believes that Tom is a long-lost friend of Dickie’s and the perfect choice to bring him home.

Upon arriving in Italy, Tom meets up with Dickie and quickly worms his way into his social circle. Dickie, a
sociable fellow, takes a shine to Tom and the two become fast friends. However, Tom doesn’t have the same
luck with Dickie’s girlfriend Marge Sherwood. Marge becomes suspicious of Tom quickly, especially when
she sees how much time Dickie and Tom are spending together. She implies to Dickie that Tom is gay,
which begins the process of Dickie souring on Tom. Their friendship starts to unravel one day when Dickie
walks into his room to find Tom dressed in his clothes and impersonating him. This breaks the spell that
Tom’s charm had placed on Dickie, and Dickie begins to notice how much Tom is hanging around him and
leeching off him. Tom, meanwhile, has become more and more obsessed with Dickie’s lifestyle and
desperately wants to maintain his new comforts.
Dickie agrees to travel with Tom on a short trip to the nearby city of Sanremo, but Tom senses that Dickie is
about to end their friendship. The two take a boat trip to the middle of the sea, and Tom seizes the
opportunity and murders Dickie with an oar, weighs his body down with the anchor, and sends Dickie’s
body and the boat to the depths. He then assumes Dickie’s identity, living off his trust fund and breaking up
with Marge via mail. However, his scam is threatened when he encounters Freddie Miles, an old friend of
Dickie’s. Although Tom tries to impersonate Dickie as best he can, Freddie quickly detects something is off
with his friend. When Freddie confronts Tom, Tom wastes no time and kills Freddie with an ashtray, faking
a murder by robbers to throw the police off his trail.

Now a double-murderer, Tom knows the police will soon be on his trail. He goes back to his old Tom Ripley
identity and moves to Venice, where he is soon tracked down by several people searching for Dickie. Marge,
Herbert, and a private detective hired by the latter all confront him, hoping to find answers. Tom attempts to
throw them off the trail by telling a tale of how depressed Dickie was, and how he may have committed
suicide. Marge’s suspicion of Tom lessens, and for a while she even stays with him at his house in Venice,
however, his ruse nearly comes undone when she finds Dickie’s possessions in Tom’s house. He considers
adding her to his body count, but she believes that Dickie committed suicide if he gave his possessions to
Tom.

Although the heat is off him for now, Tom is still paranoid about being caught. He flees to Greece, and soon
gets word that the Greenleaf family has accepted that their son committed suicide. What’s more, his will has
been found, and it says that Tom Ripley inherits everything. This was, of course, forged by Tom on Dickie’s
own typewriter. Tom Ripley ends the book rich, secure, and living the life he always dreamed of. However,
he’s still beset by paranoia, wondering every day if this is the day his scheme is discovered and he’s dragged
off to face justice.
The black cat by Edgard Allan Poe
From his prison cell, the unnamed narrator is writing the story of how everything in his life fell apart. Since
he will die the next day, he wants to set the record straight, and tells us the story of his life…

From the day he is born, he is mild and kind. He loves animals and has lots of them. As he gets older up
these qualities grow stronger. Taking care of his pets and hanging out with them is his favorite thing to do.
His favorite animal companion is his dog.
Before long, he gets married. His wife loves animals too, and fills the house with a variety of them. One of
these is a humongous, all black, super-smart cat named Pluto. When the man starts drinking, his personality
takes a turn for the worse. He starts physically and verbally abusing his wife and pets. One night, the
narrator comes home from partying completely drunk. Thinking Pluto didn't want to hang out with him, he
grabs the cat and cuts his eye out with a pen-knife.
One morning, not long after the eye-gouging, the narrator is overcome with a perverse impulse. He hangs
Pluto from a tree in his garden, murdering him. Writing from his jail cell, the narrator claims he did it
precisely because he knew it was wrong. That night, the night of the murder, the man's house catches fire
and burns down. Only the man, his wife, and one servant are left alive. But, they lose all their money in the
flames, along with the house. When the narrator returns the next day, there is a crowd in his bedroom,
looking at his bedroom wall. On the wall is the slightly raised image of a "gigantic cat" with a rope around
its neck.
Since he left the cat hanging all day and all night, he figures one of the neighbors cut it down and then threw
it through his window to wake him up. Somehow it stuck in the plaster of the wall. This bothers the man for
a long time.
One night when he's out drinking, another black cat appears on the scene. This cat looks just like Pluto,
except for the little white spot on his chest. The man takes the cat home, and his wife is quite pleased.
When it is discovered that this cat is also missing an eye, the man begins to despise it, while the woman
loves it all the more. After some time passes, the woman shows the man that the white spot on the cat's fur
has grown. Oddly, the white spot now forms an image of "the GALLOWS!" (a wooden device used to hang
people.)
The man is too afraid of the cat to abuse it. The cat never leaves him alone for a moment, and even sits on
his chest and breathes in his face when he is in bed. So, the man doesn't get any sleep. As his loathing of the
cat increases, so does his physical and verbal abuse of his wife. One day he and his wife go down to the
cellar of the crummy old house they live in now that they are poor. The cat follows them. In a fit of extreme
irritation, the man tries to kill the cat with an axe. The woman stops him, and the man "burie[s] the axe in
her brain," killing her.
The narrator wonders how best to conceal the body? After much deliberation, the man decides to hide the
body in a space behind the cellar wall. That night, the man sleeps peacefully for the first time in ages. The
cat is nowhere to be seen.
The cops come around, but the man has finesses them. No big deal. On the fourth day, still no cat. But, the
police return and search the house again, especially the cellar. Right when they are about to leave,
abandoning their search of the cellar, the narrator decides to start bragging about how well built the house is.
He takes his cane and hits it against the spot in the wall where he's hidden his wife's body.
A noise answers his knock! It is a sad sound, like a kid crying. It sounds horrible and desperate, but also
victorious. The police are on it. They take down the wall only to find the dead body, with the cat on top of
its head. And that's why the narrator is in jail, sentenced to death by hanging. The narrator had accidentally
shut the cat up in the wall with the body.