Summary Of The Internal Conflicts Of A Reluctant Murder By Patricia Highsmith

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The Internal Conflicts of a Reluctant Murder Thought out this passage Patricia Highsmith implements Guy’s night alone as a way to criticize and show her own views on a variety of topics.In particular she condemns the ideas of laws of society and their punishments. Guy scrutinizes the law as something that he is not genuinely concerned about and views their punishments as something that he can view without great concern. Also Highsmith explores the concept of conscience and the weight it can put on a person. Through Guy’s guilt and internal conflict, which is displayed in his thoughts throughout the passage,Highsmith shows the how ones conscience can be conflicted.Lastly Highsmith shows her views on good and evil through Guy’s internal conflict, …show more content…

Referring to an earlier quote Guy compare society’s and the law of conscience , saying “Society’s Law was lax compare to law of conscience”. Guy refers to the law of conscience to be something that is much more foreboding than that of society. Highsmith’s usage of figurative language, viewing the law of conscience as a real entity, leads the read into seeing the impact of guilt is having on Guy. How the tag enable consequence of going to jail and ending is carry seems “lax” compare to the internal conflict that guy is currently feeling. Guy goes on to saying that turning himself in would be a “mere gesture” and that it would be a minor point .He continues exploring the notation of turning himself in, displaying the true depths of Guy’s internal conflict,“a confession seemed a minor point, a mere gesture, even an easy way out, an avoidance of the truth.If the law executed him, it would be a mere gesture.”. Guy guilt is show to be weighting heavily on him, so much so that he feels as though that his own death would not be enough to fix his wrong doing. In this line we see the hopelessness of Guy, that he will not be able to escape this internal guilt that he is feeling. Highsmith usage of repetition,Guy repeating “a mere gesture”, emphasis a feeling of hopelessness.This repetition …show more content…

Guy starts thinking about how is mother always said that evil was external but Guy contrast this idea by say “but love and hate, he thought now, good and evil, lived side by side in human heart, and not merely in differing proportion in one man and the next, but all good and all evil.”,Highsmith implements Guy as a way to show the relationship between good and evil.She uses figurative language to describe good and evil as living next to each other, presenting the idea that good and evil are in all people. The concept of good and evil that Highsmith presents through Guy is a explanation of how Guy, a mostly good person, can do such a heinous an act.Later in the passage Guy says “all things have opposites”, this a direct reflection of Guy and Bruno’s relationship. Guy is the good a person that does not want to murder, while Bruno enjoyed his murder and forced Guy in to killing his father. Though it is seen that Guy feels as though this coupling of good and evil is a necessity when Guy states that “he and Bruno.Each was what the other had not chosen to be, the cast-off self, what he though he hated but perhaps loved.”, Guy shows that he may have secretly love Bruno for what he made him do. The reason is Guy believes in this balance between good and evil,Bruno has brought this too him.

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