The Talented Mr. Ripley: A Fake Somebody

"I always thought it'd be better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody ".  This is such a memorable line because it seems so insightful. For a person who is searching for an identity, the appeal of pretending, in order to feel important, and to feel accepted, by denouncing the struggle to find one's genuine interest which is probably essential in realizing one's sense of  fulfillment, is a very real option. 

But the talented Mr. Ripley's efforts to become the real person he pretended to be  ultimately collapsed in a moment of introspection, marked by an honest look at what  he really was, a liar. Wanting to be somebody else because being himself provided no satisfaction, required an incredible measure of duplicity that involved and ever growing inventory of lies. These lies, in the multitude, became too much for Ripley to manage.  Mr. Ripley was talented, and his lack of awareness as to how to use his talents in a manner that would have granted the status of significance he passionately coveted, was his undoing. 

Some seek importance by acting like those who are already considered important. The yearning for significance, and the benefits of achieving this status, is too strong of  a temptation for some to repel, but the consequence acquiescing,  may be an identity conflict, involving the pressure to be truthful against the prestige of being significant.