In The Talented Mr. Ripley, written in 1955 by Patricia Highsmith, the main character is sent to Italy from New York to retrieve the son of a wealthy shipwright. Considering this journey from the perspective of six decades into the future, this setup seems lavish and improbable. While today it is easy enough to hop aboard a transcontinental airplane to make the ten hour journey, one would expect that traveling this distance would have been much more cumbersome in the early 1950’s.
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According to Peter Lyth (London School of Economics) and Marc Dierikx (Auburn University), leisure air travel exploded in popularity in 1945. While Tom Ripley took a boat instead of an airplane, these were the two main methods of transportation from the United States to Europe in the 1950’s. However, because the first transatlantic passenger plane wasn’t put into service until 1958, three years after this novel had been published, air travel from the U.S. to Italy was not even an option for Tom. Not only does this explain why so many wealthy individuals were traveling to Europe by ship (because this was the only means of transportation available), but this fact also explains why the Greenleaf’s were so fabulously wealthy. If ships were the only means of transporting people and goods in an ever expanding global economy, their talents would be very highly compensated indeed. Also, if Dickie had an aptitude for this specialized skill, it is no wonder that his father so desperately wanted him to return to the family business.
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In 1955, at the age of eight, Joan Browning sailed to and from Europe on the United States, playing bingo, watching sights from the decks, and enjoying the ship’s various amenities. In her adult years, Browning claimed that the United States was “the best America had to offer.” Clearly this wasn’t a form of travel for just poor people; it was enjoyed by people of many different classes and was a valuable form of travel at the time.
Understanding the importance of ships for travel is key in understanding much of the plot of this novel. It seems that the 1950s and 1960s were more of a leisurely time than we are currently living in; Dickie Greenleaf and Marge Sherwood seemed to be living just fine on allowances sent by their parents. This era was a time of adventure and exploration, allowing people to travel the world and experience life to the fullest.
WORKS CITED
Lyth, Peter J., and Marc L. J. Dierikx. "From Privilege to Popularity the Growth of Leisure Air Travel since 1945." The Journal of Transport History 15.2 (1994): 97-116. Web.
Smcmanis@sacbee.com, Sam McManis -. "When luxury ruled the skies: Flying in the 1950s and '60s." The Sacramento Bee | Sacbee.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2017.
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