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Character Analysis Of Strangers On A Train

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In literature, there is always the protagonist. The protagonist is the character from whose perspective the whole story is told. And in many cases protagonists are a part of a psychological thriller, which is a literary work that emphasizes the unstable psychological states of its character(s). As the story and the conflicts progress, the protagonist usually undergoes a character arc, in which he or she witnesses significant changes in his or her personality. An example of a psychological thriller that utilizes a character arc is Patricia Highsmith’s, Strangers on a Train. In which the protagonist, Guy D. Haines, witnesses significant personality changes throughout the novel. In the beginning of the novel, Guy Haines is on a train to grant his unfaithful wife, Miriam a divorce. It is on this train where he meets Charles A. Bruno and shares his sorrows. Upon hearing Guy’s sorrows, Bruno shares his own distaste for his father and proposes that they both trade murders. After hearing this, Guy laughs to make it seem as if the conversation was a joke. However, Bruno does implement his plan and commits the murder of Miriam, after this he constantly pressures Guy to murder his father. After, many letters and phone calls, Guy murders Bruno’s father. Shortly after his father’s passing, Bruno passes away himself, which then leaves Guy to bear the guilt of the murders himself. For Guy, keeping quite had grown almost impossible, this pressure then causes him to confess his crime. Highsmith uses Guy’s character and arc to depict the deep-rooted psychological instability of everyman and to teach the audience that yielding to the wrong type of peer pressure can land you in trouble. In the beginning of the story and his character arc, Guy has a passive personality which allows him to be easily trampled upon. Guy allows his unfaithful wife, Miriam with whom he is trying to attain a divorce from to take advantage of him to simply avoid the “consequences.” An example which shows this prevalent trait is that when Highsmith states, ““You wouldn’t do that to me,” Miriam replied with that combination of threat and pleading that had played on both his anger and his love when he loved her, and baffled him.” (40). While under the

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