Love and Understanding

“The Price of Salt” by Patricia Highsmith so far has been a very interesting read thus far. The most  intriguing part of the book has been the main character, Therese, her character development and the way she changes her mind so quickly saying one thing and doing another. She never seems to be unsure of herself, but nonetheless consistently takes a 180 degree turn on her decisions. I think I would enjoy analyzing Therese’s inability to maintain continuity and how she doesn’t really understand herself nor does she know how she fits in society. Carol, her friend, and later her love interest, states “you’re much too young to know your own mind. Or what you’re talking about” (Highsmith 75). Carol, who is older and more mature than Therese, sees Therese’s underdeveloped understanding of herself. To an extent, Carol understands the chaos of Therese since she is more put together, rigid, and has more life experience. Essentially, Carol juxtaposed against Therese provides a decent sense of Therese’s instability and ever-so-quickly changing life that would be the basis of analyzing her characterization.

Although the author does a wonderfull job of telling a story, there is an utter lack of dynamic side characters. Many of the ensemble characters are mentioned or interacted with once or twice, never to be brought up again. Phil McElroy is one of these characters, as he helps get Therese her job at the theatre and is a very two-dimensional person that only serves the purpose of getting Therese her job. Had he been compared to Dannie McElroy more later in the story with depth, it would have further emphasized how great Dannie was; a crutial part of the story since it’s how Therese knows she really just wants to be with Carol. On one end, Highsmith only providing dense characterization for Therese and somewhat for Carol does emphasize their roles in the story and derives specifc themes from the novel that she probably wanted to focus on. But if more minor characters existed with bigger roles many more ideas could have been touched on, illuminating how different aspects of a person’s life are influenced by many sources and people, and things aren’t always black and white.