Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[hela]

Dear members,

Does anybody know the book by Patricia Highsmith, Ripley under Water ?

1) If yes, would you please tell me how did the long grey bundle that was put on Tom's doorstep arrive in his car? The paragraph I've got doesn't mention it, and so I can't see the chronology of the events.

2) What is in the long grey bundle? The corpse of Mr Murchinson?

3) There's something else I don't understand:

at the beginning of the paragraph we find:

"A long grey bundle at Tom�s feet made him jump back a little. It lay across the doorstep and Tom knew, with horror, and instantly, what it was." [...]

but then we find:

"Tom realized that he was torturing himself, because he couldn�t, with Mme Annette in the kitchen, which had a window, go outside now and take a good look at what was in his station-wagon. The car stood parallel to the kitchen window, part of the canvas bundle perhaps just visible to Mme Annette if she peered, but why should she?"

I wish you all a very happy New Year.
Hela

[CP]

I haven't read the book, but from what you have here, I guess that the bundle is a corpse wrapped in cloth. The bundle is on the doorstep, not in the car, but perhaps it arrived by car.

The man wants to go out to the car for some reason, but he can't, because if he opens the door, he will have to step over the corpse, and the woman at the window will see it. She could see it if she tried right now, but she won't look that way unless he goes out to the car and draws her attention to it.

Does that fit the story?
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[hela]

Yes, I think so. Thank you CP