Tripp the Player

So far, I like the way the book is written and the way the characters and events are portrayed. However, I do not like any of the characters’ personalities. The character I like most thus far in the book is Doctor Dee. Grady Tripp reminds me of a cross between an older, more modern version of Amory Blaine from This Side of Paradise and a male, more unfaithful version of Portia from Admission. Like Amory, Tripp’s ego is clearly written throughout the book, and like Portia, he is also weirdly fascinated with his job and his admissions. Tripp’s numerous infidelities really bother me. The way he describes himself and his affairs make him seem so pompous and masochistic. I hate that he thinks that he is “a man who falls in love so easily, and with such a reckless lack of consideration for the consequences of [his] actions, that from the very first instant of entering into a marriage [he] become[s], almost by definition, an adulterer” (33). It seems like Tripp is trying to convince the reader that his problem with infidelities are in fact a good thing. He is trying to convince us that love is non-committal and short-lived. He mentions his relationship with Sarah’s husband, Walter Gaskell, a respected colleague, which makes me dislike him even more. He did not want either his spouse nor Sarah’s to find out about the affair, yet Tripp still drove off his wife, Emily, who “morally opposed” (30) to divorce. In spite of my dislike of Tripp and his betrayals, I think that his relationship with Sarah is fascinating. I originally assumed that it was a recent and purely physical affair. However, after learning the relationship is five years long, and after he discusses her appearance, and describes “undressing her” to be “like releasing a zoo full of animals, or blowing up a dam” (34), it was hard to see the relationship to be purely based on her physical attributes. Although it seems like Tripp and Sarah’s relationship may be deeper than expected, Tripp continues to treat her and her husband with little respect. When Sarah tells him, crying, that she is pregnant, all he is able to focus on is her weight on his arm. In his situation, one would assume that her pregnancy would evoke some sort of strong emotion, but he brushes it off and asks her to move instead. I like Doctor Dee, the dog, because he is the only “character” intelligent and moral enough to recognize and respond to Tripp and Sarah’s transgressions. I am finding that it is my dislike for the characters that is making the novel so interesting.