Strangers On A Train

At first glance, Guy Haines appears evolved and capable: "The rise of hair and the slope of his long nose gave him a look of intense purpose and somehow of forward motion" (9). He is referred to as a "genius" multiple times (260; 267). A prestigious architect who inspires admiration in the slightly-younger Bruno, Guy appears to have everything going for him. Yet from the first chapter, the narrative implicates the reader in his interior world, which is blighted by his involvement with Miriam, a source of great insecurity. Likened in Chapter 3 to a "jewel," Haines's character is prismatic, containing every other major character in the novel. The fragmented state of Guy's personality is established early through the schism between Guy and Bruno. If the novel can be read as a moral tale, Guy is an Everyman figure: "Every man is just about everything to Guy!" (252) Bruno puns on Guy's generic name in Chapter 1. Joseph Campbell's The Hero's Journey, published the year before Highsmith's novel, is subtitled “The Hero with a Thousand Faces.” Guy's corruption then, reflects upon American society at large, which profited economically from World War II. 

Marking him as a

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