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Chapter 3
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Tom Lake, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Time
Family
Sex and Love
Destiny and Choice
Acting and Performance
Summary
Analysis
Lara walks to the crew trailers in the orchards with a plate of sandwiches, thinking about Emily’s boyfriend, Benny Holzapfel. The Holzapfels are the family’s neighbors who have an apple farm. Benny and Emily have been inseparable for a long time, and Joe has dreamed since they were teens that they would get married, bring the two farms together, and have children who might marry into other neighboring families. As she grew older, Emily gradually let her love for Benny and the farm overtake her obsession with Duke. Lara joins Emily, Nell, and Maisie in the rows of cherry trees. As they pick cherries, she continues her story.
Benny and Emily’s romance—childhood friends turned sweethearts—mirrors that of George and Emily in Our Town. Joe’s dreams of Benny and Emily getting married reflect his love of his land and all it represents: family, past, present, and future. It’s not a selfish love, though—after all, he's more than happy at the idea of expanding his family with the entire Holzapfel clan. He doesn’t want to join their land to accrue power or money, per se—instead, he just wants to ensure a good life for his children and grandchildren.
Active
Themes
In the story, Bill Ripley buys Lara’s flight to Los Angeles. In retrospect, Lara realizes that her simplicity and ability to act like herself is what drew Ripley to her. Lara gets to LA and rides to a fancy hotel in a limousine, astonished by the luxury that surrounds her. At the screen test, a crew of artists elaborately does Lara’s makeup, and she doesn’t quite recognize herself. Although she feels out of place, she doesn’t feel afraid at all. After her screen test, she’s immediately excused, and she flies back to New Hampshire. She assumes that she has failed.
Lara’s appeal—her honest, small-town charm—is exactly what a career as an actress is bound to destroy. Her honest upbringing continues to clash with her inherently “dishonest” chosen profession in subtle ways throughout the rest of the story. As this happens, she loses sight of her own identity. The first example of this, at least figuratively, is when she looks at her made-up face and doesn’t recognize it.
Active
Themes
Two weeks later, Ripley flies Lara out for another meeting. He tells her that he and the casting director need to watch her swim. Lara is confused but willing to oblige, having brought a modest navy one-piece with her from New Hampshire. When she’s led to wardrobe and put in a “cute” bikini, however, she realizes what Ripley meant and is consumed with rage. She dives straight into the water and swims like an athlete. Lara ends up getting the role, and Ripley helps her sign with an agent. She quickly learns that part of her charm as an actress comes from her subtlety. Everyone also seems to praise her for her unpierced ears. The movie keeps getting delayed, but Lara’s agent finds her other minor roles, and she settles into a new life in LA.
