Metropolitan: Fragility

Fragility in Metropolitan is a key issue. Every character in Stillman's flamboyant depiction of New York's wealthy college population seems to have some sort of inherent weakness that comes with age. Of all the characters, Audrey seems to get the focus in this aspect. She is depicted as a girl in transition into a woman, which according to Nick, is a very fragile stage. Of course, Tom, the not so wealthy kid from New York's not so wealthy college population upsets this precarious balance. So why Tom?
Because he is too sincere. Nick, possibly the most sincere and honest character in the film happens to not be on the same level as Tom. Although Nick comes off as straight forward and as someone who says what he thinks, he does not always go straight to the point. Nick seems to have some sense in the matter and says what he thinks only in certain occasions. As we see in the meeting between Nick and Tom, Nick knows what state the people at the party are in. Tom only realizes this at the end (or does he?). Nick is honest when he wants to be, mostly to bad effect. But the key difference is that Nick knows what he is saying has an effect. Tom is just an innocent young adult who stumbled in on a life of high class drama. And he was completely ill suited for the affair.
Through the film, it is easy to call Tom a little pathetic and Nick a mean mean man. Although on the surface these are true, Tom doesn't know any better and Nick has the right intentions in mind. Nick wants to eliminate the facade that is created around such parties but at the same time doesn't want to upset the balance. Tom... well he's just there to upset the balance.