A Short Introduction to American Psycho

American Psycho revolves around the life of Patrick Bateman, a wealthy and attractive Wall-street yuppie living in Manhattan. Patrick Bateman is the archetypal ‘yuppie,’ in that he is completely and totally shallow and materialistic. Throughout the novel Bateman provides long and meticulous details of the meals he eats at the trendiest restaurants, the clothing he wears by the latest designers and the violent sexual exploits he has with numerous women.

The story follows Bateman’s day-to-day life; the novel is his stream of consciousness. In the beginning of the novel Bateman satisfies himself sexually by pursuing a number of women, both acquaintances and prostitutes, and by fantasising while watching pornography and violent horror films.

Torture, Mutilation and Murder

Bateman then transfers his fantasises to ‘real-life’ as it were; the violence cumulates when he meets a nameless girl who he sleeps with before torturing her in the most gruesome of ways. While Bateman forces her to watch a recording of a previous victim being cannibalised, he mutilates her by forcing a power drill into her mouth. He then forces a tube into the girl’s vagina, allowing a starved rat to enter her. Bateman finally kills the girl with a chainsaw. (Ellis, 2000, p.326-329)

Aside from the horror of the act itself, is Bateman’s attitude towards both the girl and his treatment of her: ‘I’m used to the horror. It seems distilled, even now it fails to upset or bother me.’ (Ellis, 2000, p.329)

Fresh Meat

Bateman makes use of the services of prostitutes on numerous occasions:

‘She’s blond and slim and young, trashy but not an escort bimbo…Behind her, in four foot tall, red block letters painted on the side of an abandoned brick warehouse is the word M E A T.’ (Ellis, 2000, p.168)

This metaphor demonstrates how women are viewed as pieces of meat to be consumed by Bateman. Bateman later hires another prostitute demanding that she must be blonde. When she arrives he notes that ‘She looks like she’ll be worth whatever it is I’m paying her by the hour.’ (Ellis, 2000, p.171)

Nameless Hardbodies

Most of the women that Bateman meets that are from his own social circle are also reduced to a physical description. Names and personalities of these women are completely irrelevant;

‘‘‘A good personality… consists of a chick who has a little hardbody and who will satisfy all sexual demands without being too slutty about things and who will essentially keep her dumb ****ing mouth shut.’’’ (Ellis, 2000, p.91)

This shows how women are commodified for the sadist. Bateman doesn’t care about the women he meets, tortures and murders, because they exist only to satisfy his sexual needs.

Horrific Reality or Murderous Fantasy?

However, it should be noted that it is unclear whether all of Bateman’s exploits are fictional or not. It could be argued that Bateman is indeed just fantasising. Bateman says he has murdered Paul Owen, thoroughly detailing his demise. Later he confesses to this murder; but he is told that Owen is not dead and has been seen in London.

It this another case of mistaken identity, or has Bateman really killed Owen? Ellis leaves this up to the reader to decide.

There is more evidence to support the idea that Bateman is and always has been insane: towards the end of the novel, while withdrawing money, Bateman states that the ATM machine asks him to feed it a stray cat, and that park benches follow him home. (Ellis, 2000, p.395)

These bizarre events serve to demonstrate how Bateman is spiralling down into madness; although it suggests that Bateman’s murderous rampage so far may have just been a figment of his imagination, it is never categorically denied, again, leaving the reader to decide.

References:

Ellis, B.E., ‘American Psycho,’ London: Picador, 2000

Further Reading:

Murphet, J., ‘Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho, A Readers Guide’, London: Continuum Publishing Group, 2002

Bret Easton-Ellis

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