American Psycho Analysis English Literature Essay

This chapter concentrates on the society Patrick Bateman lives in. It starts with the description of New York City of the 1980s with a special focus on the importance of fashion and style. Then the social classes’ hatred is characterized, followed by particular characters’ portrayals.

Last part of this chapter is called “Theory of Ignorance” and it is devoted to the communication among the characters from American Psycho based on their egocentrism and self-centredness and misunderstanding necessarily resulting from that.

2.1 FASHION AND STYLE

The whole book is set in New York City; precisely said in Manhattan. It begins in April 1989. It was the last year of Ronald Reagan being the president of the United States. New York City was multicultural and multiracial city and also the most populous city in the whole United States.

The 80’s were the decade of the biggest boom in media-popularized modern technology and entertainment industry connected with that. People were obsessed by owning assorted technical products. “Vaudeville and the movies, the phonograph and radio, television, and now Sony Walkmans and cable television each intruded in the family circle with greater intensity than the previous medium. That this collusion of technology, demographics and market logic is an inevitable development and has been an entirely positive force remains questionable, for it has certainly had some negative results in its effect on families and the formation of adolescent identity.” (p. 226)

In the book, Patrick, too, takes pride in his collection of electronic devices:

The following are delivered mid-October.

An audio receiver, the Pioneer VSX-9300S, which features an integrated Dolby Prologic Surround Sound processor with digital delay, plus a full-function infrared remote control that masters up to 154 programmed functions from any other brand’s remote and generates 125 watts of front speaker power as well as 30 watts in back. (p. 294)

The whole chapter “Rat”, from which this extract comes, is devoted to the list of new electronics Patrick has ordered.

This passion connected with electronics was at that time even supported by launching MTV (Music Television) in 1981. By broadcasting music video clips, a new wave of influence on people (mainly the young ones) was set. The music was everywhere – in advertisements, in movies, in television…In fact, the whole American Psycho looks like a series of video clips.

As far as the popularity of music is concerned, Patrick devotes three chapters from his narration to the description of music interpreters. He chooses his favourites from the pop-music mainstream – Genesis, Whitney Houston and Huey Lewis and the News – and analyses their (almost) entire production: whole albums, particular tracks and the singers, as well. These are the moments when Patrick’s ego reaches its top. By analysing popular trends he wants to brag about his knowledge. But music is not the only area Patrick orientates in.

His ambition of being an appropriate part of the upper-class society dictates him an excellent knowledge of fashion, trends and etiquette. His friends frequently ask him questions about these things and Patrick always offers almost exhausting amount of information.

The chapter “Morning” explicitly shows what Patrick’s generation is interested in: possession, fashion and physical appearance. Possession of luxurious furniture and hi-tech equipment, designer clothes, first-rate brand names (even of food and drink) and perfect look attained thanks to regular visits of cosmetic studios and health clubs. All of these delights cost incredible sums of money, of course, but the upper class believes that the more money they have and spend the more godlike they are.

What is more, Patrick never describes traits of characters of any of his friends or women or even himself. The chapter mentioned in the previous paragraph shows that Patrick has already chosen his priorities. He rather describes equipment of his flat than people. Materialism is the dominant element, and not only here but in the whole book.

People in the 80’s started to be more focused on material values and media, like television and radio, kept them permanently informed about the latest news in technology. These are so-called mass media and they are designed to serve a large amount of people. Newspapers and books also belong here but at that time they meant no new contribution to the entertainment industries.

The boom of mass media and popularity of electronic products (these two are interconnected) brought to the families walkmans, video recorders, cameras and many other devices as well as it brought to homes Patrick’s favourite film genre – pornography.

“In the 70’s and 80’s, with the availability of the VCR, there was even more access to pornography; people could now view it within the confines of their home. Since the 90’s,the boundaries have been pushed by introducing new concepts and features into pornographic works. The tendency is now to try as many new things as possible in what many pornographers claim to be “unique, and exciting.”

http://www.slais.ubc.ca/courses/libr500/03-04-wt1/assignments/www/G_Abaee/history.htm

What is more, by permanent watching and listening to mass media, people have started to live lives of their favourite movie characters, dream what it would be like to be a famous pop star and iconize such people. Not utterly, of course, but if the readers of American Psycho apply that to Patrick, they will realize he sometimes seems to be copying what he sees in the television on in the video: the topics from The Patty Winters Show or the sexual positions from the pornographic video tapes he borrows a lot. In his own words, “pornography is much less complicated than actual sex, and because of this lack of complications, so much more pleasurable.” (p. 254) It sounds a bit as if he enjoyed more a world that does not actually exist. Something that has been arranged in order to amuse people; to entertain them.

But let’s have a look at what Patrick actually does every day. What are his duties and responsibilities? What does he do in his free time?

He need not work hard and he also does not have a family to take care of. His work is not demanding and he has a plenty of free time every day. Besides “murdering” people, he spends it by going to clubs or restaurants, working out in a gym and hanging about with his friends. His life appears to have no real aim and Patrick does not seem to really care about it. There are more important things for him; for example what restaurant he should book a table in and what suit he should choose – Armani or Allan Flusser? What brand name guarantees more prestige?

Names – brand names, restaurant names, names of influential people. Names are everywhere. Every evening Patrick solves where to go; what name of a restaurant will win. If he is lucky enough, he can get a reservation in first-rate restaurants, like Arcadia or Luke. Only a handful of the best ones get into the legendary Dorsia. Club-going is also very popular. Patrick and his friends often connect it with taking drugs.

The upper-class society is so obsessed by names that some of the dialogues including brand names sound ridiculous:

“I was afraid to try Pellegrino for the first time.” She looks over at me nervously – expecting me to…what, agree? – then at McDermott, who offers her a wan, tight smile. “But once I did it, it was…fine”

“How courageous,” I murmur, yawning again,… (p. 242)

San Pellegrino is a mineral water produced in Italy and in the book it potentially competes with Evian over the most popular mineral water.

Names have a vital importance here as they represent some kind of certainty in Patrick’s life. On the other hand, nameless things may bring fear and insecurity. Several times Patrick uses the phrase “nameless dread” for something he is unable to call somehow. If not scared, these things make him at least insecure.

The society Patrick lives in is coherent as one whole unit but it does not pay attention to its individuals. It is fashion and media-oriented and controlled and wants its parts to keep up. Patrick, though being a typical mainstream part of the society, rebels against it and commits violence. But it is vital to understand these crimes allegorically. One thing is that probably all of it just takes place in his mind, but the other one is that the violence is committed against the ignorant society.

2.2 UPPER-CLASS SOCIETY AND YUPPIES

New York City – that is the place where Patrick Bateman lives. It is a city of ethnical diversity as there are many immigrants from all over the world. “Large numbers of Middle Eastern, Latino, Caribbean, Asian, African, and eastern European immigrants settled in neighborhoods such as the Lower East Side, Flushing, Bay Ridge, Fordham, and Jackson Heights in Queens. In 1980 immigrants made up about 24 percent of the city’s population; of them 80 percent were from Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin America. With the city’s still vigorous communities of Italians, Irish, African Americans, and Chinese, the city’s diversity has proven a source of both ethnic and racial tensions on the one hand and cultural enrichment and the promise of a more tolerant social order on the other.”

http://www.answers.com/topic/new-york-city-of-southern-new-york

So it can be seen that living in such kind of a “melting pot” may have its pros as well as cons. Immigrants come to America because of the “American dream”. People came to terms with using this collocation in the early 1930s. By these two words they all understand the same meaning: the possibility of achieving a new, better life and become happier and richer by having the opportunities they did not have in their previous, origin force. The idea of American dream is actually derived from the Declaration of Independence, which states this: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

http://www.ushistory.org/Declaration/document/index.htm

People seek a shelter, mainly because they are not satisfied with their financial situation, working opportunities and regime of the state they originally come from. Some cities are more suitable for a new beginning than the others, for example by being by the sea (like New York City).

Ethnical minorities in American Psycho are typical representatives of the lower social class and as such they are threatened with prejudices whether they work or not. Their cultural influence is not emphasized here as it is rather focused on their collisions with the members of the upper class.

The most memorable of all is the Chinese couple owning a laundry and Al; the black homeless. Although the two Chinese have a good reputation in the city, Patrick is not able or willing to talk affably to them. Al is even attacked by Patrick. He expresses his aversion towards black people later in the haiku for Bethany:

“Look at the poor nigger…on…the…wall

…

Fuck him…Fuck the nigger on the wall…

Black man…is…de…debil?” (p. 224)

It is nothing but an expression of the general class hatred. Working class should work but only in menial positions otherwise they could represent an actual threat for the white people. Some people from the upper-class society do not even try to hide their opinions of minorities. In the chapter “Christmas Party” Patrick is talking to some guy called Charles Murphy who openly criticizes Japanese minority living in New York City. Later Patrick, encouraged by Murphy’s words, attacks and kills a delivery boy who looks like Japanese. But when he opens the cartons the boy had been delivering, “instead of sushi and teriyaki and hand rolls and soba noodles, chicken with cashew nuts falls all over his gasping bloodied face and beef chew mein and shrimp fried rice and moo shu pork splatter onto his heaving chest-…” (p. 173) Patrick realizes he killed a Chinese boy, i.e. the wrong type of the slant-eyed population of New York.

In general, the lower class is considered to be something inferior to the upper-class society. Their advantage consists of making products (not owning them) and serving the upper class (not taking them as equal).

Patrick Bateman comes from the upper-class society. He was born in a rich family so he has never had any need to achieve something on his own. He takes his social status as granted. He belongs to so-called “yuppies”: “Informal for (y)oung (U)rban (P)rofessional, or Yup. turned into yuppie in the 1980’s. A term used to describe someone who is young, possibly just out of college, and who has a high-paying job and an affluent lifestyle. Can now be used to describe any rich person who is not modest about their financial status.”

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=yuppie

Most of the male characters in American Psycho fit into this description. What is more, they often misuse their financial security and independence by overspending money. Let’s have a look at Patrick in the company of his friends. They often compare their knowledge, their style and brand names they wear, they compete in women and money. The scene with business cards is especially famous:

“Picked them up from the printer’s yesterday,” I mention.

“Cool coloring,” Van Patten says, studying the card closely.

“That’s bone,” I point out. “And the lettering is something called Silian Rail.”

“Silian Rail?” McDermott asks.

“Yeah. Not bad, huh?”

“It is very cool, Bateman,” Van Patten says guardedly, the jealous bastard, “but that’s nothing…” He pulls out his wallet and slaps a card next to an ashtray. “Look at this.”

We all lean over and inspect David’s card and Price quietly says, “That’s really nice.” A brief spasm of jealousy courses through me when I notice the elegance of the color and the classy type. I clench my fist as Van Patten says, smugly, “Eggshell with Romalian type…” He turns to me. “What do you think?” (p. 42)

This passage continues with another competing about the best business card and Patrick feels really depressed and jealous. It is basically an endless competition over and over again and the aim is to find out who holds the most exceptional position among them all. Nevertheless, the bare fact is that they are all the same copycats.

Majority of the minor characters surrounding Patrick belong to the upper-class society as well as him. Of course, they could have been selected from all people around him just because ha has decided to include them to his narration and omit the others who are not worth describing for him.

The closest friends and colleagues of Patrick are three yuppies, David Van Patten, Craig McDermott and Timothy Price, all of them being young men from the upper-class society. Patrick would not pick his friends anywhere else. Neither of them is described in greater detail; readers can only guess their character features from what they read. The third of them, Timothy Price, is, according to Patrick’s opinion, “the only interesting person I know” (p. 21). His physical appearance is not important for Patrick as well as it is not important for him to describe what the others look like. Somewhere in the middle of the book Timothy Price disappears. He resurfaces at the end of the book again; he has a new job (better than the old one) and suspicious smudge on his forehead. Where has he been? What has happened to him? This figure, although so close to Patrick, is a mystery, unlike McDermott and Van Patten who are still present and readers make images of them through the endless dialogues:

“So where to?” McDermott asks.

“Who cancels 1500?” I ask.

“You do,” McDermott says.

“Oh, McDermott,” I moan, “just do it.”

“Wait,” Hamlin says. “Let’s decide where we’re going first.”

“Agreed.” McDermott, the parliamentarian.

“I am fanatically opposed to anywhere not on the Upper West or Upper East Side of this city,” I say.

“Bellini’s?” Hamlin suggests.

“Nope. Can’t smoke cigars there,” McDermott and I say at the same time.

“Cross that one out,” Hamlin says. “Gandango?” he suggests.

“Possibility, possibility, “I murmur, mulling it over. “Trump eats there.”

“Zeus Bar?” one of them asks.

“Make a reservation,” says the other. (p. 300-301)

The chapter called “Another night” serves as a precise example of such nonsense conversations. Patrick wants to make a reservation in a restaurant. First, his friend McDermott calls, then somebody called Hamlin joins. Finally, there are four people on the line (Van Patten being the forth one) discussing the various options where to go. They are sometimes interrupted by Evelyn and Jeanette (secret temporary girlfriend of Patrick’s) weeping for Patrick’s attention. The whole chapter ends with a completely different topic and the original one stays unresolved in the background.

Thus it can be precisely seen what they are interested in above all. The world of material things is what surrounds them and they have no intention of changing it in any way.

Paul Owen occupies an exceptional position in Patrick’s world. They are not friends otherwise Paul would remember Patrick’s name; instead of that he is convinced Patrick is Marcus Halberstam. Just like in other cases (men only), Paul Owen is not judged by his personality but by his possession. He is a proud owner of Fisher account – something like an unattainable ideal for most of the people coming from investment-banking world. Therefore Patrick and his friends envy him this invaluable stuff. This Fisher account consists of secret privileges everybody speaks about but nobody has actually found out what they are. What is more, possession of this account also means that its owner is a real man of property. Patrick cannot stand such successful and respected man in his life. Later, in the chapter “Violence”, is written more about how Patrick put up with Paul’s existence.

Luis Carruthers is next in the row of the upper-class figures around Patrick Bateman. Nevertheless, his position is different because of the bare fact that Patrick has discovered Luis is a homosexual. Luis dates a woman called Courtney who is by Patrick regarded as being the second best hardbody (right after Evelyn). Patrick has rather negative feelings towards Luis. As a comparison to Luis’s appearance he uses this:

Vanden seems amused and so now, unfortunately, does Courtney, who I’m beginning to think finds this monkey attractive but I suppose if I were dating Luis Carruthers I might too. (p. 12-13)

He also criticises his choices of suits. That is too much critics and attention from Patrick’s side. Why is he so prejudiced against him anyway?

Later, the first suspicious signs of Luis’s orientation appear:

Luis spots me, smiles weakly, then, if I’m not mistaken, blushes and turns back to the bar. Bartenders always ignore Luis for some reason. (p.30)

Of course, this view can be highly subjective but Patrick also mentions that other men (bartenders in this case, Timothy Price in the previous paragraph) ignore him.

First real discovery happens at Yale club in the men’s room. Patrick wants to strangle Luis, but instead of defending Luis turns and starts kissing Patrick’s hand. There are more episodes with Luis including smiling, talking and even begging Patrick to love him, all of which create a funny image of two homosexuals bickering mutually. One of the openly admits affection towards the other and the other one seems to be going through a tough fight inside himself between homosexual and heterosexual orientation. Readers will never know whether Patrick is or is not a gay but the truth is that he is not able to hurt or injure Luis and incapable of saying directly he is not attracted by men.

Women around Patrick form a very important group as they are the most frequent victims of Patrick’s. The division into social classes is not so important here because they are all the same for him – bodies. Some of them are usable only for sex and murders and some “happily” survive in his presence without any significant actual bodily (or psychical) harm.

It is essential to mention that Patrick does not kill each woman he has / had sexual intercourse with. The key factor of his choice would be simple were it not for one exception. For the first sight it seems that Patrick picks assorted prostitutes serving for hard sex followed by torturing and killing whereas ladies from the upper-class are protected from being murdered just because of the fact that they have a certain social status. This theory is broken by Patrick’s ex-girlfriend Bethany. She is also an upper-class figure (otherwise Patrick would not have gone out with her) with whom Patrick had a relationship at college. Nevertheless, she deserves to die according to him. And die she will. More about her death is included in the chapter “Violence”.

Those of women who die by Patrick’s hands do not have to necessarily be prostitutes. Some of them, like Christie, Tiffany and Torri, have their names at least. They may not be real names; Patrick might like those names and therefore use them for the girls:

Back in my apartment, while Christie takes a bath (I don’t know her real name, I haven’t asked, but I told her to respond only when I call her Christie)… (p. 163)

The rest of the girls stay nameless and readers find out nothing more about them – appearance, profession, social status and so on. These pieces of information are not important for Patrick as they are all just bodies for him. He is neither interested in their past nor does he give them any chance for future. When he sees Christie for the first time, she is standing on a pavement and there is a wall behind her with four big red letters forming the word “MEAT”. It is quite symbolic because Christie is actually the first girl with whom Patrick starts his detailed descriptions of violent acts committed against women. The red colour stands for blood whereas the whole word “meat” is the form of blood neatly arranged into a kind of a shape. In its final grouping, the meat forms a woman’s body and this is what Patrick needs for his pleasure. “Body” here remains the main word here as far as women are concerned.

Women from the upper-class society have the privilege of bigger chance of staying alive. They belong to his social group and their potential disappearing might be noticed by other people. They do not have the status called “nothing”. In fact, they sometimes serve as an important supplement of men if they are good enough.

What does the connection “good enough” mean, anyway? Generally, most of the noble men must agree that a particular woman is worth having sex and a relationship with, she has to come from the upper class, her hardbody looks like a model and she proves a sufficient orientation in current trends. There is utterly nothing about her personality. As was previously written, intelligent women and women with good personalities simply do not exist for them.

Their opportunities to express themselves mostly end up as an empty blather. They rather sound like some talking machines without any switch-off button.

I’ve kept my hands over both ears trying to block out Evelyn’s voice during this whole interim between her mistaking Norris Powell for Ivana Trump and the arrival of our appetizers but now I’m hungry so I tentatively remove my right hand from my ear. Immediately the whine seems deafening.

“…Tandori chicken and foie gras, and lots of jazz, and he adored the Savoy, but shad roe, the colors were gorgeous, aloe, shell, citrus, Morgan Stanley…”

I clasp my hands back where they were, pressing even tighter. Once again hunger overtakes me and so humming loudly to myself I reach again for the spoon, but it’s hopeless: Evelyn’s voice is at a particular pitch that cannot be ignored. (p. 117)

Evelyn is a clear example of the characteristic gender problem: women appear to men to be too much talkative.

Evelyn Williams is one of the upper-class ladies who are acceptable for Patrick. She comes from a good family and works as an executive at a financial services company. She wears luxurious clothes and proves a good taste. She is also very beautiful. Patrick has been going out with her for a long period of time and they look like a perfect couple together. Evelyn has even started to think about their future – wedding, children… Everything could be immaculate in their lives as they both are rich, young and beautiful. But it seems that their long-term relationship has become stereotypical and therefore boring:

I keep studying her face, bored by how beautiful it is, flawless really, and I think to myself how strange it is that Evelyn has pulled me through so much; how she’s always been there when I needed her most. (p. 118-119)

From this extract readers can see that once, a long time ago, there was something like trust, support and reliance between them. They do not know what exactly was happening to Patrick when he needed her most but these things have vanished from the relationship and they do not apply for them anymore. By planning their future Evelyn tries to move it on the next level but Patrick does not co-operate with her. He seeks another experiences Evelyn has no idea about. She is not interested in his personality anymore.

The book also presents the world where there is no space for devotion to each other; it is rather a restrictive factor for both men and women. Patrick and Evelyn are not exceptions as they cheat on each other. Patrick takes it for granted; it is nothing unfair or immoral towards Evelyn. Everybody does that. In fact, Patrick does not describe any sexual intercourse with her during the whole narration. As if nothing like that existed. Instead of that, he mentions her job as a functional method of contraception.

Neither is Evelyn loyal to Patrick. In the first chapter “April Fools” Patrick describes this:

“I have to talk to you,” Evelyn says.

“What about?” I come up to her.

“No,” she says and then pointing at Tim, “to Price.”

Tim still glares at her fiercely. I say nothing and stare at Tim’s drink.

…

Four of us sit around the table waiting for Evelyn and Timothy to return from getting Price a lint brush.

…

Evelyn and Timothy come back perhaps twenty minutes after we’ve seated ourselves and Evelyn looks only slightly flushed. Tim glares at me as he takes the seat next to mine, a fresh drink in hand, and he leans over toward me, about to say, to admit something,… (p. 11-12)

Patrick is pretty sure that Timothy and Evelyn have an affair but he does not care. It leaves him completely calm.

Patrick picks for cheating on Evelyn not only prostitutes but also women from the upper class. Courtney Lawrence is Evelyn’s close friend and Luis Carruthers’s fiancée. She and Patrick occasionally have sex. Courtney is addicted to assorted pills but, in Patrick’s opinion, she has a perfect body, therefore other negatives are irrelevant. She eventually marries Luis even though she does not love him.

Jeanette is Patrick’s temporary girlfriend while he is angry with Evelyn. She is not specified in any more detailed way. There is just a mention of her being pregnant and forced by Patrick to go to abortion:

This is, I think, the fifth child I’ve had aborted, the third I haven’t aborted myself (a useless statistic, I admit). The wind outside the limousine is brisk and cold and the rain hits the darkened windows in rhythmic waves, mimicking Jeanette’s probable weeping in the operating room, dizzy from the anesthesia, thinking about a memory from her past, a moment where the world was perfect. I resist the impulse to start cackling hysterically. (p. 367)

This is so cruel. Although it may not be truth, Patrick clearly shows no interest in anybody else’s feelings. The sheer lack of empathy only fits into the standards of the common behaviour of the others from the book.

But not all of them should be judged evenly. Bethany is one of those exceptions. When she has lunch with Patrick, she cares about what he does and asks about his life. It may be because she tries to keep the conversation fluent or she is just interested in her old acquaintance. But there is one thing readers can be absolutely positive about – she is not stuck in endless monologues about things related to her.

Another exception from the world of egocentrism is Jean; Patrick’s secretary. She embodies Patrick’s potential fortress of reliance. Despite the fact that she does not belong to Patrick’s social class, he does not look down his nose on her. He even admits the possibility of marrying her:

My secretary, Jean, who is in love with me and who I will probably end up marrying, sits at her desk and this morning, to get my attention as usual, is wearing something improbably expensive and completely inappropriate… (p. 61)

Next day at work, she is wearing exactly what Patrick suggested her to wear. This clearly shows Jean’s submissive character and tendency to catch Patrick’s eye. In fact, she looks up to Patrick desperately – she does whatever she is told to and it is not just because of the fact that Patrick is her boss. She is in love with him.

“A lot of people seem to have…” She stops, continues hesitantly, “lost touch with life and I don’t want to be among them.” After the waiter clears her dish, she adds, “I don’t want to get…bruised.”

I think I’m nodding.

“I’ve learned what it’s like to be alone and…I think I’m in love with you.” She says this last part quickly, forcing it out. (p. 361)

This extract shows that she really does not belong among those ignorant people. Just the fact that she is aware of that makes her different. Patrick does not realize that she could “save” him from his psychotic life. She cares about him and sees him in a completely different way than Patrick actually described himself. Her life is devoted to him as she always adapts herself on Patrick’s needs.

At the end of the chapter “End of the 1980s” in the last paragraph there is this glimpse of Patrick’s:

I am dimly aware of a phone ringing somewhere. In the café on Columbus, countless numbers, hundreds of people, maybe thousands, have walked by our table during my silence. “Patrick,” Jean says. Someone with a baby stroller stops at the corner and purchases a Dove Bar. The baby stares at Jean and me. We stare back. It’s really weird and I’m experiencing a spontaneous kind of internal sensation. I feel I’m moving toward as well as away from something, and anything is possible. (p. 365-366)

This feeling that Patrick suddenly has implies the “Happily ever after” ending with the only woman who is caring and loving and will take care of his infantile ego.

2.3 THEORY OF IGNORANCE

Communication in American Psycho is something that needs to be analysed in a greater detail in order to understand “the rules of the game”. The characters are involved in loads of dialogues mostly solving nothing. Sometimes it looks as if the aim of the dialogues was to bore readers. But the important thing about the conversations is that they are not always coherent. Is it done on purpose?

The whole theory of ignorance starts with mistaking people’s names. It can be seen in Patrick’s case that so many people do that. Paul Owen is constantly mistaking him for Marcus Halberstam (and Evelyn for