American Psycho is Bret Easton Ellis's third novel which catapulted him to literary recognition. He garnered some serious criticism for the portrayal of 26-year-old crazy, Patrick Bateman. The story is set in late 1980s New York and centres around the life of the Upper Manhattan yuppie as he drifts from one posh restaurant to another.
Over the course of the novel, Bateman slits, slashes and tortures his way through a host of women, homeless people and dogs. But what bothers the reader most? Is it the graphic nature of these killings, the utter lack of remorse on Bateman's part, or the bigger picture—the message Ellis is ultimately saying?
Graphic psycho
Sure, the murder scenes are brutal. Not quite the Saw series or The Human Centipede, it borders on snuff. Or it could, if that was the point. The movie version, directed by Mary Harron and starring Christian Bale, seems to deliberately relinquish this brutality. Not necessarily because of its inhumanity, but probably to prevent it from overshadowing what's really at play.
This interpretation by Harron signifies the irrelevance of the violence, but only because the visuals in a movie such as this could override the story itself. In short, the grotesque scenes of the novel drive the narrative. They push the reader to feel, even if it's only dizzying illness, before reaching the climatic epiphany. In contrast, the movie can rely on camera angles and suggestive cuts to create the same effect.
Psychos don't care
One characteristic of psychopathy is a lack of empathy, a disinterest in human emotions. Patrick Bateman never expresses regret. The closest he comes is musing over why he doesn't care. But it's not so much to do with his attachment to humanity as it is to society's regard for people: poor, rich, the in-between.
Ultimately Bateman's disregard for the less privileged, i.e. anyone who's not a wealthy straight white male, is a blatant social commentary. And it goes deeper because the discrimination isn't just against the groups that lie below this category. It's within that privileged domain where characters, though named, are anonymous. Everyone is the same; they dress alike, sleep with each other's partners and spend their time in much the same ways. But so what?
Psychos say it all
While the reader is left to decide whether Bateman is a psychopath or suffering from psychosis, there are other questions to consider. Like why do the many gut-wrenching murder scenes start to seem inconsequential? How do conversations repeatedly return to the same subjects without ever answering life's 'big questions'? And why is society on the one hand ushered toward generosity and on the other fed greedy ambitions?
So while this book doesn't claim to answer any of these issues, it at least poses the questions we're often too afraid to ask. Because if we can't solve something, it seems we don't want to know about it at all.
(Easton Ellis, Bret, American Psycho, Vintage Books 1991, ISBN 978-0-330-54453-5)
Natasha Browne - Natasha is an Irish writer currently living in London. She grew up in a small town called Delgany and moved to the UK in September 2008. ...
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