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American Psycho Essay Topics & Writing Assignments

Essay Topic 1

In the beginning of the novel, Tim Price is talking nonstop about the world, filling up the air with meaningless conversation.

Part 1: Why do you think Price felt the need to keep talking while riding in a taxi with Bateman?

Part 2: Do you think that you always need to talk in order to fill up quiet time in a conversation? Why or why not?

Part 3: How do you think you would behave when you were in a car with a person like Bateman? Why?

Essay Topic 2

The men seem to enjoy teasing homeless men with money and then not giving it to them. This happens frequently in the novel.

Part 1: Why do you think the men like to tease the homeless men with money?

Part 2: How do you think you would react if one of your friends did this? Why?

Part 3: How do you behave when...

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American Psycho

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A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-8

Chapters 9-20

Chapters 21-28

Chapters 29-40

Chapters 41-60

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Food, Restaurants, and Reservations

Food is a fundamental marker of power and social status. Evelyn preparing sushi at her dinner party distinguishes her as part of a fashionable elite. So too does Patrick’s constant frequenting of expensive restaurants. Dorsia, the restaurant that he fails to get a reservation at, symbolizes the unsatiable within consumer culture. The unobtainable ideal powers frenzied competition and consumption. A character’s relationship to food signals their status. Stash’s ambivalent social position is seen when he plays with, rather than eats, Evelyn’s sushi. As Bateman says, “I caught my maid stealing a piece of bran toast from my wastebasket in the kitchen” (204). For the less wealthy, food, or its absence, is a continual and visceral reminder of marginalization.

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American Psycho

Bret easton ellis, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

Materialism and Consumption

In American Psycho , Patrick Bateman and his band of incredibly wealthy Wall Street colleagues live lives of utter excess, purchasing nothing but the finest things, wearing only the finest clothes, eating at only the chicest restaurants, and looking down on any who fall short of their standard. These characters are exaggerated stereotypes of the 1980s Wall Street “yuppie” class that Ellis means to critique – often to the point of satire – in his…

Identity and Isolation

Throughout the novel, instances of consumed and mistaken identity contribute to a growing experience of isolation on the part of both the reader and narrator. Bateman is repeatedly mistaken for other people; when he is out with his friends it is not uncommon for someone to greet him as someone else and not be corrected. These constant moments of mistaken identity suggest that, within the world of the novel, it isn’t really important who somebody…

Monotony and Desensitization

Patrick Bateman leads a monotonous life. This affects both his behavior and the way he communicates with the reader. In the novel’s second chapter, titled “Morning,” Bateman describes his fastidious and meticulous morning routine, involving exercise, multiple skin- and hair-care products, and a highly-organized breakfast. By introducing the reader to Bateman’s life in this way, Ellis sets up an understanding of our narrator as someone who lives a very specifically regimented life with day after…

Vice and Violence

Patrick Bateman seems to live off sex and drugs as much as he lives off expensive food, alcohol, and clothing. Early in the novel, his appetite for sex and drugs remains concurrent but distinct from his violent acts, however as things develop and his addictions grow beyond his control, the lines between sex and violence and between drugs and violence are blurred, and Bateman’s vices become intertwined in his torture and murder. This leads him…

Patrick Bateman is an unreliable narrator. By pairing the reader with a storyteller who may or may not be trustworthy in a landscape of drug-addled confusion and hallucination, Ellis creates a world for the reader that is constantly in flux and unstable, mimicking the experience of being inside the mind of a deranged and depraved serial killer and, ultimately, revealing the possibility for the spark of an “American psycho” to be dormant within each of…

American Psycho Essay

There can be only a few doubts the 2000 film American Psycho does serve as a metaphor to the clearly defined parasitic essence of the so-called ‘American dream’, concerned with people’s unconscious desire to impose their dominance upon others.

After all, as the movie illustrates, in America, one’s ability to lead a socially prominent/luxurious lifestyle, has very little to do with the concerned person’s actual value, as an individual that contributes to the society’s well-being. Therefore, there is nothing incidental about the fact that, throughout the film, the main character of Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) is shown being primarily preoccupied with bellyful idling – even in the scenes where he sits at the desk in his office.

Apparently, the director wanted the character of Bateman to be perceived, as such, that allegorizes the very source of the America’s prosperity, concerned with the fact that American richest bankers (the country’s actual rulers) are being in the position to continue printing out the countless tons of a valueless green paper, which in turn is being traded for the world’s most valuable natural resources.

In order to have this nothing short of a robbery more or less concealed, the country’s top-officials come up with the well-meaning but essentially meaningless rhetoric about protecting the values of democracy and combating the ‘world’s hunger’. In the similar manner, the talented demagogue Bateman also never ceases to position himself, as an utterly progressive individual – despite the fact that in the reality, he is a psychotic serial killer.

It is needless to mention, of course, that the above-stated suggestion is rather speculative. However, I believe that it does not make it less legitimate – especially given what we know about the actual causes of the financial crisis of 2008-2009, triggered by the bankers’ irrational sense of greed and by their willingness to lead a luxurious lifestyle, at the expense of depriving the rest of their co-citizens of a chance to advance in life.

It will not be much of an exaggeration to suggest that the film American Psycho is indeed strongly violent. The validity of this suggestion can be well illustrated, in regards to the scenes where Bateman murders people just for the sake of doing.

The latter characteristic of his killing spree is discursively revealing, as it shows that Bateman’s obsession with violence was nothing but the subliminal extrapolation of his endowment with the strongly defined domination-seeking instinct. Being an utterly rich and handsome 27-year-old man, with the particularly bright life-prospects ahead of him, Batemen is shown in the film as a person who had achieved just about anything that one can dream about.

Yet, this did not have even a slight effect on the earlier mentioned Bateman’s instinct – despite having achieved a socially dominant status, the film’s main character continued to aspire to seek dominance. In its turn, this created certain preconditions for the character’s transformation into a serial killer to be only the matter of time.

Hence, the actual significance of the manner, in which Bateman is depicted experiencing the sensation of guilt – the reason why he felt, as he wanted to be arrested, is that on an unconscious level, the film’s main character expected his ‘feats’ to be acknowledged by the society. In other words, the sensation of guilt, on Bateman’s part, did not have anything to do with his actual remorse for having killed a number of people, but rather with his narcissistic desire to remain the focus of the society’s attention.

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IvyPanda. (2018, November 28). American Psycho. https://ivypanda.com/essays/american-psycho/

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Bibliography

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Screen Rant

American psycho explained: what it really means.

American Psycho is often cited as a complex and confusing film, but it's too often misinterpreted due to its ending - here's what the movie means.

• Patrick Bateman in American Psycho symbolizes the violence of corporate greed through his casual cruelty and violent sadism.
• The ambiguous ending of American Psycho questions Bateman's motives and demonstrates the callousness of his friends and colleagues.
• Christian Bale's portrayal of Patrick Bateman sheds light on the character's unsavory views and the troubling admiration he receives from real-life traders.

The real American Psycho meaning is hard to explain, as the film's deeply psychotic protagonist and ambiguous ending make its general message somewhat difficult to unravel. Based on the 1991 Bret Easton Ellis novel, American Psycho follows New York investment banker and unchecked serial killer Patrick Bateman. Christian Bale's performance as Patrick Bateman is iconic and secured American Psycho a cult following that's endured over two decades. Patrick Bateman indulges his most violent urges in American Psycho , acting on every sadistic impulse without any consequence in his Wall Street life.

The film was every bit as controversial as Ellis' novel — little surprise when Ellis himself considered the literary Bateman's descent into depravity and true madness too shocking for cinema. urra culminates on a decidedly ambiguous note which calls many of the previous events of the narrative into question. Many viewers come to the conclusion American Psycho made use of the oft-bemoaned "it was all a dream" trope. However, director Mary Harron stated otherwise. Instead, American Psycho explained Bateman's true nature, rephrasing the entire story in a new light, even if it is easy to miss.

Watch American Psycho on Peacock

American Psycho Soundtrack: Every Song & When It Plays

American psycho uses real violence as a stand-in for corporate greed, patrick bateman's violent sadism is why he's a cultural icon.

American Psycho' s meaning is a commentary on the inherent violence of corporate greed. Christian Bale's movie roles are carefully picked, and he has a preference for stories that dig deep into human nature . Patrick Bateman's casual cruelty and violent sadism are key elements of his characterization , and why he's such a cultural icon. The carnage he causes is a direct example of the American Psycho explained metaphor — violence as a stand-in for corporate greed. The murder spree in American Psycho starts with Bateman being selective and deliberate but escalates for increasingly trivial reasons.

This directly parallels the callous corporate violence Bateman enacts on a whim every day on Wall Street , making decisions that cause financial ruin for others just to brag in the boardroom. American Psycho explained that its violence represents rampantly spiraling greed. Bateman's bloodlust is as insatiable as his colleagues' thirst for profit. His murder of Paul Allen is a key piece of evidence for this, as it represents Bateman's willingness to get ahead by killing his colleagues. Bateman getting away with his actions, proving the indifference that others in his social circles feel towards that level of violence.

On a superficial level, the violence of American Psycho may seem excessive and gratuitous where the story's concerned, but that the violence is so excessive and goes largely unnoticed hits on the absurdity of Bateman's sadism — and thus the absurdity of real-life Wall Street's. Through its brilliant cinematic narrative, American Psycho explained real-life corporate greed through the much more visceral and relatable elements of raw, unhinged violence. Notably, abandoning these compelling themes is why the sequel American Psycho 2: All American Girl didn't do as well as the movie.

American Psycho Is Actually About Patrick Bateman's Moral Awakening

Bateman begins to make sense of the person he has become.

What's less obvious is that American Psycho is actually about Patrick Bateman gaining - not losing - his moral clarity. After Bateman murders his co-worker, Paul Allen, American Psycho explained that Bateman's grip on his double life begins to unravel, as the veil between his two personas begins to slip. As this threatens to consume Bateman entirely, American Psycho ends with him attempting to force others to hold him accountable for his actions. Indeed, it's clear that the film's story follows Bateman as he begins to make sense of the person he has become .

When he can no longer contain the casual cruelty of his hidden persona, his life begins to fall apart, although none of his colleagues seem to care — another moment American Psycho's theme of corporate callousness shows. The bodies disappearing from Paul's apartment in American Psycho explained that the world around Patrick doesn't care about his actions , even as he attempts to come clean. American Psycho explained that Bateman regains his senses while the world remains oblivious to their own greed and corruption.

Patrick Bateman Is Meant To Be An Unreliable Narrator (Because Of His Identity Crisis)

The identity crisis is at the core of bateman's psychosis.

One of the most common misunderstandings about American Psycho stems from its ambiguous ending painting Patrick Bateman as an unreliable narrator. However, the fact that the ending calls Bateman's integrity into question is exactly the point, as it feeds into one of the film's most consistent themes: identity. A key piece of evidence for this is during American Psycho' s mistaken identity moment when Paul confuses Bateman for Marcus Halberstram , triggering the violent murder of Paul Allen (and Bateman's subsequent moral awakening).

American Psycho explained that the idea that Bateman is in the throes of an identity crisis also fits with the film's message about greed. Though Bateman has been enjoying the affluent lifestyle his own greed and corruption have bought him, he's no longer sure exactly who he is. This identity crisis is at the core of his psychosis , and though it makes him an unreliable narrator, it doesn't necessarily do so in the way that the most common interpretation of American Psycho 's ending would suggest.

Why American Psycho's Ambiguous Ending Doesn't Matter

Bateman's friends & colleagues are all as guilty as he is.

The ending of the movie is deliberately ambiguous. The hidden meaning of American Psycho wouldn't be such a talking point if it wasn't, after all. However, it's not intended to call Bateman's actions into question, but rather his motives. One of the reasons that American Psycho gets better upon rewatching is that the finer details point towards a far more satisfying conclusion: the ambiguity of the ending is exactly the point.

As American Psycho explained, Patrick Bateman is an unreliable narrator, so it's easy to assume that the murders didn't happen. Instead, the ending should call into question why no one else is addressing Bateman's troubling comments , and that's where its real ambiguity comes in. The fact that none of Bateman's friends and colleagues are willing to entertain his admission of guilt as serious is evidence that they are all as unreliable as he is and that all of American Psycho 's characters are every bit as guilty as Bateman.

American Psycho Cast & Character Guide

Misinterpreting american psycho may be fueling extremism, patrick bateman has been compared to todd phillips's joker.

American Psycho 's success has raised questions about whether Patrick Bateman's character actually fueled extremism — a concern that often arises when a movie complexly examines morality using violence as a lens. American Psycho was released back in 2000, and it's interesting how decades later, movies like the controversial 2010s movie Joker still have to tackle the same issues (and rebuff the same critique).

Like Joker director Todd Phillips, American Psycho director Mary Harron has had to deal with not just the controversial audience and critical reception, but also the possibility that misinterpretations about the movie could be reinforcing anti-social movements and ideologies . Harron explained (via Vulture ) how Bateman and the Joker, both incredibly violent psychopaths, are so impactful because they naturally put audiences in an uncomfortable position. As Harron said:

"Even though I think the movie is pretty clear — this guy is psycho — you’ve followed him through his vulnerability and his being humiliated and neglected and used by the world and the people around him. And there’s an element where you’re identifying with him. The same conversation happens over and over every so often with a film that is upsetting or disturbing, which is a part of what movies are and do. Then everything settles down. It’s crazy to me that everyone talks about American Psycho in such reverent terms."

While American Psycho and similar movies like Joker and Fight Club critique masculine toxicity , it's plain they can inadvertently inspire these same anti-social elements in society. Sadly, it seems that American Psycho explained Patrick Bateman's psychotic nihilism as endearing by some incredibly lost individuals — an aspiration, rather than a warning. That said, just like how the controversy about Joker and Fight Club actually helped prop up these movies, the social criticisms do the same for American Psycho .

While the iconic status of these movies is well-deserved, particularly because of how their respective controversies reveal how deeply they tap into human nature, it's still worth examining how these highly influential cultural products can change people's actions and ways of thinking . Perhaps future movies like American Psycho should come with a clear disclaimer that it's a critique of the behaviors shown and not an endorsement. Even if Patrick Batman has inspired real-life extremism though, the fault doesn't lie with director Mary Harron or the movie itself — no movie is responsible for real-life violence.

What Christian Bale Thinks Of American Psycho's True Meaning

Bale spent time with real-life traders who loved patrick bateman.

American Psycho explained some of Bateman's most unsavory views and practices, but what does Christian Bale think of his role as the iconic character? Sitting down with GQ , Bale discussed some of his most prolific acting roles, and the topic of Patrick Bateman came up. To prepare for the role, Bale spent some time on Wall Street at the NYC stock exchange and got to experience what it was like on the trading floor. He had various conversations with the men that American Psycho was supposed to be depicting, and some of their comments turned out to be troubling.

"[...] but the guys on the trading floor, when I arrived there before making the film, I got there and a bunch of 'em, they were going ‘oh yeah, we love Patrick Bateman’. And I was like, ‘yeah, ironically, right?’, and they were like, ‘what do you mean?’"

The remarks of these individuals are certainly worrisome. American Psycho was meant to critique toxic masculinity, and Patrick Bateman was never meant to be a sympathetic character . The fact that people in positions of power and affluence could sympathize and even "love" Bateman's character proves that there's a larger problem beneath the surface. While the people on the trading floor that Bale met may find something positive in Bateman's character, at least The Dark Knight actor understands what Patrick Bateman from American Psycho was supposed to represent.

How The American Psycho Meaning Compares To The Book

Bateman is more of a serial killer in the book.

There were several differences between the American Psycho book and movie , some of which changed the American Psycho meaning. In the movie, the murders were mostly confined to the corporate world and Patrick Bateman's personal life. However, in the book, Bateman kills more mercilessly and will often kill people who have nothing to do with the themes of corporate greed and his own isolation. At one point in the book, he kills a man who hits on him in Central Park. He not only kills the man because of his sexuality, but he murders the man's dog as well.

One disturbing scene in the book comes with the murder of a young child at the zoo. In the book, Bateman slices the neck of the boy, enjoying the moment. However, later he regrets this and feels that he killed someone who had no real mistakes to pay for. This made him seem like someone killing people who deserved it, and it showed that when he regretted a kill that broke that entire mantra. He killed 23 people in the movie and murdered over 50 in the book, changing the American Psycho meaning to something even darker.

American Psycho

Based on the book of the same name by Bret Easton Ellis, American Psycho follows Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) an investment banker in New York in 1987 who leads a double life as a serial killer. As investigators circle Bateman after the disappearance of a colleague, he finds himself trapped in a spiral of murder and excess, unable to stop himself from giving in to his increasingly dark urges. Also stars Willem Dafoe, Jared Leto, Justin Theroux, and Reese Witherspoon. 

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How One Family Lost $900,000 in a Timeshare Scam

A mexican drug cartel is targeting seniors and their timeshares..

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A massive scam targeting older Americans who own timeshare properties has resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars sent to Mexico.

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American Psycho

By bret easton ellis, american psycho summary and analysis of part 1.

Patrick Bateman rides in a taxicab through the Financial District of Lower Manhattan with Timothy Price . Both are mid-twenty-something Wall Street executives at a firm named Pierce & Pierce. Price removes his Walkman headphones and rants cynically about sensational headlines in the newspaper about organized crime, child abuse, and the AIDS crisis. Price scorns the idea of providing welfare for the homeless, and announces he will soon break up with his girlfriend, Meredith. The men arrive at a brownstone on the Upper West Side owned by Patrick's girlfriend, a financial executive named Evelyn.

A woman named Courtney opens the door, and Patrick flirts openly with her in the entryway despite knowing she is dating a man named Luis Carruthers. Evelyn serves sushi in light of the group's canceled dinner reservations. In the living room, Patrick and Tim introduce themselves to a bohemian couple Vanden and Stash, whom Tim immediately dislikes. After Tim and Evelyn disappear together for twenty minutes, they join the others for dinner, during which Patrick and Tim silently express contempt for Stash, whose offbeat humor and unrefined dress make them uncomfortable. Patrick sarcastically delivers a long impromptu speech that extols the virtues of strong social welfare programs in the United States, bemusing Tim and confusing the others.

Evelyn serves sorbet for dessert, and after Courtney, Vanden, and Stash leave, Evelyn tells the men that Courtney is having an affair with her real estate broker. When Evelyn repeatedly calls Patrick "the boy next door," Patrick responds, "No... I'm a fucking evil psychopath." Tim mocks Stash's catering job and flirts aggressively with Evelyn in front of Patrick, who guesses the two are having an affair. In bed, Evelyn casually dismisses Patrick when he asks why she does not choose to date Tim, before telling him that Stash is HIV positive and likely to have sex with Vanden. When Patrick says, "Good," she becomes aroused and the two attempt to have sex but fail. Patrick later masturbates and climaxes thinking about a catalog model.

Patrick describes his state-of-the-art home furnishings and morning rituals, which include soothing his face with an ice pack, adhering to an elaborate skincare routine, and using a laser lens-cleaner on his compact discs. While eating breakfast, he reads USA Today and watches a tabloid talk show named The Patty Winters Show . After work, Patrick and Tim meet two men named David Van Patten and Craig McDermott at a bar named Harry's. The men argue over fashion etiquette and listen to Craig tell a raunchy anecdote about a Vassar alumna before a man named Preston joins them. Tim directs homophobic insults at a British man at the bar named Nigel Morrison, and Preston makes anti-Semitic comments about a Jewish man named Paul Owen . When Patrick scolds Preston for his remarks, Tim taunts Patrick, calling him, like Evelyn did, "the boy next door." Preston badly fumbles his way through a joke with a racist punchline that makes everyone but Patrick laugh.

Craig secures a table for the men at a restaurant named Pastels, where they order appetizers and talk to a wealthy man named Scott Montgomery. Scott introduces his girlfriend as Nicki and hands off his business card to Tim so they can play squash. After Scott leaves, the men discuss his enormous net worth, and David claims Nicki is an alcoholic. During a lull in the conversation, Patrick shows off his new business card, which prompts David to pull out his even nicer card, which catches Tim's eye. Tim brandishes his own card, and finally shows the group Scott's, which enthralls Patrick. Patrick belittles Craig for ordering the restaurant's "brittle" pizza, then forcibly bribes the waitress into letting the men smoke cigars indoors. David tells the group he owns a tanning bed. Scott sends over the men a complimentary bottle of champagne, which they ridicule for being non-vintage before leaving.

At an exclusive club named Tunnel, Tim gains entry for the group despite the tuxedo-only dress code. In line, Patrick mentions having to resist the urge to stab Craig with a "serrated blade." Once inside, Craig and David part ways with Patrick and Tim, who head to an area of the club called the Chandelier Room to buy cocaine from a man named Ted Madison. Madison takes Tim's cash and introduces them to his friend named Hugh, which Patrick and Tim mishear as "You." While the men wait for the drugs, Patrick tells Tim he is taking Courtney out, and Tim contemptuously suggests that he pay a prostitute instead. In a men's room stall, Tim becomes infuriated by the paltry, weak drugs, and nearly attacks a man in the next stall. After talking to Paul in the Chandelier Room, Tim tells Patrick he is leaving. Patrick, Craig, and David later find Tim balancing on a set of guardrails, and watch him leap off and disappear into the tunnel, before leaving themselves.

The next morning, Patrick arrives late to work. He tells his secretary Jean to cancel a meeting and to make lunch reservations. He also tells her he wants a tanning bed, and never to wear her present outfit again. Later, Patrick works out at an exclusive health club, where he suspects men are ogling him, and then stops by a video store, where he renews the film Body Double because he is aroused by a scene where a woman is drilled to death. At a local newsstand on the way home, Patrick suffers a nosebleed while buying Sports Illustrated and pornographic magazines, and in the elevator, he runs into Tom Cruise, his building's penthouse resident. The two have an awkward conversation during which Patrick mistakenly calls Cruise's film Cocktail "Bartender."

Bret Easton Ellis 's 1991 novel American Psycho draws upon a deep well of literary and artistic influences, many of which are on display in its opening pages. Ellis chose to open the novel on April 1st, 1987, the same day that Andy Warhol's funeral took place at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan. The novel's vacant, hyper-commercialized prose style in many ways reflects the emotionally detached, artificial, and transgressive aspects of Warhol's visual and cinematic art, while at the same time providing a nihilistic epitaph for the youthful, progressive zeitgeist of the 1960s. The first chapter title—"April Fools"—suggests that what is to come may be a kind of satirical hoax. in his 2019 autobiography White , Ellis muses, "maybe it's all a dream, the collective sensibility of consumerist yuppie culture seen through the eyes of a deranged sociopath."

The novel's opening line—"ABANDON ALL HOPE YE WHO ENTER HERE"—is a quotation from the "Inferno" section of Dante's epic poem Divine Comedy , specifically a scene in Canto III in which Dante passes through the gates of Hell. Whereas Dante reads the words inscribed on the gate itself, Patrick reads them on the side of the Chemical Bank, drawing an immediate figurative link between the world of finance and the prospect of Hell. Dante describes Hell as, "a realm ... of those who have rejected spiritual values by yielding to bestial appetites or violence," a canny description of Patrick's gradual descent into murder, torture, and cannibalism. Inferno 's graphic catalog of gory trials, which the damned must endure in the various circles of Hell, is a key literary precursor to the painstakingly described gauntlet of tortures to which Patrick subjects his victims. Dante's moral excoriation of Florentine politicians also parallels Ellis's own disgust with the self-regarding decadence of Wall Street in the late 1980s.

Upon its initial publication, American Psycho also drew comparisons to Oscar Wilde's Gothic novel The Picture of Dorian Gray — an unfavorable review in The New York Times remarked that " American Psycho is the journal Dorian Gray would have written had he been a high school sophomore." Indeed, one can almost view the novel as an updated reimagining of the plot of Dorian Gray , wherein the amoral and hedonistic appetites of a beguilingly handsome, narcissistic, sexually ambiguous upper-class man lead him to commit foul acts of murder. Both novels interrogate the relationship between pleasure and violence, innocence and evil, the observer and the observed; just like Dorian Gray's nickname in Wilde's novel is "Prince Charming," Patrick's nickname in American Psycho is "the boy next door."

Moreover, both Dorian Gray and American Psycho make liberal use of the gothic trope of the double, or doppelgänger, such as when Patrick ominously mishears Madison's friend Hugh's name as "You." The deceptive duality of Patrick's nature—"boy next door" versus "evil psychopath"—brings to mind not only Dorian Gray but another gothic text, Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde . Whereas Jekyll's double is Hyde, and Dorian's is his portrait, Patrick has a number of doubles, including Marcus Halberstam and Paul Owen, whom Patrick often impersonates while committing misdeeds. Patrick is constantly mistaking—and mistaken for—other people, a running joke that seems to underwrite finance world hierarchies at the same time that it suggests that identities are unimportant, even interchangeable, within the confines of the novel’s stultifying Wall Street monoculture.

Literary influences aside, the style of American Psycho is also deeply indebted to mass cultural forms like cinema, television, Broadway, popular music, pornography, and advertising. Patrick's narration is often cinematic, as in the novel's opening paragraph—"like in a movie, another bus appears...”—and he is an habitual film-watcher, renting pornography and titillating Hollywood films like Brian DePalma's 1984 erotic thriller Body Double (yet another reference to doppelgängers). Patrick obsessively watches The Patty Winters Show, a fictional tabloid-style daytime talk show in the vein of Jerry Springer or Sally Jesse Raphael, presumably for its lurid representation of taboo subjects, which fascinate him. Several characters invoke Les Miserables , the 1980 musical based on Victor Hugo's 1862 novel, but in keeping with the novel’s theme of superficiality, they ignore its social message concerning poverty and injustice and merely argue whether the American or British cast recording is superior.

American Psycho Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for American Psycho is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

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Study Guide for American Psycho

American Psycho study guide contains a biography of Bret Easton Ellis, literature essays, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About American Psycho
• American Psycho Summary
• Character List

Essays for American Psycho

American Psycho essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis.

• Shocking the Reader in American Psycho and A Clockwork Orange
• Capitalism, Violence, and Sexuality ‘American Psycho’ by Bret Easton Ellis and ‘Dracula ’by Bram Stoker.
• Portrayal Hegemonic Masculinity and Male Fragility in Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho
• Abject Addictions: A Neoliberal Nightmare in American Psycho and Trainspotting

Wikipedia Entries for American Psycho

• Introduction
• Development