Brooklyn Foster

Eric Lynch

English 111

April 26, 2022

Major Paper: Critical Book Review

Ellis, Bret Easton. American Psycho. Vintage, 1991.

American Psycho was a book released in early 1991 by author Bret Easton Ellis.

American Psycho was a novel about a man that worked on Wall Street in New York City named

Patrick Bateman who looked and acted like the ideal man of the time. The one who girls would

try to throw themselves at. Everyone said Patrick was “the boy next door” (page 20). He was

smart, he acted kind and caring, but the truth is he only did so when it benefited him. Bateman

paid very close attention to details, like what people were wearing and who the clothes were

made by. The book brings out what a man from the Upper East Side of New York would strive

to be like in the 1980s. Men from that time seemed to care more about money and class than

actual people. In the time period they saw women more as objects than people. But Bateman

takes this a step further, as he views woman as less than just objects, instead seeing them as

play things that are disposable. He wonders about how he would kill them, use them to his

pleasure and get rid of them without getting caught. He is a sociopathic serial killer and unless

you could see inside of his mind you would never know. The reader doesn’t really understand
that in the beginning, but as the passage continues there are clear details highlighting that

something is wrong. He pays more attention to the tiny details than most people, and

occasionally he says little things that give his twistedness away, like when being called the boy

next door he reacted by whispering, “No, I’m not” … “I’m a fucking evil psychopath.” (Page 20).

With the slow beginning of the novel, you wouldn’t think that the book would be as

violent as it was in the end with sexual abuse as well as murder, objectifying, harassment, the

language and slurs used and the dark aspect of the characters mind. Over the years, books have

been more violent, and some would say taboo. Some people believe that the Outsiders is a

violent book, but it is violent in a productive with a purpose of not judging people based on

money, status or anything else. But American Psycho doesn’t have a hidden meaning behind

the violence and this violence can affect people. Author Bret Easton Ellis sees this book more as

being about “the Dandification of the American male” than anything else.

Reading fictional books help people who struggle with mental illnesses like depression

and anxiety feel more connected to the world. But do we really want people who struggle with

life try to connect with American psycho of all things? American Psycho is unproductive by the

excessive amount of violence shown, even more so with the sexual violence that is elaborated

on. Bateman treats women as toys in his own twisted fantasy. There are certain books that

need a bit of violence to add on to the plot of the story to make it better. But American Psycho

takes it to a level that shouldn’t be reached by any novel. Books over the years have gotten a bit

more taboo and more violent. In the 1980s there was a lot of violence and American Psycho

brings out the worst of murder and serial killers.

 Being a killer is caused by mental illness. Killers aren’t always made but some a born.

The 1980s was a time full of serial killers. According to discover magazine there was nearly 770

serial killers operating in the U.S. throughout the 1980s. And up to 70% of killers have a mental

health disorder, mostly a personality disorder (National Library of Medicine), like American

Psychos Patrick Bateman. Part of Bateman’s characteristics was that he was kind of standoffish.

Based on how he acted around others he seemed to have an antisocial personality disorder, “a

personality disorder characterized by persistent antisocial, irresponsible, or criminal behavior,

often impulsive or aggressive, with disregard for any harm or distress caused to other people,

and an inability to maintain long-term social and personal relationships” and quite possibly a

dissociative identity disorder, “a rare psychological disorder in which two or more personalities

with distinct memories and behavior patterns apparently exist in one individual.” Both of these

disorders can be seen in people all over the world. Many criminals to date have antisocial

personality disorder which causes the violent acts made. American Psycho portrays these

Mental illnesses in dark, vile ways that are far worse than the actual thing.

In the 80s and 90s people with mental illness was considered taboo. One talking about

being mentally unwell or going to therapy for just not being okay was seen as taboo and

uncommon. At the time,” care for the mentally ill was pretty much non-existent” (University of

Toledo mental health study” So during the time of American psycho, Patrick Bateman was

unwell and even if he wanted help, he wouldn’t have been able to receive it. He would have

been outcasted rather than worshipped like he wanted to be. He wanted to be seen as a higher

figure that could do as he pleased with whom he pleased but his mental state would have

ruined him as a whole. This might have been where Ellis was coming from when writing the
book. American psycho never came to the conclusion if Bateman was a murderous psychopath,

or it was all just in his mind as psychotic fantasies.

People understand that violence isn’t the answer and that sometimes its needed to help

out a story. Though violence with too much detail isn’t okay for younger minds to read. There

are even some adults who cannot handle the content in this book. If regular people cannot

handle, what makes us think that people with known mental illnesses won’t do anything? There

have been known cases that certain texts have triggered something in certain people with

mental illnesses to react in a bad or unproductive way. It could trigger progress to go back,

suicides or even new killers. Though I do not think it is the books fault but the way some people

can interpret said books. There are also many people who just simply cannot handle the

thought of such vulgar acts of murder and sexual abuse and harassment.

Anything involving sex and harassment is put under the category of taboo. As said in

(“Sex Sells, Dude’ by Justine Ettler), “Bateman takes revenge on Manhattan's sex-workers and

single women, acting out pornographic scenarios with them before restraining, torturing,

raping and killing them, and finally masturbating with their body parts.” American psycho goes

into a dark aspect of sex. Now in the 21st century, sex is starting to be viewed as a normal thing

and almost in some cases ‘beautiful’ but in the 1980s and 1990s sex and anything to do with it

was an unspeakable act. It was meant to be private. But Ellis brought out the unspeakable. Not

only did he speak about sex in such great detail, but he also brought murder and rape into the

picture. “I pull my cock out of Christie’s ass and force Sabrina to suck on it before I push it back

into Christie’s ass and after a couple of minutes of fucking it I start coming and at the same time

Sabrina lifts her mouth off my balls and just before I explode into Christie’s cunt, she spreads
my ass cheeks open and forces her tongue up into my asshole which spasms around it and

because of this my orgasm prolongs itself and then Sabrina removes her tongue and starts

moaning that she’s coming too because after Christie finishes coming she resumes eating

Sabrina’s cunt and I watch, hunched over Christie, panting, as Sabrina lifts her hips repeatedly

into Christie’s face and then I have to lie back, spent but still hard, my cock, glistening, still

aching from the force of my ejaculation, and I close my eyes, my knees weak and shaking. (Ellis

176)” It is these specific details which makes the need for American Psycho to be restricted to

certain readers valid.

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis is an extremely taboo novel from the 1990s. From

the language used to the graphic sexual scenes. It is not quite controversial in the sense that

many people argue about how taboo it is. Everybody who reads this books comes to an

understanding and agrees that his book is meant for mature audiences and even some mature

people cannot handle the outcome of this book and its contents. It is incredibly transgressive

with the amount of violence. When Patrick Bateman first kills the homeless man named Al and

his dog. This homeless man is everything that Bateman isn’t and kills him out of pure disgust

with not only the man but himself as well. He sees other people’s weaknesses as bad, and he

gets rid of his weaknesses by killing others. This is where we start to see his dissociative identity

disorder come through. This version of him is what he sees as the strong part of himself

showing his dominance over other people and continues this with the way he treats women

and rapes and kills them in such the vile ways he does. The Author brings such detail into every

thought that Patrick Bateman has from sex to clothes that other people wear. These small
details are what make this book hard for immature minds and some mature minds to be able to

read. This book is taboo in every detail.