Bateman’s relationship with Evelyn is vacuous and defined by appearances. He suspects that she is cheating on him with a work colleague, Timothy Price. At the novel’s start, the narrator and protagonist, New York stockbroker Patrick Bateman, attends a dinner party hosted by his fiancée, Evelyn. The novel also includes instances of rape, torture, and other graphic violence.Īmerican Psycho takes place during the 1980s. For example, the author employs sensationalist stereotypes that equate mental illness with violence, and the novel is never specific about Bateman’s psychiatric conditions, instead lumping together many unrelated symptoms under the eponymous, derogatory term “psycho.” The novel is, in this sense, more symbolic than realistic it uses Bateman’s psychological state to represent what the author sees as society’s pathological tendencies.īe advised that the novel includes offensive language, including anti-gay slurs (which this study guide quotes but obscures). Since the novel’s publication, many critics and scientists have noted its stigmatizing portrayal of mental illness.
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