American Psycho: Analysis
American Psycho: Analysis
This extract of ‘American Psycho’ conveys most of the wider themes of the text, with similar stylistic techniques that are seen throughout the novel.
Ellis uses a peculiar chapter title with ‘End of the 1980’s’ for this extract and throughout the rest of the book. These titles usually relate to the theme of the chapter or the events within it. This extract is named ‘End of the 1980’s’ which is very significant to the wider text. The entire novel is a dark, satirical look at the consumerism of the 1980’s and how it created so many identical, self-obsessed yuppies. The title of this is hinting again at the theme of redemption. The ‘End of the 1980’s’ is Ellis saying that this is the end of all the greed and vanity that is consuming Bateman entire existence. This is a very effective style as it bookends the theme of revelation against the last line, ‘anything is possible.’ In my opinion this style is very effective in subtly preparing the reader for what is to come in the chapter as it does for most of the others.
Ellis uses a certain style of punctuation to express Bateman’s insanity in this extract and throughout the wider text. Hyphens are used as a literary representation of Bateman’s mind ‘moving in jump cut’ by splitting up the listing of his fantasies abruptly and representing a manic change of thought. This can be seen throughout the text reinforcing the theme of Batman’s struggle to focus on reality. Ellis then uses question marks to split up these fantasies. These give a more natural transition between fantasy and reality and show how Bateman is questioning what is real, which links to the narrative device of an unreliable narrator. This is seen throughout the text with Bateman being unsure of wether or not he is hallucinating. Towards the conclusion of the exert Ellis uses quite a few ellipses during the conversations between Bateman and Jean. Most of these suggest a double entendre due to Bateman’s yearning to confess about
This extract of ‘American Psycho’ conveys most of the wider themes of the text, with similar stylistic techniques that are seen throughout the novel.
Ellis uses a peculiar chapter title with ‘End of the 1980’s’ for this extract and throughout the rest of the book. These titles usually relate to the theme of the chapter or the events within it. This extract is named ‘End of the 1980’s’ which is very significant to the wider text. The entire novel is a dark, satirical look at the consumerism of the 1980’s and how it created so many identical, self-obsessed yuppies. The title of this is hinting again at the theme of redemption. The ‘End of the 1980’s’ is Ellis saying that this is the end of all the greed and vanity that is consuming Bateman entire existence. This is a very effective style as it bookends the theme of revelation against the last line, ‘anything is possible.’ In my opinion this style is very effective in subtly preparing the reader for what is to come in the chapter as it does for most of the others.
Ellis uses a certain style of punctuation to express Bateman’s insanity in this extract and throughout the wider text. Hyphens are used as a literary representation of Bateman’s mind ‘moving in jump cut’ by splitting up the listing of his fantasies abruptly and representing a manic change of thought. This can be seen throughout the text reinforcing the theme of Batman’s struggle to focus on reality. Ellis then uses question marks to split up these fantasies. These give a more natural transition between fantasy and reality and show how Bateman is questioning what is real, which links to the narrative device of an unreliable narrator. This is seen throughout the text with Bateman being unsure of wether or not he is hallucinating. Towards the conclusion of the exert Ellis uses quite a few ellipses during the conversations between Bateman and Jean. Most of these suggest a double entendre due to Bateman’s yearning to confess about