#i hope the links work for u anon im on desktop so idk if itll work but maybe idk

[silenthorror]

Patrick Bateman Patrick Bateman Patrick Bateman (summoning ur thoughts on him king

ur first mistake <3 spoilers 4 the american psycho book </3 and even more of my thoughts are here and here

OKAY. OKAY OKAY SO. i think one of the main motives that is driving patrick bateman to do certain things is definitely his craving for something Real and Tangible in his life. he wants consequences, he wants people to feel Real to him, to experience Real emotions. and i think this is definitely one of the themes most prevalent in the book that goes hand in hand with the commentary of yuppies that's prevalent as well. but that's not to to say that he feels Bad over his inhuman acts of violence that he takes over the course of the books. i think the scene that people bring up the most to "Prove" that he might feel bad is the phone scene, where he calls his lawyer and confesses his crimes to him, to somehow show that patrick bateman has empathy. i think its a kind of weird to take that scene and analyze it that way, yk? like he doesnt feel remorse over what he did; literally he ends the phone call with a dismissive "guess im a pretty sick guy" like he does not feel empathy for what he has done. the reason i think he even confessed in the first place is a) he was going through an episode, and this is proven when the police chase happens (i believe that this police scene did not actually happen, and that patrick bateman was just disassociating or just having a delusion but if it did happen, then it even MORESO goes with the theme of patrick bateman being stuck in a cycle but ykyky thats a whole another post JDFG) and b) he desperately wants to escape from the cycle that he has been put in since birth. he wants consequences for his actions, he wants to experience something real from the world. and this ties in with the yuppie theme that the culture is just the same and is so draining (wake up, go to a job you don't really need, go to a restaurant where you don't eat at just to show your wealth etc etc etc) he /can't/ get what he wants (to get out of the yuppie lfie, to actually experience something real) because he's afraid of the backlash. there's a chapter in the book where he goes on a date with his ex-gf from college and when she asks him why he goes to work, if he doesn't like it, if he doesn't even NEED to work, he says that he wants to fit in. this is ALSO shown in the movie in that iconic scene where evelyn says they should get married but patrick bateman says that he can't take time off of work. THATS LITERALLY THE SAME SCENE FROM THE BOOK. anyway. i think thats why he breaks up with evelyn later in the book too because he realizes that she isnt even real. like shes not her own person with her own ideas and morals and stuff. that chapter where they break up is probably one of my favorites because you can really get to Know the inner workings of his brain and stuff. and i ALSO think thats why he just blanky sometimes says he enjoys killing people; because he's so desperate for people to get out of their own social bubble and just be like "yo wtf this guy is a freak, he literally talks about how he wants to murder women like wtf" like he wants people to Notice him? he even mentions it offhandly in a chapter too (i cant remember which but really any one of them probably fits) and even later on where he kills a girl and slowly goes into a panicked manic state.

to even further prove the fact that nothing on earth feels Real to him is the multiple movie references he makes throughout the book, like cinematography techniques, like the "camera" zooming in and "music" coming on in the background. like hes fully not connected to the world around him like at all. hes not comprehending any of it but yet sometimes he does and its all Painful Real.

like hes not a happy person. hes not happy. again with the chapter where he's on a date with his ex, he says this, "Did you ever see me? Does anybody really /see/ anyone else?" and even in a chapter with his MOM, she mentions how he doesnt look happy. and like. HE DOESNT DESERVE TO BE HAPPY. he deserves to be stuck in the same cycle, in the same routine, desperately trying to be Seen and Noticed and Acknowledged but always falling short of it. he deserves to be constantly in the same loop because if he goes to jail, he's getting what he wants, and if he dies, then he's also getting what he wants (an escape from the reality he lvies in). LITERALLY the edning sentence for the book is perfect. "THIS IS NOT AN EXIT" CUS ITS SO TRUE SO TRUE SO TRUE. it doesnt even MATTER that patrick bateman now realizes the cycle that he's stuck in, the "confessions" to himself, the things he has now realized, it doesnt even matter. just because he recognizes the futility of it all, it wont be an exit from the reality he has found himself in. DOES IT MAKE SENSE??

#i hope the links work for u anon im on desktop so idk if itll work but maybe idk #im sorry this makes no fuckign sense at all and its literally all just word dumps and i probably didnt explain myself correctly / repeated #myself but GRHGRGNRHGRHGRBGHRBGHRGBRG BITINGGGGG #but lol anyways im normal now. sexy even.. #ask tag