How Materialism Contributes to Bateman's Psychopathy (1/3)

Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho is a story told by the psychopath himself, Patrick Bateman, about his double life as a wealthy Wall Street banker and violent serial killer. The novel gives deep insight into how a psychopath like Bateman thinks during his social interactions and his violent crimes. After having read a third of the novel, the complexity to his psychopathic nature was revealed which demonstrated to me that psychopaths are not always simply born apathetic and inherently evil, but instead can be surrounded by factors that drive them to behave this way. Since he is surrounded by an exclusive elite social circle that is driven by materialistic values, Patrick Bateman learns from his environment that the only way to maintain his status in his elite world is to be aggressive and apathetic. Their overarching materialistic values relate to their sense of dominance, status, and identity and ultimately define Bateman's motivations for his psychopathic thoughts and actions. American Psycho is a novel like none other that I have read due to its unique narrative style. Throughout the book, Bateman repetitively and consistently tries to maintain superiority, treats people differently based on their perceived status, and describes and makes note of others' and his own appearance. Reading these repetitive behaviours from Bateman, as well as from his friends, strongly reinforces to me the idea that respect and status come solely from materialistic dominance, elite status, and outward appearance and that that is all that matters in their world.

Picture that illustrates materialism.

Reading through the novel, I found myself on edge whenever Bateman would be provoked, knowing that he is capable of killing anyone he meets. When his dominance is threatened, there is always the fear that he will deal with it by eliminating the source of his discomfort. Therefore, when trying to decipher the sources of Bateman's motivations, I first looked at his moments of vulnerability and loss of control of his dominance. Since Bateman's values are superficial, in every social interaction, it is clear that he makes the conscious effort to maintain dominance based on these materialistic values. When he loses his secure sense of superiority, he loses his apparent apathy and self-control that makes him so intimidating as a psychopath, and instead replaces those qualities with emotional instability and frustration. His most prominent instance of insecurity is when he is jealous of his friends' business cards. During a dinner, he proudly whips out his newly designed business card, but is quickly defeated when his friends, one by one, show off their own business cards which look better than his. Although, after admitting that his friends' business card is better, he finds it "hard to swallow" (Ellis, 45), Bateman later reveals the true extent of how upset he is when he is 

"still tranced out on Montgomery's card -- the classy coloring, the thickness, the lettering, the print -- and [he] suddenly raise[s] a fist as if to strike out at Craig and scream[s], [his] voice booming, 'No one wants the fucking red snapper pizza!'" (46).  

 Bateman risks his reputation when he loses control and appears unstable to his friends, but his outburst as a result of his threatened dominance over his friends demonstrates how his internal uncontrollable weakness is his constant need to dominate. What I find the most interesting about his superiority complex is the fact that it is always based on material values. In this case, it is his inferior business card, but in other cases where he loses his composure, it is the need to have the best sound system, the most expensive underwear or the most luxurious meals. Psychologically, this extreme need to be materially better than everyone else explains why he would enjoy torturing those who make him feel materially inadequate. In a way, by being aggressive to anyone who could threaten his dominance, he proves to himself that he is, ultimately, the superior. For instance, while McDermott ridicules Bateman for his pizza outburst to Van Patten, Bateman thinks, 

"I have a knife with a serrated blade in the pocket of my Valentino jacket and I'm tempted to gut McDermott with it right here [...], maybe slice his face open, sever his spine" (52).

Therefore, Bateman controls and maintains his pride and material dominance complex by knowing that, ultimately, he can take control over the fate of a potential threat's life.

Patrick Bateman's business card from the American Psycho movie.

Because of Bateman's materialistic core values, he evaluates everyone's worth and identity based on what they have. This allows for him to maintain the belief that, as a rich man, he is fundamentally entitled to be better than the proletariats and even those within his social circle who make less money than he. He is quick to judge a person's worth based on their social status, which makes it easy for him to murder and torture people who he perceives to be so far beneath him. Every time he interacts with people outside of his elite social group, I noticed that there is consistently a reference to Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, establishing it as a symbol for Bateman's classism. The last time (in the first third of the book) that Les Misérables is mentioned is when he finds a homeless man and his dog on the street. As "a torn playbill from Les Misérables tumbles down the cracked, urine-stained sidewalk," (128) Bateman spots this homeless man and taunts him by telling him to "get a goddamn job" (130). As his annoyance and rage for this homeless man builds up, he sighs, 

"I'm sorry. It's just that… I don't know. I don't have anything in common with you." (131)

  -- before stabbing and torturing him. To Bateman, this man is not worth anything because he has no job and therefore cannot afford anything that will give him any value, while Bateman has everything and is therefore worth everything, ultimately giving him a reason to torture him. Furthermore, Bateman's materialistic values extends from defining others' worth to establishing others' identities. When I first started reading the book, I found it difficult to keep track of the minor characters because any introduction to a character is solely based on what and who they are wearing. This gives me the impression that aesthetic and luxury defines everyone's identity. My impression is reinforced when many people, including Bateman himself, are often misidentified. For example, when Paul Owen approaches Bateman, Bateman realizes, 

"Owen has mistaken me for Marcus Halberstam [...] but for some reason it really doesn't matter and it seems a logical faux pas since Marcus works at P&P also, in fact does the same exact thing I do, and he also has a penchant for Valentino suits and clear prescription glasses and we share the same barber at the same place, the Pierre Hotel, so it seems understandable; it doesn't irk me." (89).

 Clearly, it is commonly accepted that his identity is defined by his outward appearance, which explains why he is so obsessed with his morning and workout routines. In this way, I empathize with him because if I were constantly defined by my appearance, I would certainly have as much of an elaborate morning and gym routine as Bateman to maintain a respectable identity. This materialistic sense of identity also explains why Bateman is so emotionally distant from everyone: it is impossible to establish deeper relationships fuelled by empathy since everyone in his elite social group is just as superficial as he. Ultimately, Bateman's lack of meaningful connection and consideration of others due to his materialistic values explain why he feels entitled to and unrepentant of his violent tendencies.

Picture of Bateman with all his designer apparel.

Bateman's materialism corrupts any sense of internal values he may have had before, resulting in a superficial and emotionless life, which explains why he exhibits psychopathic behaviours. His being surrounded by superficial people only reinforces his materialistic beliefs that contribute to his obsessive, antisocial, and narcissistic personality. Although I am not a psychopath, I empathize for Bateman because, in a way, he is a victim to his environment that defines his values for him. Because of these superficial values, his self-worth depends on his ability to distinguish between him and anyone who he perceives to be weak in order for him to definitively determine that he is better than everyone else. The way he proves these distinctions just happens to be by giving in to his violent temptations. Similarly, I evaluate my self-worth based on things that I value in life, so my perception of society is based on these values and evaluations that ultimately make up a large part of my own personality. Another example is in Les Misérables, where conflict comes from the opposing values of compassion and money, which results in personalities that antagonize one another. Therefore, I can understand how much Bateman's materialistic values can have such a great effect to his own personality and thus contribute to his psychopathy. The fact that materialism is such a predominant theme in this novel speaks to how American Psycho must have been written as a satirical piece to demonstrate what materialism can lead to: a superficial and emotionless life where the deepness of human connection can only be surface-level.