History Literature / AmericanPsycho

----

* EstablishingSeriesMoment: The very first words of the novel are 'ABANDON ALL HOPE ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE', which right of the bat lets the reader know what they're in for.

* EatDirtCheap: While vacationing in the Hamptons, Patrick claims to enjoy going out on evening strolls on the beach, digging up baby crabs and eating handfuls of sand.

* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Casual mentions are made in the story of Patrick having committed rape, with his murders also tending to get quite graphic with sexual violence. [[spoiler:While it's deeply questionable by the end if he actually killed anyone, the former is perhaps the one crime he could have realistically committed.]]

* OneHourWorkWeek: Patrick's job is very high-paying, with a cushy office, but he doesn't seem to ''do'' any actual work there and has a lot of free time on his hands. He frequently arrives late to his office, cuts out early, or does ''both'', while he prioritizes shopping errands, lunch meetings, or feeding his more personal obsessions back at his apartment. Whenever Patrick actually ''is'' at his office, his time is still spent watching TV, listening to music on his walkman, doing crossword puzzles, lifting weights, and doing any number of other unrelated activities. Famously, when Patrick and all his associates attend a business meeting, the entire time is spent showing off their business cards, and later, when Patrick attempts to ''look'' busy when visited by Detective Kimball, all Patrick can think to do is pick up his phone receiver and ramble on about men's fashion and proper tipping etiquette, rather than pretend to actually be in the middle of business. When his secretary looks through his day planner, it's almost empty save for lunch dates. It's mentioned that [[{{Nepotism}} it's his dad's company]].

, * {{Satire}}: A common theme in the story.

** At several points Patrick and several people in his social circle trail off in the middle of conversation, not actually having a conversational end-goal or really knowing anything about topics, sometimes realizing that the audience generally isn't listening.

* SarcasticConfession: Bateman confesses his murders openly to a lot of people, but nobody takes him seriously. Sometimes, his confessions aren't really sarcastic; he actually wants people to believe him, but they never do. More to the point, all the Stepford Yuppies he reveals himself to are too self-involved to hear him correctly. They aren't even hearing or caring enough to not take him seriously. When he declares himself to work in "murders and executions", the conversation goes on about mergers and acquisitions. And when he tries to break up with Evelyn over lunch, his declaration that his need to commit murder on a massive scale was out of control zings right through her hair. Of course, as noted, it's possible that [[UnreliableNarrator this might not all be real]].
* {{Satire}}: A common theme in the story.

** At several points Patrick and several people in his social circle trail off in the middle of conversation, not actually a conversational end-goal or really knowing anything about the topic, sometimes realizing that the audience generally isn't listening.

* KickTheSonOfABitch:
** Patrick's very cold dumping of Evelyn was cruel, no doubt about that, but it's difficult to imagine anyone wanting to commit to a lifetime of Evelyn's company.
** [[spoiler:Late in the novel, Bateman is held up at gunpoint and robbed by a cabbie, who is convinced that Patrick killed his associate Solly]].

''American Psycho'' is a novel by Creator/BretEastonEllis first published in 1991. It is the story about the archetypal [[TheEighties '80s]] businessman: rich, shallow, unhappy, self-absorbed -- [[BreadEggsMilkSquick and a]] [[TheSociopath sociopathic]] {{serial killer}}.

Patrick Bateman is a {{yuppie}}'s yuppie. He works on Wall Street, has a pretty girlfriend, and spends most of his life in trendy restaurants and clubs. However, he is also a psychotic killer who often hallucinates and murders people in increasingly horrific ways, often [[DisproportionateRetribution over the most trivial of provocations]] [[ForTheEvulz or for no reason whatsoever]].

* TheHerosIdol: PlayedWith. VillainProtagonist Patrick Bateman is infatuated with Creator/DonaldTrump. In Patrick's view, Trump's public image defines the positive features of a life of supreme wealth, luxury, and extravagance which Patrick wants for himself. However, Patrick's own pursuits of such a lavish, materialistic lifestyle leave him a BrokenAce leading a meaningless existence--hollow, sentimentally empty, alienated, morally bankrupt, and purely evil.

* ShowWithinAShow: Frequent references are made to a daytime talk show called ''The Patty Winters Show''. Patrick often brings up the show's topic of the day which ranges from more straight-forward things, such as "Autism" or "Salad Bars," to more bizarre subjects, like a new sport called "Dwarf Tossing," "a boy who fell in love with a box of soap," and "[=UFOs=] That Kill." On occasion, the show seems to be tailored ''just'' for Patrick and his specific interests, such as an episode divided between an interview with his idol, Donald Trump, and "Women Who Were Tortured." Later interviewees, such as [[BigfootSasquatchAndYeti Bigfoot]], whom Patrick found to be "surprisingly articulate and charming", and a Cheerio again make us question Patrick's sanity.

* SuperOCD: The frequent (often unimportant) detail Patrick gives of clothes, decor, and food seems to manifest out of a completely compulsive desire take note of every detail. In the opening chapter, for instance, after already enumerating every article of clothing that Courtney is wearing at Evelyn's house party, Patrick later can't simply say anything to the effect of, "Evelyn is wearing the ''exact'' same clothes as Courtney," and, instead, repeats the same dry description of Courtney's entire outfit to describe Evelyn's appearance. Later on, after describing the "dumpy girl" behind the counter at his video store and her non-designer clothes from the waist up, Patrick begins to have a panic attack as he realizes he has not seen what shoes she is wearing and must desperately try to get a look at them.