American Psycho

At a nightclub, one of Bateman’s colleagues hears three models discussing fashion and wonders out loud whether he is “really hearing an actual conversation” (195). This is a question that could be asked at numerous times in the novel. All the characters, and especially Bateman, are obsessed with fashion and brands. In fact, mere listing of brands can substitute for conversation entirely. This is seen when on a cab ride, McDermott, Courtney, and Patrick “each try to list as many brands” (237) of bottled water. Bateman meticulously notes what make of suit, shoes, or dress an individual is wearing. This often acts as a substitute for other types of description or characterization. The facial features, for example, of Evelyn, Courtney, Price, and McDermott are scarcely mentioned. Their clothes always are.

Bateman’s meeting with his mother exemplifies this impoverished way of looking at the world. They are unable to express anything other than banalities to each other. He nonetheless notices that “she sits on her bed in a nightgown from Bergdorf’s and slippers by Norma Kamali” (351). His way of relating to his aging and possibly dying mother is entirely mediated by brands. Likewise with his dead father. Bateman looks at a picture of him on his mother’s bedside table and only comments on what clothes he is wearing and the fact that they are “all by Brooks Brothers” (352). Thoughts about who his father was or what he meant to him are absent. The focus on brands has replaced any other form of reflection or relationship.