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How typical are the pages 234-237 of Bret Easton Ellis portrayal of Patrick Bateman as a psychopath in the text American Psycho?

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Introduction

How typical are the pages 234-237 of Bret Easton Ellis? portrayal of Patrick Bateman as a psychopath in the text ?American Psycho?? Word count with quotations: Word count without quotations: How typical are the pages 234-237 of Bret Easton Ellis? portrayal of Patrick Bateman as a psychopath in the text ?American Psycho?? ?American Psycho? is a genre defining novel written by author Bret Easton Ellis in 1991. The novel is known for its vivid description and imagery during acts of extreme violence, dark humour and satire comedy. ?American Psycho? has always been an immensely controversial novel, however, now critics and readers have looked past the disturbing imagery and the novel is ?generally acknowledged as a modern classic.? ?American Psycho? is narrated from a first person perspective, allowing the reader inside the mind of our main protagonist Patrick Bateman. This literary technique allows Ellis to completely immerse the reader in Bateman?s life and enables us to see many situations differently, through the eyes of a psychopath. ...read more.

Middle

These subtle phrases forebode violence and anger. While Patrick performs general activities such as talking and socialising or working out, sentence structure is short, little description other than quick physical movements, ?I turn around, still walking, but backward now.? This is quite the opposite to most other novels, description often comes from moments of thought and actions, such as violence and fighting are portrayed in short sentences to make them flow fluently, yet in this novel, thoughts are short and precise. This sentence structure shows Patrick?s alienation from society, his ignorance and callousness of others, emphasising his narcissist image, self-indulgence and need to satisfy his own pleasures. The length of sentences during his killings and murders are long, to represent the unrelenting nature of his violence, continuous pain and torture and powerful imagery hold our attention. The writing style seems almost ?step by step?, ?I stretch her arms out, placing her hands out on thick wooden boards, palms up?? sentences are kept fluent by the excessive use of commas and this creates urgency in the writing, this urgency can also be seen at points in the novel where Patrick is taking drugs. ...read more.

Conclusion

torture as it is described in such detail ? force open her mouth, and with the scissors cut out her tongue?, while Patrick is upset that there are ?black scuff marks on the stained white oak.? Ellis gives Patrick almost a split personality by altering his spoken and internal dialogue to and about other characters throughout different scenes and scenarios. During the scene at the restraint and outside it, Patrick talks to Bethany generally by name, internally, or in a nice and calm tone , spoken ?I really want you to??. However during the tortures, this changes, his overall appearance is dark and he only refers to Bethany as her or she, ?I keep shouting ?You Bitch!? at her? She starts pleading? She passes out? Bret Easton Ellis mimics psychopathic traits and symptoms through sentence structure and word play, foreboding violence by manipulating kind or normal acts to make them seem more malevolent and sinister than they naturally would appear. Patrick portrays all the characteristics of an ordinary psychopath through his actions, in terms of torture and killings and his average/ daily routine. ...read more.

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