version

Well-known member
You ever notice the only time someone really has a face in AP is when he's destroying it? Every other description leaves them faceless. You might get a line about their hair or teeth or glasses, but never a clear image of what they actually look like.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
in re silly math in fancy literature

I was always fascinated by that bit in the first chapter of Ulysses about Hamlet and algebra

albeit that case is (to my understanding) a Joycean metaphor for the autobiographical nature of literature, and Joyce and Ulysses himself

rather than purporting to be actual math. but still.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
You ever notice the only time someone really has a face in AP is when he's destroying it?
he himself doesn't have a face. one of the most famous passages - and best bits in the film - literally peeling off the face mask in front of the mirror.

perhaps an (on the nose, yeah) metaphor for the inability of sociopaths to feel empathy i.e. individuals are all faceless

which is also why he identifies people as collections of things, labels, brands
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
on the flip side of "what are Bateman's peers getting up to when they're not on the page"

I'd be interested to know what people think of him. he's obsessed with that obviously, and the glimpses we do get seem to be: not much.

his old gf as mentioned above has probably the greatest insight

also his canny friend (of sorts) Tim Price - the only Wall Street bro who seems to have any self-awareness, depth etc - seems to know pretty well
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I've found myself wondering whether any of the other guys in AP are getting up to or fantasising the same stuff as Bateman. He often seems to be considered an outlier because of the reader's knowledge of what's going on inside, but he's also seen as interchangeable with all the other Wall St. guys so it follows that the book could center on any one of them and remain the same.
This is a good point I think... and I think that the answer is yes. Isn't there a bit where he kills someone and he's worried it might come back on him but then some people say that they had dinner with the dead guy last night.... put that together with the bit about how no-one would miss him (PB) and yeah they are interchangeable. They could well be having the same fantasies I guess.
 

version

Well-known member
It's interesting to consider whether he is in fact a psychopath, or whether he's a sociopath. The argument for the former being the book depicts a society so broken it's incapable of recognising the monster in its midst, the latter a society so broken it creates the monster.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
whether he is in fact a psychopath, or whether he's a sociopath
literally the first thing that comes up when Googling "psychopath vs sociopath"

I was incorrect above. almost definitely a psychopath - the extremely careful planning, the ability to maintain a carefully constructed artifice of "normality".

although as the article notes "These two terms are not well-defined in the psychology research literature — hence the confusion about them"
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
though lack of empathy would figure in either case

it's probably notable he seems to feel some kind of remorse that keeps him from killing his secretary

the only person who seems to care about him in any real way
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
Also he feels compelled to confess his crimes and wants to be punished for them
I don't think this is about remorse at all though - rather a compulsive need to be noticed, to matter somehow

at the same time he's obsessed with with fitting in, being "normal", he seems equally if not more obsessed with breaking out of that metaphorical straitjacket

the unremitting tedium and pointlessness of his life

a grotesque/rococo (outlandish material excess) The Stranger. Beckett for the deranged.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
speaking of authors you didn't know were skeezes, holy shit Isaac Asimov

I mean, a different time obv but even by the standards. he literally wrote a book about sexually harassing women.

also super crazy to see how people reacted to him at the time
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Wasn't Arthur C Clarke a paedo (apologies if I've got that completely wrong). EDIT just some rumours, probably bollocks, shouldn't have repeated.
 
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IdleRich

IdleRich
OK googling around a bit about Arthur C Clarke... some rumours, unsubstantiated.... some denials etc so what I said above was.... well, I'm not confident enough to say it's true. Gonna edit it.
 
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