Bateman And Consumerism

than ever I need to know about the Fisher account that Owen is handling and this information seems more vital, more pertinent than the bond I feel I have with Bono.” The jealousy Bateman feels towards Owen manifests itself as a threat to his social status and thus to advance his own social status he must remove those above him. Bateman feels as though he has a need to kill, it’s as though he consumes them in order to continue his life, this consumption is not solely metaphorical. In the chapter “Tries to cook and eat girl” Bateman consumes part of his victim, in doing so Ellis uses Bateman as a metaphor to symbolise the issues of consumerism, with the constant thirst to consume more, people will go to any lengths in order to satisfy and pacify

this desire.
Whether the violence is all a figment of Bateman’s imagination or he did in fact inflict such pain upon others for his own social gain, the violence is nevertheless extreme, as the acts of violence gradually worsen as we proceed through the novel, using grotesque language to shock the reader while opening them to the dangers of Capitalism by using Bateman as a symbol for this, he explains “…she’s tied to the floor, naked, both feet, both hands, tied to makeshift posts…the hands are shot full of nails and her legs are spread as wide as possible. A pillow props her ass up and cheese, Brie, has been smeared across her open cunt, some of it even pushed into the vaginal cavity” even here, despite the incredibly vulgar actions of Bateman, he feels as though the cheese is important, specifying the French cheese “Brie” one eaten and admired by French royalty, even in relation to cheese, Bateman feels as though he must specify the importance of the cheese by giving it a label to the reader, whereas the woman on the other-side of the violence is little more than an object.
The “mindless” violence is questioned during the killing of the Asian delivery boy, on the realisation that the boy is Chinese and not Japanese he exclaims how he “accidently [killed] the wrong type of Asian” as a result of his own resentment towards the Japanese for purchasing buildings in America that stand as their Capitalist symbol, in killing “the wrong type of Asian” he is essentially showing the reader his belief that those below him socially lack their own personal identity. This violence portrays a shocking emotional response from the reader, and yet Bateman has little issue with the fact that he killed a child but moreover the fact that it was not his target, Bateman’s irrational fears that it is all of the Japanese contributing to the issues in American society, he explains “This is true: the world is better off with some people gone. Our lives are not all interconnected. That theory is a crock. Some people truly do not need to be here.”
Conclusively, it is evident that the consumerist nature of Patrick Bateman plays a pivotal role in the extreme level of violence Ellis presents the reader with.

It is clear, the systematic categorization of individuals throughout the novel, particularly Bateman’s victims establishes a social hierarchy where those who are women, or of a different race or sexual orientation are ranked below the Wall Street Vice President and thus offer an excuse for all which Bateman believes to be wrong with American society. The acts of violence Bateman does, remain a projection of society and consumerism, questioning Capitalist society and the dangers of consumerist nature which capitalism exemplifies. The extent of the violence Bateman uses differs from victim to victim depending on their gender, social status and race, particularly making the death of women as the most brutal, although they are commodities to him, they are commodities with little worth unless they are beautiful. Bateman’s sign-exchange value seen by others, stands above everything and this sense of entitlement Bateman possesses that he is above everyone else who doesn’t fit into his own social category and refuses to believe that there are those above him. In instances where this is threatened and Bateman feels as though he does not contain a higher social status than his counterpart, his lack of ego in terms of Freud, sees it as acceptable to remove those above himself in order to replace them. It is clear that, although as he walks among “regular” people he feels a sense of entitlement and social status, when he is working at P&P this social status seems somewhat lacking, as people don’t remember

his