This thesis next seeks to build on the work of past and present critical responses toward American Psycho by considering unexplored places of potential meaning within the novel.
Contrary to the assumption put forth by some critics, the novel contains a moral voice through these sign posts. In other words, the burden of moral disgust at the violence, objectification, extreme consumerism, classism, and sexism within the novel does not rest entirely upon the reader.
Rather, the sign posts within American Psycho guide the reader toward moral judgment. Of course, this is not meant as the political Trump — it is the Trump of extreme wealth, a model for many men of what masculinity and success were supposed to look like.
But, still, that figure is not divorced from the current Trump. Benedictus argues that the times American Psycho was published in are starkly different from today because the literary fiction which is critically acclaimed now contains just as shocking passages — death of children, murder, sexual violence, etc. The ultimate value of American Psycho is not the shock value of the violence, but what that violence says about our society — its materialism, the violence of capitalism, the influence of culture and our ideas on modern masculinity.
So, rather, it is not about whether American Psycho would have been published today, but how it would have been published. On the whole, books no longer become cultural phenomena through the shock factor, but through speaking the truth. Plot Summary. LitCharts Teacher Editions. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does.
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Sign Up. Already have an account? Sign in. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. Literature Poetry Lit Terms Shakescleare. Download this LitChart! Teachers and parents! Although killing makes Bateman feel in control of his life, he has the perpetual feeling of being watched, like some unseen presence is manufacturing every event.
The difference is, no one is watching Bateman, and, in many ways, that is his tragedy. His actions are permitted to go unchecked and unnoticed by anyone. Though, perhaps, on some subconscious level, this is why Bateman can never bring himself to kill Carruthers.
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