Patrick Bateman

Background

Patrick lives in the American Gardens Building, on West 81st Street, in New York City, in the 1980s. He is 27 years old. He works on Wall Street, at the firm Pierce & Pierce, in the mergers & acquisitions department. Before starting work he studied at Harvard University, and then Harvard Business School. He comes from a wealthy family, and has a brother; Sean Bateman (the protagonist of Rules of Attraction). Patrick is engaged with Evelyn Williams, a woman who he doesn't love, and she seemingly doesn't love him.

Personality and Traits

Exercise!

Patrick is a so called yuppie (young urban professional). He's a very narcissistic person, observing himself in mirrors and on tape while in sexual and violent acts.

Patrick believes in taking care of himself. He eats a healthy diet and maintains a rigorous exercise program. He figures you can always be thinner and look younger. His advice is to use an aftershave with little or no alcohol, because alcohol dries your skin and makes you look older.He's exceedingly interested in music, more than his peers, and know pretty much everything about the most popular artists of the his time, including Phil Collins, Whitney Houston and Huey Lewis & the News. He often shares this information with his peers, preferably right before killing them.

He also enjoys prostitutes, who he's very specific about and who either gets tortured, murdered or both.

Major Plot Points

American Psycho deals with Patrick struggle with who he is and the society around him. He both endorses and rebels against the entire yuppie culture.

At the same time he both embraces his violent behavior, and is disgusted by it. At several points he confesses his violent nature and acts to his peers, who either don't understand him or thinks he's joking.

A famous moment in the movie is where Patrick is talking to a woman in a nightclub, who asks him what he does for a living. He responds, "Murders and execution", but she thinks he says: "Mergers and acquisitions".

At the end of the movie, but more-so in the novel, there is a definite doubt whether Patrick ever killed anyone, or whether he was imagining the entire thing.

The latter is strengthened by Paul Allen, a colleague Patrick kills, and is very certain he killed, but who has, according to Patrick's lawyer, been seen in London. When Patrick goes searching for the bodies he placed in Paul's apartment, they're all gone, the walls have been painted and the apartment is being sold.

Another major theme in the story is names, everyone mistakes each other for other people. Not only is this a comment on the yuppie culture, it also helps Patrick in his endeavors and it supports the thesis that Paul Allen is dead, and that someone mistook him for someone else in London.

The movie ends with Patrick being at ends with himself. Even though he seemingly went on a killing spree and confessed everything, it doesn't change anything. "THIS IS NOT AN EXIT".