Patrick's Analysis 1

Patrick Bateman is an extremely wealthy and successful businessman who lives in Manhattan, New York. He's a good-looking, self-absorbed capitalists who is captivated by physical appearance and material possessions. He has many shallow relationships with people he calls his "friends", and a loveless engagement with a girl that would leave him as soon as a wealthier man comes around. The book is narrated from his perspective, and every person he sees or meets, he breaks down every article of clothing their wearing. This includes saying what it is, what fabric it's made out of, and who designed it. He really does have a gift for this, as it's extremely hard to name the designer of an article of clothing at first glance. He passes time by dining with his colleagues, having affairs, and criticizing all he can. At this point in the story, Patrick seems rather normal and hasn't done anything to mind-bogglingly strange. Because Ellis choose to write this novel using stream of consciousness, every aspect of Bateman's thought is made apparent to the reader, and it becomes easy to get to know Patrick very well. He's a very smart man, with many ideas on how to improve the economy as well as the country as a whole. It seems that there's a lot to this man, and also a lot that we haven't discovered about him yet.