Theme Study 1

Already, a theme of the sadistic and shallow aspects of capitalism is evident. America, run by people of a highly capitalistic mindset, tend to have many of these shallow and sadistic characteristics, but hide them well through ingenious marketing. The way the characters in the book treat everyone and everything they come across as nothing more than a commodity show that these highly capitalistic people are nothing more than what meets the eye. It's a shame, really. The world and its people used to be filled with deep conundrums, and you had to actually get to know a person before you knew their morals and beliefs. These characters, with their worrying over material gain and superficial appearances, show a modern ideal in which the "surface" reigns supreme. Because these characters can distance themselves so far from the truth, they can do and say whatever they want and feel no shame or guilt. The capitalistic society that tells them that the only important aspects of life are making money and being successful is the root of their personality flaws. Ellis provides us with a reoccurring theme of objects possessing false importance, simply because of their monetary value. This way of life is wrong, and a person who chooses to live it will find that at the end of the day, they are left with no real sustenance, just the regret of never taking the time to dig deeper. "But a physically superior, perfect looking shallow bitch, and that can override anything (pg. 157)." This is the attitude Bateman takes towards almost everything, which perfectly highlights this theme of the shallow aspects of capitalistic mindset.