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

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