In
the beginning of the novel, Patrick actually seemed fairly normal. His
thoughts were simply shallow. His having shallow thoughts was
unsurprising because he is wealthy and they wealthy are stereotypically
often very shallow. His thoughts were nonviolent and nothing was
mentioned of murders. Gradually, Patrick's psychopathic side is being
shown. Patrick is extremely easily irritated and angered. One of his
first violent thoughts described in the book was about his friend,
McDermott. He overhears McDermott talking to Van Patten about him.
Patrick's thoughts are, "McDermott complains to Van Patten about how
crazy I am for putting down the pizzas made a Pastels... I have a knife
with a serrated blade in the pocket of my Valentino jacket and I'm
tempted to gut McDermott with it right here in the entrance way, maybe
slice his face open, sever his spine." These violent thoughts often
disappear as quickly as they appear. Bateman later casually mentions
killing Evelyn's neighbor with an electric mini-chainsaw and putting her
head in his freezer. I am beginning to realise just how insane and
disturbed Bateman really is.
The
first scene in which the violence is actually described is a scene
involving Bateman and a homeless man. Bateman pops the homeless man's
eyes with his knife, slits his nose in two, and slashes his face. There
was really no warning as this seems like a random act by Patrick. As a
result, I wasn't entirely prepared for the vividness of the description
and I must admit, I was quite shocked. In a later chapter, he kills a
man and his dog on the sidewalk. I predict that Patrick will commit more
and more violent acts, they will continue to grow more disturbing and
his mask of sanity will be more difficult to maintain.
