Dante's Inferno (Allegory)
American Psycho is, on one level, a re-telling of Dante's Inferno, in which Dante is led by the ancient Roman poet Virgil through the ever-descending circles of Hell. The book opens with a quotation from Dante's text—"ABANDON ALL HOPE YE WHO ENTER HERE"—and Patrick's gradual descent into barbaric acts of torture, rape, and cannibalism reflects the "bestial appetites" to which sinners consigned to Dante's Hell succumbed during their earthly lives.
Crack (Symbol)
Patrick notices a crack in the wall near his David Onica painting that his landlord never fixes, and also notices a "web-like crack" above the urinal in the bathroom at Dorsia. Patrick's visions of cracks are likely hallucinations stemming from his deteriorating sense of self, especially given the way he imagines "miniaturizing" himself and disappearing into the crack. It is perhaps also a reference to Roman Polanski's 1965 film Repulsion, in which a mentally unstable woman experiences similar visions of web-like cracks in the walls.
Pop music (Motif)
Patrick devotes three chapters—"Genesis," "Whitney Houston," and "Huey Lewis & the News"—to an extended consideration of the careers of popular musicians. Ellis's jarring juxtaposition of popular music with depictions of ultra-violence subversively suggests that Patrick's sociopathic personality is the direct product of American mainstream culture. It is perhaps also a nod to the cinematic work of Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese, who famously combined pop music with violence in films like A Clockwork Orange (1971) and Goodfellas (1990).
Business card (Symbol)
For Patrick, the business card is a key symbol of status, wealth, and power. Patrick is overwhelmed with humiliation when his own business card fails to compare with those of his colleagues, with whom Patrick is constantly jockeying for power and influence within the predatory hierarchies of the Wall Street business world. Patrick's enthrallment with Scott Montgomery's business card symbolizes the way he tends to both desire and long to become the men that provoke his jealousy.
David Onica painting (Symbol)
Patrick is particularly proud of a large David Onica painting hanging in his apartment, even prodding Courtney into bragging about it for him while on a double date at a restaurant with another couple. The painting seems to symbolize Patrick's acquisitive nature and superior taste—the facade that he presents to the world. Bethany later tells Patrick that the painting has been hung upside down, humiliating him and conveying the disordered and false nature of his external persona.
The Picture of Dorian Gray (Allegory)
American Psycho borrows numerous thematic and narrative elements from Oscar Wilde's 1890 gothic novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. Like Dorian, Patrick is a handsome, narcissistic, wealthy young man who commits depraved acts in order to satisfy his hedonistic appetite for pleasure. Dorian is corrupted by Lord Henry and haunted by a sensitive artist named Basil, in much the same way that Patrick is influenced by Timothy Price and haunted by Luis Carruthers. The publication of both works also caused a public scandal due to content that was deemed obscene.
Cinema (Motif)
Patrick often narrates events from a cinematic perspective, reflecting the artificial, contrived nature of his fantasies as well as his voyeuristic urges. His favorite film is Brian DePalma's salacious thriller Body Double (1984), which explores the thematic relationship between pleasure, violence, and voyeurism. Patrick refers to his pursuit by police as his "car chase scene," using the action-thriller aesthetics of Hollywood to convey the grandeur of his hallucinations. One chapter is named "Taxi Driver," a reference to Martin Scorsese's 1976 film of the same name, which also probes the inner life of a disaffected, violent, and anti-social New Yorker.
