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Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in American Psycho, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Materialism and Consumption
Identity and Isolation
Monotony and Desensitization
Vice and Violence
The Truth
Summary
Analysis
Again, Bateman takes a break from telling the reader the details of his life, and discusses the discography of a 1980s pop music icon: Whitney Houston. He talks through each of her albums in chronological order, noting the most successful (and his favorite) tracks on each, and ultimately declaring her “the most exciting and original black jazz voice of her generation.” He looks forward to the many great things sure to be on Whitney’s horizon.
This is the second chapter detailing the career of a 1980s pop superstar: Whitney Houston. As before, this moment comes after a climactic violent act which has taken Bateman’s level of violence to new heights. Even more than the murder of Paul Owen, the murder of Bethany was personal, sadistic, and sexual for Bateman, marking a turning point in his crimes.
Themes
