Friday, January 28, 2011
Week of 1/24-1/28
This week we worked mostly on trying to improve our project proposals for our inquiry project as well as laying the groundwork for future work in our project. This week I also started reading my first book, American Psycho. Earlier this year I has read half the book but had to stop because we started our last inquiry project and decided to just restart the book. Re-reading it I am noticing many things that I did not realize before. In the story the main character, Patrick Bateman, always says what a person is wearing before he starts talking about them and always know what brand their clothes are by. However, I've noticed that a few times he will say that himself or somebody else is wearing one thing but will then change what they are wearing later on in the chapter. I highly doubt that this is a mistake on the part of the author and understand that he did this intentionally. However, I can't quite figure out the reason for doing this. My best guesses are that either is satire on the part of Ellis to criticize how all the fashion back then was easily interchangeable and simply based on brand names or that he is trying to show that Patirck is lying and really has no idea who made the clothes but likes to act as if he knows. Just an interesting little thing I noticed in the book.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This was quite an inquisitive blogpost. I really appreciate your appreciation to detail in re-reading American Psycho, and I too agree that that could not have been a mistake. Editors get paid lots of money to notice things like that. I think your guesses as to why are reasonable, especially the first one. I think Bret Easton Ellis would be one to use clothing as a commentary on the era, because that is what much of the book/movie combination is. I hope you enjoy it ! <3
ReplyDeleteMaybe their clothing is a reflection of their thoughts, emotions, and ideas. Changes in attire that the author takes time out to mention could be important and represent a paradigm shift in the character. I do not know what context all of this is in so I could be completely wrong.
ReplyDeleteAdam, that is an interesting thought but the context in which they are said aren't really drastic. However, with what you said about personality, throughout the book Patrick will often see another banker on the street and think he looks like someone, this could be to show the similarity and lack of individualism during the era.
ReplyDelete