Untitled - Sexey's School Moodle

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Even so, as outlined earlier, the grizzliest passages are the ones that combine sex
and violence, particularly where, as the novel progresses, one inevitably leads into the
other. The relationship between sex and death—or Eros and Thanatos—is a recurring
motif in literature, and has been articulated by the use of the term “la petite mort,” a
metaphor that attempts to symbolize the state of non-being, of losing oneself, that
immediately follows the orgasmic experience. In Ellis’ novel, this concept is taken to its
literal extreme. As noted earlier, what is particularly remarkable is that some of the most
graphic and gruesome passages immediately follow the sexual encounters cited above,
thus, establishing a direct relationship between sex and death, pornography and violence.
The next excerpt is taken from one of the two chapters titled “Girls”—another level of
structural repetition—where Bateman hires two escort girls and takes them to Paul
Owen’s apartment. He fails to be aroused by the sex, so he decides to find an alternate
way to reach an orgasm:
… finally I saw the entire head off—torrents of blood splash
against the walls, even the ceilings—and holding the head up, like
a prize, I take my cock, purple with stiffness, and lowering Torri’s
head to my lap I push it into her bloodied mouth and start fucking
it, until I come, exploding into it. (304)
Some indefinite number of days later, he meets a girl, who “remains nameless,” at
“M.K.” and takes her back to his apartment. Once again failing to get aroused through
fellatio, Bateman starts getting rough with her, but she decides to stop and as she is
gathering her belongings to leave, he knocks her out. He ties her to the floor and starts
performing various acts of torture, before finally dismembering her:
I use a chain saw and in a matter of seconds cut the girl in two with
it. The whirring teeth go through skin and muscle and sinew and