Blog 13

I chose to have American Psycho as my reader’s choice because personally it was one of my favorite novels during adolescences. I feel like the novel encompasses many ideas we have learned throughout the course of this class. I also was a huge fan of the novel. I read the book in 8^th grade but really couldn’t understand what was going on at the time and some of the vocabulary was a little too advanced for my age at the time which was 14 but I still found what I understood fascinating. Eventually I saw the movie I was senior in high school and it made me fall in love with the story all over again and I decided to read the book again. I didn’t actually end up reading it until my freshman year in college. Now that I have read it again with a better understanding of some of the vocabulary I saw it in a different light.

The novel encompasses many themes that I feel relate to horror. I feel like it touched more on the idea of hysteria and mental illness which I feel should have maybe been a section for us in our readings, preferably during horror. There are horror elements to the story and I wish we could have gotten into some stories like this! I feel like the novel reflects back unto humanity through many different ways. One of the themes in it includes the idea of a materialistic and capitalist mindset, which drives people crazy. It shows how no matter what we have and how much we have of it we can still be unhappy and hurting deep down inside. Another is the idea of if we lost touch with reality what would happen to us and how would others perceive it. All around this story really means a lot to me and that’s why I chose it.

Blog #11

         If I had to interview Egaeus, I would more or so be curious of the certain things he said or did. I would ask, “What do you think your cousin Berenice?” which he would reply with “she has gorgeous yet fantastic beauty”. I would also ask, “What is your favorite feature of her?” which I feel he would reply with “Her beautiful teeth which do not have a single “speck on their surface --not a shade on their enamel --not an indenture on their edges”. I would also ask what happened to her but then again seeing his mental condition I’m afraid of the outcome.

         I don’t really understand this question after reading the story because I’m getting another themes from it. I guess mainly his view is him traveling to different houses in search of the woman he is in love with and the quest which involves drama in order to find her. I see this attitude change towards the end when he has yet to find his answer of whether she said in the room or not, and then he gets sad and kills himself. Little did he know that she too killed herself in the room. I’m more interested in the idea of the room as a symbol of melancholy and dreariness.

         I really don’t believe anything supernatural happened hear because from what I read in this story it may have been a case where she may have just been unconscious or passed out for a few hours. From the description of what happens to him as he is waking up from his nap I feel maybe it was her making the noises and pushing him. There were sounds of bare feet, this could have possibly been her and all this came together to me when he said she had the panther’s ear in between her teeth. She must have been fighting alive and conscious with this panther.