the wasp factory and american psycho protagonist comparison
"The authors of 'American Psycho' and 'The Wasp Factory' present their protagonists Patrick Bateman and Frank Cauldhame to have very similar personalities." How far do you agree?
‘American Psycho’ and ‘The Wasp Factory’ are two controversial dark novels in which the protagonist gets away with murder. They were published only seven years apart, ‘The Wasp Factory’ being the first. ‘The Wasp Factory’ was Iain Banks first published novel, and was released into the conservative United Kingdom in 1984, which would have coolly accepted it. This era of the United Kingdom did not approve of horror, especially when the protagonist remained uncaught. However, the book gained a great deal of attention and publicity via its controversy, and has maintained popularity throughout the years. ‘American Psycho’ by Bret Easton Ellis was originally published in 1991. At this time there was great controversy over its extent of gore and pornographic scenes, so much so that Ellis received numerous death threats and hate mail after its publication. Both protagonists narrate their author’s novel and each appears to mirror their author himself. However, the protagonists clash with each other when it comes to their settings, needs and reasons for behaviour. This demonstrates how the personalities of both Patrick Bateman and Frank Claudhame are presented differently by their authors. On the other hand, there are ways in which Bateman and Frank are presented to have similar personalities. For instance, they are both obsessive, misogynistic, have the desire to kill and have an abnormal mind set. These factors suggest a strong similarity between Patrick Bateman from 'American Psycho' and Frank from 'The Wasp Factory', even though their upbringing and personal characteristics more than often differ. Due to this, the true extent of similarity between their personalities is hard to distinguish.
Through Bateman's narration in 'American Psycho’ the reader learns of his career on Wall Street and
‘American Psycho’ and ‘The Wasp Factory’ are two controversial dark novels in which the protagonist gets away with murder. They were published only seven years apart, ‘The Wasp Factory’ being the first. ‘The Wasp Factory’ was Iain Banks first published novel, and was released into the conservative United Kingdom in 1984, which would have coolly accepted it. This era of the United Kingdom did not approve of horror, especially when the protagonist remained uncaught. However, the book gained a great deal of attention and publicity via its controversy, and has maintained popularity throughout the years. ‘American Psycho’ by Bret Easton Ellis was originally published in 1991. At this time there was great controversy over its extent of gore and pornographic scenes, so much so that Ellis received numerous death threats and hate mail after its publication. Both protagonists narrate their author’s novel and each appears to mirror their author himself. However, the protagonists clash with each other when it comes to their settings, needs and reasons for behaviour. This demonstrates how the personalities of both Patrick Bateman and Frank Claudhame are presented differently by their authors. On the other hand, there are ways in which Bateman and Frank are presented to have similar personalities. For instance, they are both obsessive, misogynistic, have the desire to kill and have an abnormal mind set. These factors suggest a strong similarity between Patrick Bateman from 'American Psycho' and Frank from 'The Wasp Factory', even though their upbringing and personal characteristics more than often differ. Due to this, the true extent of similarity between their personalities is hard to distinguish.
Through Bateman's narration in 'American Psycho’ the reader learns of his career on Wall Street and