Narrator and point of view

“Killing Child at Zoo” by Bret Easton Ellis is narrated from a first-person point of view by the main character, Patrick Bateman.

The narrative style highlights Bateman’s extreme obsession with himself and his emotions: “I feel empty, hardly here at all, but even the arrival of the police seems an insufficient reason to move and I stand with the crowd outside the penguin habitat.” (p. 181, ll. 16-18). 

Although he is able to identify his emotions – “my sudden lack of care crests in a massive wave of fury” (p. 180, l. 3) – the narrator describes them in a detached way, as if he is an outside observer. Also, the narrator’s disconnection from his violent actions is frequently suggested through his emotionless descriptions of his extreme actions: “Though I’d like to watch this child die, I push him down behind the garbage can, then casually mingle in with the rest of the crowd.” (p. 180, ll. 7-9)

As the narrator does not have access to the minds of the other characters, their thoughts and feelings ar...