The novel both begins and ends with quotes from famous works of literature involving the Devil and Hell. The red graffiti described in the opening line of the novel (“Abandon all hope ye who enter here”) is a quote from Dante’s Inferno, the first part of his epic poem, in which the poet Virgil guides Dante through Hell, and the text on the sign Bateman sees at the end of the novel, and the novel’s final words, (“This is not an exit”) is an allusion to Jean Paul Sartre’s existentialist play No Exit, which depicts deceased people locked in a room together for eternity. Furthermore, not only can Bateman’s actions be seen as satanic, but the devil himself appears in the form of Bono during a hallucination Bateman has while at a U2 concert. By including this imagery, Ellis is drawing a comparison between Bateman’s world and hell, thus critiquing the dark underbelly of the shiny, elite Wall Street world.
The Devil and Hell Quotes in American Psycho
ABANDON ALL HOPE YE WHO ENTER HERE is scrawled in blood red lettering on the side of the Chemical Bank near the corner of Eleventh and First and is in print large enough to be seen from the backseat of the cab as it lurches forward in the traffic leaving Wall Street and just as Timothy Price notices the words a bus pulls up, the advertisement for Les Misérables on its side blocking his view…
It hits me that we have something in common, that we share a bond… the audience disappears and the music slows down… everything getting clearer, my body alive and burning, on fire, and from nowhere a flash of white and blinding light envelopes me and I hear it, can actually feel, can even make out the letters of the message hovering above Bono’s head in orange wavy letters: “I … am … the … devil … and I am … just … like … you …”
…and the sun, a planet on fire, gradually rises over Manhattan, another sunrise, and soon the night turns into day so fast it’s like some kind of optical illusion…
“Well, though I know I should have done that instead of not doing it, I’m twenty-seven for Christ sakes and this is, uh, how life presents itself in a bar or in a club in New York, maybe anywhere, at the end of the century and how people, you know, me, behave, and this is what being Patrick means to me, I guess, so, well, yup, uh…” and this is followed by a sigh, then a slight shrug and another sigh, and above one of the doors covered by red velvet drapes in Harry’s is a sign and on the sign in letters that match the drapes’ color are the words THIS IS NOT AN EXIT.
The Devil and Hell Symbol Timeline in American Psycho
