American Psycho

"Haw, ha," said Mr. Hatch, "heh, he, that's good! Ha, ha, ha, I hadn't thought of it jes like that. Yeah, that's right! Let's all go crazy and get rid of our wives and save our money, hey!"

This moment, initially presented an instance where Mr. Hatch is "taking the words out of Mr. Thompson's mouth" suggest the possible insanity of Mr. Thompson himself. Confusion about the self and identity is apparent after this moment, when Mr. Thompson does not "know himself what he had said" about Aunt Ida, the straight jacket, or craziness in general. Considering how much he concerned himself with outward appearances, there is an heavy overtone of paranoia that seems to plague Mr. Thompson at all times. The "real" lunatic, Mr. Helton, exhibits silence and emotional seclusion that only serve to emphasize the lack of affection Mr. Thompson shows towards his sons and wife. Mr. Thompson's murder of Mr. Hatch also recalls the Helton fratricide, in its abruptness.

When Mr. Thompson begins to questions the events of the murder, considering the idea that Mr. Hatch hadn't actually stabbed Mr. Helton at all, he is ultimately questioning his own reality, and thus his own sanity. I believe he shoots himself because he really does believe himself to be a murderer, but writes the note, scratching out his wife just as Mr. Hatch suggested in the quote, to keep up appearances of innocence and sanity.

Question: Mr. Thompson, Mr. Helton, Mrs. Thompson, and the boys all prefer inward reflection to sympathetic connection with one another. What factors contribute to this independent attitude in the short novel and how do they reflect larger regional attitudes?

Because I'm curious: Upon brushing up on my Texas history, aside from the comments about the previous farmhands that fit well with post reconstruction Texas, I am struggling to make any connection to Region in this story. Do others feel the story could have been set anywhere in the U.S., not just in south Texas?