Lexical analysis of the serial killer character’s discourse in the 20th century American fiction

The least number of words denoting mental activity is noticed in Patrick Bateman's discourse. The semantic field of work is the most numerous here. For example: “So, I start, crossing my legs. “Don't you want to know what I do”... “No.” Sabrina smiles, takes this as a cue and agrees. “No, not really”. I stare at the two of them for a minute before recrossing my legs and sighing, very irritated: “Well, I work on Wall Street. At Pierce & Pierce” (Ellis, 1991). The verb work shows the process including mental activity; the name of the street - Wall Street - connotes the place of his work; and the proper name Pierce & Pierce is the name of the company where Patrick is employed. Bateman wants to speak about his job even if it is not interesting for his interlocutors, which proves his egocentrism.

Hank Gibbs also mentions his work in the process of communication. Gibbs is a reporter and he has got a lot of words connected with his job: “Minute a big story breaks in a small town, every stringer in the state shows up, then it's radio and the television crews. They've got to deal with the local lawmen but that means waiting for a handout or a personally delivered `no comment'. So the first thing they do is track down the editor of the local paper and try to get a story out of him” (Bloch, 1982). In this abstract we notice words denoting people working in the sphere of media (stringer, editor, radio and the television crews), the process of writing reports (handout, no comment, to get a story) and the type of written material (the local paper). We refer all of these words to the semantic field of work as they connote Gibb's way of earning money.

Soneji is a Maths teacher, but he does not mention this very often. Sometimes he speaks about it as the way to fame: “I want to be the scariest man in America. That's why I work in the capital. I'm Gary. Don't you remember me, Viv?” (Patterson, 92). In this example, we refer the words work and capital (as it connotes the place of work) to the field of work and the word remember to the field of brain activity, so we can say that words denoting mental activity appear quite often but they are used, in most cases, to support his main goal - fame, which in our opinion, belongs to the spiritual needs of personality.

There is a high percentage of words with mental meaning in Annie Wilkes' and Tom Ripley's discourses. It can be explained by their often use of such words as know (Tom - 108, Annie - 126) and think (Tom - 145, Annie - 91) which belong to the semantic field of brain activity. Here is an example from Annie's discourse: “I know you know who Andy Pomeroy was, because I know you've read my book. I suppose that I sort of hoped you would read it, you know; otherwise, why would I have left it out? But I made sure, you know -- I make sure of everything)” (King, 1988). First three times know is used in its direct meaning “to have information in your mind” (Summers, 2003), and as this word occurs so often within one sentence it results in tautology that can show poor vocabulary of a speaker, which is also proved by the usage of the utterence “you know”, that functions in this context as the filler, does not have full semantic meaning and is used for combining thoughts.

Norman Bates' discourse is not replete with words denoting mental activity, but there are some examples: “Maybe that was part of my problem”, Norman said. “You know what happened to me -- the transvestite thing” (Bloch, 1982). The words problem, know, transvestite thing belong to the semantic field of brain activity as the first one means “something difficult to deal with” that requires mental activity and the last words connote the problem.

Words denoting psychological needs, from our point of view, include semantic fields of religion, feelings, emotions and family. These words are the smallest in number in all analyzed serial killer characters' discourses.

The semantic field of religion is relatively numerous in Patrick Bateman's discourse, but words from this field are used as exclamations in most cases and do not mean his faith. Here is an example: “Oh gosh,” I say, “hope I'm not blushin.” “Actually, where do you go, Bateman?” Van Patten asks “For a tan”” (Ellis, 1991). Phrase Oh gosh expresses a shade of irritation at the compliment. The word gosh is a slang variant of the word God and is used in the function of exclamation.

Hannibal Lector uses emotional words but mostly in relation to other people or to express some kind of philosophical thoughts: “Life's too slippery for books, Clarice; anger appears as lust, lupus presents as hives”” (Harris, 1988: 137). Lector compares emotions anger and lust with such diseases as lupus (“a chronic inflammatory disease that occurs when your body's immune system attacks your own tissues and organs” (Summers D., 2003)) and hives (“an outbreak of swollen, pale red bumps or plaques on the skin” (Summers D., 2003)), where anger corresponds to a very difficult disease lupus that can be misinterpreted as a symptom - hives. So, it means that, from Lector's point of view, people mix up such notions as anger and lust where anger is much more serious.

Gary Soneji also expresses his feelings and emotions but it does not mean that they are true: “Gary thought about it carefully before he said a word. Then he said, “I love you so much, Missy. I love you and Roni more than I love my life itself.” Gary lied, and he knew it was a pretty good one. Extremely well told, well acted. What he wanted to do was to laugh in their goddamn faces. What he wanted to do most was to kill all of them”” (Patterson, 1992: 78). The author's narrative shows the real Gary's face and real wishes (“to kill all of them””) that are hiding behind his flattering phrases “I love you so much, Missy. I love you and Roni more than I love my life itself”. He lies pretty well using the intensification “so much” and the comparison “more than I love my life itself” in order to his feelings, but tautological repetition of the word love sounds unnatural and can reveal the lie.

Claiborne rarely speaks about feelings or emotions and in most cases they are the means of courtesy than real feeling: “Sorry to keep you waiting” (Bloch, 1982). Adam uses the word sorry not to express his feeling of sadness or disappointment because of keeping his interlocutor waiting, but in order to be polite.

Hank Gibbs sometimes gives instructions concerning feelings to other people: “Don't feel guilty. The same thing happens to me, and that's why I wanted to get away”” (Bloch, 1990: 213). This example shows Hank's reaction to guilt - he simply avoids it. He advises just not to feel it. That means that he does not worry about things and tries not to blame himself.

The serial killer characters sometimes mention the members of their family that illustrates the semantic field “Family”. Norman Bates' discourse is a vivid example of verbalizing this semantic field as he speaks instead of his mum and he also speaks about his mum very often: “Oh, yes. I brought Mother back home with me. That was the exciting part, you see-going out to the cemetery at night and digging up the grave”” (Bloch, 1956: 197). The word Mother is capitalized to underline its importance and it is used in the meaning of a person, but in the context it is a dead body.

Annie Wilkes often uses quotations of her mother, who died 20 years ago. For example: “My mother had a motto, Paul, and I live by it. “Once nasty, never neat,” she used to say”” (King, 1988: 163). Annie follows her mother's motto “Once nasty, never neat” but she exaggerates the meaning as she tries very hard to wash everything and her attitude to the process of tidying her house sometimes looks like psychological deviation.

Words denoting physiological activity and safety are the most numerous in all discourses except Claiborne's and Lector's. Patrick Bateman is the one with the largest number of words in all semantic fields of this group. The semantic field money is singled out as money is necessary for satisfying the needs of physical and economical safety. There are a lot of words from the semantic field money in Patrick's discourse: “Or an AR-15. You'd like it, Evelyn: it's the most expensive of guns, but worth every penny” (Ellis, 1991: 306). Bateman very often evaluates things depending on their price. He chooses the most expensive and the example proves this. The words expensive, worth and penny are included into the thematic group of money and illustrate his life focus on wealth. Patrick also has a large vocabulary of food and alcohol that belongs to the semantic field of biological needs. Here is some examples of alcohol variety: beer (3 times), champagne (4 times), brandy, cognac, chardonnay, sorbet (6 times), and peach schnapps. These words denoting different kinds of alcohol drinks can reveal his alcohol addiction.

Gary Soneji uses words denoting physiological activity even with such an abstract word as fame: “What was fame really like? How did it smell? How did it taste? What didfame look like close up?”” (Patterson, 1992: 7). Gary is interested in the “appearance” (“What did fame look like close up?””) of fame in its “smell” and “taste” that makes his language metaphorical but at the same time proves his focus on biological properties even of an abstract notion.

Claiborne also takes care of physiological needs of his own and other people's organisms: “Then I won't bother you. Have a good night's rest” (Bloch, 1982: 228). He understands the importance of rest at night and does not want to bother anybody that can show his politeness as well.

The semantic field of appearance is widely presented in almost all discourses. Here is an example from Hank Gibbs and Amy's conversation: “Far as I'm concerned your hair looks great the way it is, but if you want to fiddle around with it, bring a comb and a mirror”” (Bloch, 1990: 151). Hank compliments Amy, saying that her “hair looks great” so it means that he pays attention to other people's appearance and he also uses words comb and mirror that are the objects for making oneself beautiful that proves his interest in good looking.

Norman Bates describes his own appearance: “I was a sickly child. Wore glasses for reading, right up until a few years ago” (Bloch, 1956: 65). Saying that he was “a sickly child” he wants to evoke the compassion for his personality with the intention to manipulate the nun. He adds that he “wore glasses for reading)” to make this impression of pity stronger.

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