Psycho

Content Warning: This guide describes and analyzes the source text’s treatment of trauma, abuse, and mental health conditions. The novel contains stigmatizing depictions of cross-dressing and an individual with a mental health condition, which relies on outdated and offensive tropes that connect mental health conditions with violence.

In November of 1957, the arrest of the now-infamous serial killer, Ed Gein, rocked the small town of Plainfield, Wisconsin. Gein was a shock to the American public of the sanitized, domestic culture of 1950s society. A sense arose that evil may be hiding in most inconspicuous places, such as small midwestern towns. Partially inspired by Gein, Bloch’s serial killer, Norman Bates, exemplifies darkness lurking beneath the surface of small-town life. One of the most prevalent themes in Psycho is The Duality of Human Nature: While people may present one face to the world, it is impossible to know what goes on in their minds or private lives. Both Norman and Mary demonstrate the human capacity to act in contradictory ways, exemplifying the struggle between good and evil, mental health and mental illness. It is important to note that, though the novel links violence and mental health conditions, mental health experts have found that the two are not causally related.