The isolated house of Norman Bates
Norman Bates is isolated from the outside world and occasionally comes across guests at his motel. The rooms in his motel are usually vacant as he states, “we have 12 cabins and 12 vacancies.” When Marion asks him if he goes out with his friends, he replies “a boy’s best friend is mother.” This shows how secluded the mother and son were after Mr. Bates left them. The psychiatrist at the end notes that for years they lived as if there was no one else in the world. Furthermore, when Marion is heading to her room, he asks her if she could stay for a while so they could talk. This shows his yearning to share his feelings and thoughts with others. He has human needs and desires; however, his disorder obstructs the development of a ‘normal’ mind-set. Another incident which shows how he is so deeply rooted to the place is when Sam questions him. Norman refutes back angrily “This place? This place happens to be my only world. See I grew up in the house up there and I had a very happy childhood. My mother and I were more than happy.” This shows how he still lives in his own bubble, shut-off from society. Contrary to his statement, we know that he did not have a happy childhood and was emotionally drained.
We pity him when he says “It’s like a private trap that holds us in like a prison. You know what I think? I think that we’re all in our private traps, clamped in them, and none of us can ever get out.” He believes that he was born in his “private trap” and can never get out of it. He wants to be free, but his mental condition and the circumstances do not allow him to do so. He feels as if he is tied to the place and it is his duty to take care of her mother whose dead corpse lies in her bedroom. When Marion advices him to send his mother to “someplace,” he gets infuriated as he thinks that his mother deserves a much better place than an institution. He still thinks that she is alive. The movie illustrates the isolation and deinstitionalization of people with mental and emotional disability (Erb, 2006).
Erb, C, (2006). “”Have You Ever Seen the Inside of One of Those Places?”: Psycho, Foucault, and the Postwar Context of Madness. Cinema Journal, 45(4), 45-63.
Bodies of Film Project 