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contains stigmatizing depictions of cross-dressing and an individual with a mental health condition, which relies on outdated and offensive tropes that connect mental health conditions with violence.

“I know what you’re thinking, Norman. I know all about you, boy. More than you dream. But I know that too—what you dream. You’re thinking that you’d like to kill me, aren’t you, Norman? But you can’t. You haven’t the gumption. I’m the one who has the strength. I’ve always had it. Enough for the both of us. That’s why you’ll never get rid of me, even if you really wanted to.”

Norman Bates is unable to stand up to his mother. He gives her complete authority over his life and forfeits any agency—what Norma calls “gumption.” Instead, he lives a life of quiet resentment toward and reliance on his mother. This passage also foreshadows that Norman and Norma are the same person.

“She'd thrown something at the mirror, and then the mirror broke into a thousand pieces and she knew that wasn't all; she was breaking into a thousand pieces, too.”

After years of caring for her mother, Mary has a weak sense of her own identity. Smashing the mirror is an act of rebellion, indicating that Mary is ready to start her own life. Her regret over wasted time causes her to act impulsively, breaking the mirror and stealing the $40,000 from Mr. Lowry. The smashed mirror suggests that this impulsivity leads to her demise.

“I think perhaps all of us go a little crazy sometimes.”

This statement comes at the end of Norman’s speech about putting Mrs. Bates in a mental institution and uses the word “crazy” pejoratively to refer to people with mental health conditions. The comment resonates with Mary, who changes her mind and decides to take the stolen money back to the bank in Fort Worth on Monday. It also foreshadows Norman’s imminent murder of Mary. Lila Crane echoes this statement at the end of the novel, showing empathy for Norman.