Fight Club Chapter 4

Chapter 4 starts when the narrator meets Marla at the Above and Beyond meeting. The narrator remembers the last meeting when a girl by the name of Chloe pushed herself to her feet against the wooden arms of her chair and said she no longer had any fear of death (Palhniuk 35). At this meeting Glenda, Chloe's sister annouces that at two am last tuesday Chloe finally died. The narrator tells himself how sweet this should be. For two years, Chloe's been crying in my arms during hug time, and now she's dead, dead in the ground, dead in an urn, mausoleum, columbarium (Palhniuk 35). During the meeting he breaks down in his mind how Chloe's death occurred, her pulse a siren overhead, announcing: Prepare for death in ten, in nine, in eight seconds (Palhniuk 36). He counts down still visualizing how it happen with the evacuation of veins, evacuation of soul, and finally her last breath.

He can't enjoy the sweetness of Chloe's death because he looks up and Marla is staring at him.Risking a more gentle, vulnerable way of being a man can be construed as acting gay or white (Forbes). With Marla still staring this makes the narrator really upset. Young men learn that being a man in this society means being stoic, staying in control, and acting in a vigiland, agressive, and competive mind (Forbes). While he stares back he's telling himself how fake she is, and he is really ready to vent out at her. Finally after the meditation, the narrator goes over to Marla to embrace her and to tell her to get out. He says, so, Marla, get out. Get Out. Get Out (Palhniuk 37). In relation to females, the performances for males within the classroom; as constituted by discourses of hegemonic masculinities, prove problematic (Dalley-Trim). She then looks up at him and tells him your not dying either (Palhniuk 38). She threatens to tell on the narrator if he tells on her. They argue about which meetings each will attend so that both of them can still benefit from it. They come to an agreement Marla can have bone disease, brain parasites, and tuberculosis. I'll keep testicular cancer, blood parasites, and organic brain dementia (Palhniuk 38). Both of them end up satified at the end, this is how I met Marla (Palhniuk 39).

Works Cited

Dalley-Trim, Leanne. "Just Boys Being Boys". EBSCO Host 25.3 Sep. 2006[<http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.maconstate.edu/ehost/detail?vid=14&hid=120&sid=4e5d6c38-918f-436f-b0a5-b0d85a9dbbf9%40sessionmgr103>].

Forbes, David. "Finding the Zone". EBSCO. 19.1 Spring 2006 [<http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.maconstate.edu/ehost/pdf?vid=44&hid=120&sid=4e5d6c38-918f-436f-b0a5-b0d85a9dbbf9%40sessionmgr103>].

Palhniuk, Chuck. Fight Club. New York: Norton, 1996.