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 a.m. 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 (Palhniuk 36).

He can't enjoy the sweetness of Chloe's death because he looks up and Marla is staring at him. He wants to cry but he can't. Risking a more gentle, vulnerable way of being a man can be construed as acting gay or not manly (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 (Palhniuk 37). Get Out (Palhniuk 37). Get Out (Palhniuk 37). 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).

Commentary

This is the chapter when the first and only female is brought up by Palhniuk. Marla is first introduced to us in the mind of the reader. He noticed that she is at all the meetings he's at and dosen't like the fact that she is coming to meetings that doesn't apply to her. He understands that he dosn't have the same illnesses of the people in the meetings he is attenting but it should be two people(Marla and himself) "faking". They later come to an agreement and split the meetings, but this isn't the last we she of Marla Singer.

Study Questions

1)The narrator understands he is a "faker", so why is he so upset when he finds out Marla is "faking" aswell?

2)Why is the narrator attending these meetings?

3)Does the narrator confess to having any of these diseases?

4)What is the narrator's attitude toward Chole's death

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.