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Fight Club: Difference between revisions
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A 1996 [[novel]] by [[Chuck Palahniuk]], and a 1999 [[film]] by [[David Fincher]]. | A 1996 [[novel]] by [[Chuck Palahniuk]], and a 1999 [[film]] by [[David Fincher]]. | ||
== | == Chapter Summaries and Commentary == | ||
{{Div col|colwidth=15em}} | |||
* [[Fight Club Chapter 1|Chapter 1]] | * [[Fight Club Chapter 1|Chapter 1]] | ||
* [[Fight Club Chapter 2|Chapter 2]] | * [[Fight Club Chapter 2|Chapter 2]] | ||
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* [[Fight Club Chapter 9|Chapter 9]] | * [[Fight Club Chapter 9|Chapter 9]] | ||
* [[Fight Club Chapter 10|Chapter 10]] | * [[Fight Club Chapter 10|Chapter 10]] | ||
* [[Fight Club Chapter 11|Chapter 11]] | * [[Fight Club Chapter 11|Chapter 11]] | ||
* [[Fight Club Chapter 12|Chapter 12]] | * [[Fight Club Chapter 12|Chapter 12]] | ||
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* [[Fight Club Chapter 19|Chapter 19]] | * [[Fight Club Chapter 19|Chapter 19]] | ||
* [[Fight Club Chapter 20|Chapter 20]] | * [[Fight Club Chapter 20|Chapter 20]] | ||
* [[Fight Club Chapter 21|Chapter 21]] | * [[Fight Club Chapter 21|Chapter 21]] | ||
* [[Fight Club Chapter 22|Chapter 22]] | * [[Fight Club Chapter 22|Chapter 22]] | ||
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* [[Fight Club Chapter 29|Chapter 29]] | * [[Fight Club Chapter 29|Chapter 29]] | ||
* [[Fight Club Chapter 30|Chapter 30]] | * [[Fight Club Chapter 30|Chapter 30]] | ||
{{div col end}} | |||
== Characters == | == Characters == | ||
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The narrator meets her at the support groups he was attending. He begins to hate her for being a tourist. He could not let himself go when there was another faker there. She ends up being Tyler (and the narrator's) lover. | The narrator meets her at the support groups he was attending. He begins to hate her for being a tourist. He could not let himself go when there was another faker there. She ends up being Tyler (and the narrator's) lover. | ||
By analyzing the character of Marla Singer, it is important to look at her part in this novel through the eyes of a feminist critic. She is the only female character and can be seen as a very different character when compared with all of the other male ones throughout the book. She is portrayed and treated differently as a female and as an outsider of the group of men who make up fight club. With this role, she is given a submissive and somewhat blind perspective by the other characters. She is the one who is most intimately involved with the nararrator and with Tyler but seems to be the one that they both treat with the least amount of respect. | |||
The entire Fight Club is based upon a patriarchal society. All of the men involved are men who were raised by women. None of them had a father figure to look up to and all of them lack the father that they needed when the time came to ask what they should do next. This may attribute to their over masculinity when fight club was in session. The testicular cancer group was a major sign of the lacking of masculinity prevalent in this book. Big Bob was once a very manly and muscular body builder that prided himself on the ability to be strong. He got testicular cancer, lost his manhood, and grew breasts. This shows the negative aspect attributed to being female. Though it is understandable that Big Bob doesn't want to be feminine, especially not physically, there is still a negative aspect surrounding the female gender altogether. | |||
Marla is shunned and treated with little or no respect throughout the novel up until the end. The nararrator and herself have a competition in the beginning as to who is allowed what groups. Once Fight Club starts, the nararrator feels pride in the fact that Fight Club really does exclude her due to her gender. From then on she is kept in the dark about what is going on and is not allowed to know anything about this group that allows only men. She is only called on by Tyler for the majority of the book so that he can get laid and the nararrator views her as an annoyance that invades his home. The female character in this novel is shunned, avoided, and is seen as irritating. | |||
Towards the end of the novel, near the nararrator's breaking point, he begins to appreciate Marla. He is beginning to realize that Tyler isn't a real person at all and that he is just an alternate personality that comes into play when he falls asleep. Upon this realization he calls upon Marla and feels the need to be with her in order to stay awake. He fears that the members of Fight Club are now out to kill her and suddenly gains the urge to be her protector. His new meaning for staying alive is now not all about himself but about Marla and keeping her safe. His annoyance becomes his reason for living. In the end, the female critic would say that the gender prejudice had disappeared and that Marla was eventually given the respect that she deserved. | |||
== Major Themes == | == Major Themes == | ||
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=== The Oedipus Complex === | === The Oedipus Complex === | ||
Based from a greek legend [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oedipus Read about it] king of Thebes, the son of Laius and Jocasta, and the father by Jocasta of Eteocles, Polynices, Antigone, and Ismeme: as was prophesied at his birth, he unwittingly killed his father and married his mother and, in penance, blinded himself and went into exile. | Based from a greek legend [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oedipus Read about it] king of Thebes, the son of Laius and Jocasta, and the father by Jocasta of Eteocles, Polynices, Antigone, and Ismeme: as was prophesied at his birth, he unwittingly killed his father and married his mother and, in penance, blinded himself and went into exile. | ||
The unresolved desire of a child for sexual gratification through the parent of the opposite sex, esp. the desire of a son for his mother. This involves, first, identification with and, later, hatred for the parent of the same sex, who is considered by the child as a rival. | The unresolved desire of a child for sexual gratification through the parent of the opposite sex, esp. the desire of a son for his mother. This involves, first, identification with and, later, hatred for the parent of the same sex, who is considered by the child as a rival. | ||
1. A child's positive libidinal feelings toward the parent of the opposite sex and hostile or jealous feelings toward the parent of the same sex that develop usually between the ages of three and six and that may be a source of adult personality disorder when unresolved used especially of the male child. | |||
1.A child's positive libidinal feelings toward the parent of the opposite sex and hostile or jealous feelings toward the parent of the same sex that develop usually between the ages of three and six and that may be a source of adult personality disorder when unresolved used especially of the male child. | |||
2. The unresolved oedipal feelings persisting into adult life. | 2. The unresolved oedipal feelings persisting into adult life. | ||
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== Major Symbols == | == Major Symbols == | ||
=== The Rules of Fight Club=== | === The Rules of Fight Club=== | ||
1st RULE: You do not talk about FIGHT CLUB. | 1st RULE: You do not talk about FIGHT CLUB. | ||
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=== Jack/Joe === | === Jack/Joe === | ||
At one point in the novel, the narrator comes across magazine articles that are supposedly written by body organs in the first person. For example, "I am Jack's medulla oblongata. Without me, Jack could not perform any of his autonomic funtions." Throughout the rest of the story, in the film, the narrator uses this line to express his thoughts, emotions and feelings - I am Jack's raging bile duct. I am Jack's complete lack of surprise. I am Jack's wasted life. In the novel, this line is also used with the exception of the name - I am Joe's Boiling Point. I am Joe's Smirking Revenge. I am Joe's Broken Heart. | At one point in the novel, the narrator comes across magazine articles that are supposedly written by body organs in the first person. For example, "I am Jack's medulla oblongata. Without me, Jack could not perform any of his autonomic funtions." Throughout the rest of the story, in the film, the narrator uses this line to express his thoughts, emotions and feelings - I am Jack's raging bile duct. I am Jack's complete lack of surprise. I am Jack's wasted life. In the novel, this line is also used with the exception of the name - I am Joe's Boiling Point. I am Joe's Smirking Revenge. I am Joe's Broken Heart. | ||
== Turning Points For The Characters == | == Turning Points For The Characters == | ||
=== The Narrator/Tyler Durden === | === The Narrator/Tyler Durden === | ||
A major turning point for the narrator comes when he stands up against his boss. Without any help from Tyler, completely aware of being himself, the narrator reacts against type when his boss shows him the rules of fight club found in the copier. The narrator, appearing calm and collected, threatens his boss in a round about way, avoiding the straightforward threat, but musing that the man who created these rules probably would "use an Eagle Apache carbing... (to) go the length of mahogany row and take out every vice-president with a cartridge left oer for each director" (Palahniuk, 98). The narrator goes on, each word startling his boss more and more. With this defiant act, the narrator settles into a meshing of his two personalities, and begins to see, even in a small part on an unconscious level, that he does not need Tyler's help quite as much as he used to. | A major turning point for the narrator comes when he stands up against his boss. Without any help from Tyler, completely aware of being himself, the narrator reacts against type when his boss shows him the rules of fight club found in the copier. The narrator, appearing calm and collected, threatens his boss in a round about way, avoiding the straightforward threat, but musing that the man who created these rules probably would "use an Eagle Apache carbing... (to) go the length of mahogany row and take out every vice-president with a cartridge left oer for each director" (Palahniuk, 98). The narrator goes on, each word startling his boss more and more. With this defiant act, the narrator settles into a meshing of his two personalities, and begins to see, even in a small part on an unconscious level, that he does not need Tyler's help quite as much as he used to. | ||
== ''Fight Club'' in Contemporary Culture == | == ''Fight Club'' in Contemporary Culture == | ||
== Influences == | == Influences == | ||
=== F. Scott Fitzgerald's ''The Great Gatsby'' === | === F. Scott Fitzgerald's ''The Great Gatsby'' === | ||
== ''Fight Club'' the film == | == ''Fight Club'' the film == | ||
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== Works Cited == | == Works Cited == | ||
{{Refbegin}} | |||
*Freud, Sigmund. ''Beyond the pleasure principle.'' New York: Liveright Publishing Corporation, 1961. | |||
*Friday, Krister. "A Generation of Men Without History": Fight Club, Masculinity, and the Historical Symptom. Post Modern Culture. Vol.13, Number3. May 2003. | |||
*Palahniuk, Chuck. ''Fight Club.'' New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1996. | *Palahniuk, Chuck. ''Fight Club.'' New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1996. | ||
*Rudnytsky, Peter. ''Freud and Forbidden Knowledge.'' New York: New York University Press, 1994. 96-110. | *Rudnytsky, Peter. ''Freud and Forbidden Knowledge.'' New York: New York University Press, 1994. 96-110. | ||
{{refend}} | |||
[[Category:Literary]] | |||
[[Category:20th Century]] | |||
[[Category: | [[Category:Novels]] | ||
[[Category:Contemporary]] | |||