Portrayal of Masculinity in Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club

Our society today is a lot different than the society than it was years ago. Society used to be based on Masculinity, being the strongest one possible. Men used to be the most dominant gender while woman were seen as more weak and less respectable. However, in the modern era masculinity is less important than it used to be. People care less about being the most masculine and instead care more about shopping, clothing and consumer products and trying to have as many consumer products as possible. Fight Club follows the story of the Narrator and his friend Tyler Durden, as they try to regain control of their masculinity in this more feminine world. However their journey will show that unchecked masculinity is dangerous and is as bad, if not worse than the consumerist society they live in.

The story starts with the Narrator in the top floors of a skyscraper with a gun in his mouth. The gun is being held by his friend Tyler Durden. The Narrator talks about how both he and Tyler both know a lot of information on the same things. Then the book flashes back to the very start of the journey. The Narrator is in a cancer support group, crying while being held by Bob, who is a large example of the theme of Masculinity. The Narrator is unable to sleep and has to go to support groups he does not need, because it is the only thing that helps his insomnia. Bob is a former bodybuilder. Bob used to use steroids and he got testicular cancer as a result. He had to get his testicles surgically removed and due to hormone imbalance, ended up growing female like breasts. Bob is a big representation of the emasculation and feminization that is fought against in fight club. This is due to Bob starting out as very masculine but then ending up without testicles and breasts, Bob is the one character in the play who is literally emasculated. The Narrator is able to find relief in these many support groups that he joined under false pretenses. That is until a woman named Marla Singer starts attending these same groups, causing the Narrator’s insomnia to resurge. The Narrator works at a major car company as a recall coordinator, a job that requires nothing masculine at all. Then the Narrator meets Tyler.

Tyler Durden is the alter ego of the Narrator. He is a cooler, calmer and more masculine version of the Narrator. The Narrator form very strong friendship in the story. When the Narrator’s condo blows up, Tyler lets him stay at his house. Tyler lives very differently than the Narrator. The Narrator works an office job, lives in a modern condo and buys many consumer products. Tyler works as a projectionist who splices frames of porn into children’s movies and as a waiter at an expensive restaurant who urinates into the soup. He also uses and sells soap he makes himself. Tyler not only doesn’t hold an office job, but at the jobs he does work at, he does his best to ruin the experience for customers. Him creating soap also shows how he doesn’t buy consumer products like the Narrator does. Tyler also squats in a dilapidated mansion a large contrast to the new, manufactured condo that the Narrator paid for. Tyler does his best to boycott and revolt against the emasculated and consumerist society he lives in. Tyler and the Narrator create Fight Club together out of a need to retake the masculinity that this new world took away from them. Then it is explained that most people who enter Fight Club usually had no father in their life and were raised by their mothers.

The Narrator and Tyler have a comradery that is very strong. They start Fight Club together and Tyler lets the Narrator live with him and he teaches the Narrator how to make soap. The only thing that threatens it is Marla. Marla is a threat to Tyler and his masculine revolt and his friendship with the Narrator. Marla is the only main character in the book that is female. Marla tries to overdose on Xanax and is saved by Tyler. Tyler doesn’t bring her to a hospital and instead has sex with her to make sure she stays awake throughout the night. The Narrator at first doesn’t like how Tyler is having sex with Marla as he believes she is taking Tyler’s time. The Narrator starts to care for Marla and since Marla is not a part of Tyler’s Masculine dream so he tries to get rid of her and make the Narrator forget her. Marla is also part of the drive for the Narrator to beat Tyler. Marla also does not like killing like Tyler. She is fascinated by death but she does not agree with the idea of killing people.

Another example of this masculinity can be seen in Tyler’s dream. Tyler wants to create a new society, but in this new society he would rule the world. The current world we live in now, the head of the country is chosen by the people. Both the voters and the candidates can be anyone and their masculinity is not important even a woman could be president, someone who isn’t masculine. In America, where the book takes place, there are many non masculine people voting, the requirement to vote is to not be a felon, to be a citizen of the country and to be 18 of over. Being president is usually based on the most popular campaign or candidate, they can be smart, well spoken and have experience with the country’s laws and systems. Being the president isn’t just based on how masculine you are. Tyler wants to rule the world and since he is the most powerful and masculine, he believes he should be the ruler as the ruler should be someone strong. In his survival of the fittest world, he would be the most respected and strong, he believes he deserves to be the leader of his new world and the people living in it would agree with his ideals.

The Fight Club itself is very masculine creation. It is only open to men THese men fight each other because it is very fun for them.Their jobs are boring and their lives are dull, but Fight Club truly makes them feel alive. The pain and visceral fights give a lot of danger to Fight Club and is the reason people keep coming back. The Narrator notes how even in his own office he will see people who are incompetent at their jobs, dominating at Fight Club. A lot of them have bruises and wounds but the only acknowledgement of Fight Club is a knowing look. The fights are a celebration of their masculine roots and allows fighters to use their aggressive tendencies and strength. The Narrator doesn’t need his cancer support groups anymore since Fight Club lets him sleep as if he never had insomnia at all. Marla even questions why he doesn’t show up to the group meetings. In the repressed society they live in, they can finally release all their pent-up emotions. Unlike the society of the current world, the members of fight club don’t care about being beautiful or improving themselves. Instead they want to hurt others and be hurt by others. Fight Club becomes very popular due to this. The Narrator decides to stay away from the path society tries to give to him. Instead of working, getting married and raising kids he chooses to satisfy his desire for pain and violence. He doesn’t need a woman to fulfil his life, he chooses to ignore his feminized society and fight for fun. The Narrator’s scars and pain doesn’t seem to affect him or cause discomfort, he seems to wear his bruises with pride. Other people are more affect by his wounds than he is, his boss even sends him home.

Tyler creates Project Mayhem at a Fight Club meeting. While Fight Club members change themselves with violence, members of Project Mayhem change the external world with Violence. Tyler wants his followers to target symbols of civilization, like skyscrapers or museums. Since the members can accept pain and violence they can inflict it on the rest of the world. Tyler wants anarchy and while violence used to be self-fulfilling, it is now to be forced on others. While joining Fight Club only meant you needed to fight, Project Mayhem has a complicated process. First a member must bring two black pairs of pants, two black shirts and 500 dollars for personal burial. They must then be criticized by Narrator and Tyler while standing outside the house for days. The members must also complete homework, bombing skyscrapers, ruining museums and getting into fights and losing on purpose.Tyler calls them the “space monkeys”. The required clothes for joining is very similar to the Narrator’s clothing for his business trips. This show’s how Tyler’s Project Mayhem is as authoritarian and collectivist as the society he is rebelling against. The emasculated society makes people go to jobs and focus on feminine things while Project Mayhem makes people go commit acts of chaos and violence. Project Mayhem even threatens to cut off the testicles of those who are a threat to them. They threaten to literally emasculate those who get in their way and kill people to further their ideals. At the end of the book Tyler tries to blow up a skyscraper while he is inside so he will become a martyr. However the bombs fail to explode and the Narrator shoots himself to expel Tyler.

While the world the Narrator and Tyler live in is feminized and consumer focused, it doesn’t provide direct threat to anyone while Tyler’s masculine world is very dangerous and radical. Tyler’s plan almost came true as he had many member of project mayhem who all were dangerous radical who committed acts of terror to try and furthur Tyler’s dream. While their current society may be bad, Tyler’s would have been a lot worse.

Works Cited

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