The Fight Club: Themes, Characterization and Connections

In “Fight Club” by Chuck Palahniuk, materialism has negatively affected the human population. One example of this is The Narrator’s obsession with his material items such as his condo, Ikea furniture, clothes, etc. He works and travels every day for his mediocre office job in hopes of one day being able to buy everything he’s ever wanted. He believes that when he acquires all these material possessions, he’ll finally be able to live his perfect life. However, we can see the consequences of perceiving these items with such high importance when The Narrator’s condo violently bursts into flames, along with everything he owned. He feels completely empty after the destruction of his personal belongings because, at the time, they were the only things that he loved. Another example of negative effects caused by materialism is explained by The Narrator’s alter ego (Tyler Durden). “The things we own end up owning us” is what Tyler said to The Narrator shortly after his condo was charred. Tyler elaborates with the idea that we are all slaves to what we buy. If you get too comfortable with having all these things, they then become necessities. Therefore if one of these objects were to be lost, broken or ruined, you now have a need to replace it. It becomes a neverending cycle of buying and replacing material objects and the only way to feed this cycle is with money. If we spend most of our time and effort to make money just to spend it on items that will eventually break and require even more work/money, what does that make us humans in relation to the things we buy? What Chuck Palahniuk is trying to portray is that humans shouldn’t put such high importance on material possessions. When we strive our whole lives to purchase cars and houses, trying to build the best life and reach perfection, we soon realize that perfection is an illusion. It seems obtainable from afar, but the closer you get, the farther it will seem. You become a slave not only to the thing you buy but to the working class as well, grinding every day, looking forward to the next paycheck to buy more ‘’steps’’ towards the perfect life.

Another reoccurring theme in “Fight Club” is the overlooked primal nature of the human psyche. The first example of this is the fast-growing popularity of The Narrator’s fight club. Most of the members seem to be, but not limited to, blue collar/middle-class workers looking for an escape, which the fight club provides. It allows these men to release their stress and pent up aggression by letting go of everything on their minds and just fight, man to man. It lets them satisfy their primal and barbaric needs. The book shows that this is a very common need based on the fact that similar fight clubs started popping up all over the United States. These fight clubs had fight nights Monday through Sunday, easily bringing in 50-100 people every night at its peak. Secondly, Tyler’s “Project Mayhem” is also an example of humans with more primal nature. Project Mayhem is a group created by Tyler Durden (Narrators alter ego) with the sole purpose of taking down modern society. Potential members wanting to join go through a difficult testing period, in which they have to wait on the porch of the Paper Street House without food or shelter for 3 days. They would also get berated by insults all throughout the testing period. Project Mayhem was responsible for multiple bombings and attacks, which were all motivated by Tyler’s vision of a post-materialistic society. Although, Tyler’s original motivation was to make each member realize that if you succumb to your primal temptations, you have the power to change history, for better or for worse. What the author is trying to show is that we all have primal instincts sometimes that can be expressed in barbaric ways. It’s how you handle those instincts/needs that can define who you are as a person.

In “Fight Club”, there is a connection between The Narrator’s sleeping problem and real-world insomnia side effects. Firstly, The Narrator describes how it is living with insomnia. He claims that everything feels fake and far away, making him feel disassociated with the rest of the world. He constantly worries about his sleep in the early chapters of the book as well. These are all real symptoms insomniacs go through according to mayoclinic.org. Another example of The Narrator possessing real insomnia side effects can be seen in his alter ego, Tyler Durden. He sees Tyler during the day, but he becomes Tyler throughout the night. This is what’s known as Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) coupled with hallucinations caused by sleep deprivation and insomnia. Tyler is essentially The Narrator's subconscious, he embodies everything The Narrator wished he could’ve been. The hatred of materialism, the willingness to help others in similar situations as him, not being scared to let go or die, etc. However, he was always too scared to act on these wishes, which is why his brain created Tyler. He was working multiple jobs at once, flying from city to city to promote new fight clubs and he even had a girlfriend. Although, from his perspective, he would either see Tyler doing these things or he wouldn’t remember it at all. These perceptions/actions are very similar to how psychologytoday.com describes Dissociative Identity Disorder in which 2 distinct identities take control of the same body at different times. This is often followed by large gaps in memory and hallucinations. Chuck Palahniuk is trying to show his readers that insomnia can be more dangerous than most people generally think. Although it’s not a fatal illness, Insomnia can cause serious repercussions in a patients life alongside the people close to said patient.

Furthermore, in “Fight Club”, there is a connection between the inclusion of specific brand names in the book and the control big corporations possess in our world. Multiple times throughout the book, we can notice a subtle use of brand names such as Ikea, Microsoft, Starbucks, etc. This allows The Narrator to talk about the importance of brands in our society in depth. An example of this is when he said: “They try to look like how Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger said they should.” This is a very common thing in our society. Nowadays, the brand name alone can lead people to overpay four to five times more for things such as belts, shirts, and shoes, even if the only difference is the name on the tag. The author is trying to push the message that materialism is not solely the consumer’s fault. It is also thanks to these big corporations repeatedly stamping their name on everything we see and use, slowly manipulating us into the next purchase with every physical or digital advertisement we inevitably see all throughout our day.

A literary technique used in “Fight Club” is characterization. An example of this is Tyler Durden’s character advancement throughout the book. At first, he is thought to be The Narrator’s friend, which is the case during a majority of the pages. However, we soon find out that Tyler is really just The Narrator acting out his subconscious without him knowing or remembering anything he does as Tyler. This brings whole new meanings to The Narrator and Tyler’s characters in the book, knowing that they are one person. One person who is only known as The Narrator, throughout all branches of the “Fight Club” series. The author used characterization to unveil arguably the biggest plot twist in the book, giving readers a whole new perception of the storyline nearing the end of the book.