Fight Club - Chapters 1-6 Discussion

[LoveHatesYou]

Fight Club, chapters 1-6

What is the motivation of the main character? What does his mental state seem to be? How would you describe him?

How do we, as the reader, feel about the digression of the story?

How do we feel about the style?

What are your thoughts on the plot thus far?

* I am swampped right now, so you guys are going to have to carry this one right now- I gave you some leading questions, but I have faith in you!

[jsavage]

The book opens with the narrator describing the many possible ways to blow up a building. Already a theme is emerging - the narrator or Tyler is portraying complete and uttler chaos and a loathing of materialism and structure in general. And then we are introduced into the narrators life - he is a traveling insurance guy who seems happy enough with his life. As the story progresses, we realize the narrator has some serious issues. We find out that he goes to groups for terminally ill people, because he needs to have a good cry in order to sleep at night.

Crying is right at hand in the smothering dark, closed inside someone else, when you see how everything you can ever accomplish will end up as trash. Anything you're ever proud of will be thrown away.

However truthful this may be, it's also very concerning.
We're also gaining insight into how the narrator may be living a double life. He suffers from insomnia and we learn that Tyler works at night. We also learn that Tyler shares the narrators discontent at society - he works a movie projector and takes snippets of porn flicks and splices them into Disney movies. This is a more comical way of being devious.
Then, by some random act - the narrator's entire apartment is blown up. Does anyone have an idea on who or what was responsible for the explosion? Was it Tyler, Marla or really just a gas leak? Whatever the cause, this forces the main character to now abandon all the material goods he accumulated over the years. I see this as a necessary development in the story. He seemed to care so much about all the things he collected, but he needed to be free of them. Without a place to live, he calls Tyler and decides to move in with him. Tyler asks him to punch him as hard as he can, and then it starts...

I don't want to die without a few scars

maybe self-improvement isn't the answer, maybe self-destruction is the answer

This thinking is along the lines of having to hit rock bottom in order to pick yourself up. The fighting becomes such a release for the narrator. He's not even upset that Marla ruined all the support groups for him anymore. The word spreads and fight club grows. Another emerging theme - everyone at fight club is fighting for something. (Tyler fights his dad.)
As the narrator puts it, after fighting for a while, everything else seems less scary. I guess that pushing one's body physically and mentally to it's limits can teach you something about yourself and your personal demons. What do you think?
Finally, there is some duality going on - who you are in fight club is not who you are in the real world. You may be an accountant Monday-Friday but at fight club, you may be a hero.
Any thoughts on this?

[Scott]

Great analysis jsavage!

Does anyone else find that the way in which Fight Club spreads implies something about all people? I believe it implies that most people share, to a lesser extent, the same despair and emotional emptiness of the narrator. While the narrator seems more desperate and materialistic than most people, he still parallels them. He's trapped by his own materialism. The unnatural environment in which the narrator, and all people, live causes their instincts to work against them. Instinctively they're no different than cavemen, but they work and live in the middle of an overly safe consumer-based society without any natural purpose, such as hunting for food or fighting off danger; leaving them bored, emotionally void, and desperate. This is why the narrator, and all people, look for something to invest themselves into, whether it be meetings or fight club; it gives them the feeling of purpose and liveliness; it compliments their natural instincts, rather than use their natural instincts against them.

[LoveHatesYou]

Destruction, and the id (Freud anyone) is definitely a theme- and will be prevalent throughout the entire novel. To me the book concentrated on the idea of the " repressed self"- we got the man with the typical 9-5 burn out who is intrigued by the dark side, the exicitement the testostorone. He shows signs of tiring of the system- tiring of being a machine, apuppet, and feels he is hidind his" true" person.


I will be bnack tomorrow my frineds. I had a seizure and have a cold. I'm not so with it. Please continue the talk with out me. I love where this is going.

[knightss]

Finally, there is some duality going on - who you are in fight club is not who you are in the real world. You may be an accountant Monday-Friday but at fight club, you may be a hero.
Any thoughts on this?

They all feel like they are actually living when they are at fight club. It seems to me that they are all conforming to this growing establishment called 'fight club.' Everyone wants to be in and later into they story they will all lose there self identity. It seems from the begining that Tyler, or the narrator, was looking for his self identity the entire time.