MASARYK UNIVERSITY BRNO FACULTY OF EDUCATION
Department of English Language and Literature
Analysing Identity and Romance in Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club
Bachelor thesis
Brno 2017
Supervisor Author Mgr. Lucie Podroužková, PhD. Kristýna Daňková 1
Prohlášení
Prohlašuji, že jsem diplomovou práci vypracovala samostatně, s využitím pouze citovaných pramenů, dalších informací a zdrojů v souladu s Disciplinárním řádem pro studenty
Pedagogické fakulty Masarykovy university a se zákonem č. 121/2000 Sb. o právu autorském, o právech souvisejících s právem autorským a o změně některých zákonů
(autorský zákon) ve znění pozděj ších předpisů.
Declaration
I hereby declare that I wrote this thesis independently and that I used only sources listed in the bibliography section.
Brno, March 2017 Kristýna Daňková 2
Acknowledgement
I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Lucie Podrouzkova, who helped me to write this thesis and gave me valuable advice. I also thank her for her support, time, patience and constructive criticism. 3
Anotace
Tato bakalářská práce se věnuje literární analýze románu Klub rváčů amerického autora
Chucka Palahniuka. Cílem práce j e v daném díle analyzovat poj em identita, sledovat vývoj identity hlavní postavy a rozebrat motivy romance a lásky, které tento vývoj podporují.
Teoretická část zahrnuje objasnění pojmů postmodernismus, postmoderní kontext a identita.
Analytická část se zabývá použitím těchto poznatků v praxi při sledování vývoje identity hlavní postavy. Následně tato práce ukazuje, jak motiv lásky a citu podporuje tento vývoj a pokusí se zachytit původní zdroj vypravěčovy krize identity.
Klíčová slova analýza, identita, postmodernismus, romance, láska, Chuck Palahniuk, Klub rváčů
Abstract
This bachelor thesis focuses on a literary analysis of the novel Fight Club, written by the
American author, Chuck Palahniuk. The aim of this thesis is to analyse the concept of identity in the novel, track the development of the narrator's identity and emphasize the motives of romance and love, which support the development of identity. The theoretical part includes clarification of the concepts of postmodernism, postmodern context and postmodern identity.
The analytical part focuses on using these points in practice during an observation of the development of the narrator's identity. In addition, this thesis shows how love supports this development throughout the story. Finally, the thesis aims to pinpoint the original source of the narrator's identity crisis.
Key words analysis, identity, postmodernism, romance, love, Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club 4
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 Introduction 6
1.1 Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club, its influence and responses 6
1.2 Plot-line overview 10
2 Theoretical background 13
2.1 Postmodernism 13
2.2 Context of postmodernism 14
2.3 Identity in the postmodern world 15
3 Analysis 17
3.1 Quest for identity 17
3.1.1 The narrator's characteristics and identity crisis 17
3.1.2 Formation of an alter ego and identity development 20
3.2 Romance and identity 29
3.3 Deconstruction and identity 37
4 Conclusion 39
5 Works cited 41 5 6
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club, its influence and responses
Chuck Palahniuk is an American author of novels and short stories. He was born in 1962 in
Washington as Charles Michael Palahniuk and his life story is as unusual as the stories he
creates. Palahniuk's parents divorced when he was a teenager, leaving his siblings and him to
spend their time on their maternal grandparents' ranch. Palahniuk never knew his paternal
grandparents and according to an interview with Palahniuk, his grandfather murdered his
grandmother after an argument, an incident Palahniuk's father was the witness of. His
experience is depicted in Palahniuk's essay collection Stranger Than Fiction (Chaplinsky).
Not much is known about Palahniuk's childhood. He graduated in journalism in 1986, but he
did not find j ournalism satisfying so he changed profession multiple times, worked as a diesel
mechanic and later as an escort for terminally ill hospice patients. He was also a member of
Cacophony Society (a network of free spirits raging against the mainstream society),
according to Palahniuk, Cacophony society was the inspiration for Fight Club (Chaplinsky).
In his mid-thirties, Palahniuk begun writing fiction. His characteristic style formed in
„Dangerous writing", a workshop hosted by Tom Spanbauer. Palahniuk started writing so-
called „transgressional fiction", which includes characters acting illegally but for noble
reasons (Palahniuk). Palahniuk's first literary attempts - If You Lived Here, You'd be Home
Already and Invisible Monsters - were rejected for their darkness. The first novel Palahniuk
could publish was Fight Club and after the successful film adaptation in 1999, Palahniuk
„was given a free reign" (Chaplinsky) to write; he could publish Survivor and rewritten
Invisible Monsters. Palahniuk's work is much influenced by his personal experience and
trauma. Namely, the novel Lullaby is inspired by the murder of Palahniuk's father, Fred, who
was shot in 1999 by an ex boyfriend of his lover. After this tragic event, Palahniuk continued
to write and in following years published 9 novels (7 of them translated into Czech), 3
collections of short stories and 1 travel journal. Recently, he begun experimenting with form
and image and co-created Fight Club 2, a comic novel and a sequel of Fight Club, and Bait, a 7 short stories' collection in the form of a colouring book. His novel Choke (2001) was New
York Times best-seller filmed in 2009 by Clark Gregg. 12 of Palahniuk's books were wonderfully translated into Czech by Richard Podaný, who also provides epilogues for
Palahniuk's books.
Palahniuk organises workshops and gives feedback to his fans' writings on social media. In addition, he teaches storytelling on website chuckpalahniuk.net, where he provides writing tricks and even gives homework assignments to his fans to learn to apply his advice in writing (Chaplinsky).
Palahniuk is known for his uniquely dynamic and simple writing style, traits which make his works famous among young people (Minárik, 34). After Tom Spanbauer's workshop,
Palahniuk built his distinctive minimalist style, which imitates speech by using everyday language and its components. His writing is influenced by journalism in many aspects. For example, Palahniuk frequently uses real stories he was told by other people. Another related aspect is objectiveness of Palahniuk's writing. He tries to avoid judgement and in order to do so, he even omits using adjectives when describing a character. Palahniuk uses „choruses" in every novel, short phrases which get repeated multiple times throughout the story (the Fight
Club rules in Fight Club, „Sorry Mom, Sorry God" in Invisible Monsters, „Just for the record" in Diary). The aim of Palahniuk's novels is to involve the reader to the story; to achieve this he often directly addresses the reader: „Mix the nitro with sawdust, and you have a nice plastic explosive" (Palahniuk, 12). Finally, Palahniuk uses various „factoids" in all his novels - detailed facts on different topics included in the text (recipes for explosions in Fight
Club, facts from art history in Diary, history of sex in Snuff) (Minárik, 34-42).
An aspect which brings Palahniuk passionate interest of many readers on one hand and vigorous critique of others on the other hand is his choice of typically controversial characters and content. Palahniuk tends to display the dark side of reality, foregrounds topics such as violence, pornography, prostitution or addiction. His characters, which are considered marginal in our society (outlaws, addicts, transvestites) are a norm in Palahniuk's novels
(Gonzalez, 1). Despite the kind of topics Palahniuk addresses, he still remains faithful to
„writing without passing judgement" (qtd. in Gonzalez, 1). Finally, Palahniuk's toughness is always counterbalanced by his specifically sarcastic humour (Akbar). 8
Fight Club is a fiction novel written by Chuck Palahniuk in 1996. The basis of the novel was a seven-page-long short story published in the compilation of short stories called Pursuit of
Happiness. This short story eventually became chapter 6 of Fight Club.
In 1999, David Fincher directed a same-named film on the motives of Fight Club. Thanks to the film release, Fight Club became widely read and popular book. Mainly due to its violent and highly controversial content, Fight Club separated its readers into two groups, those who love it and those who hate it (Bennet, 2). The fanatic reactions of the supporters are being proudly described by Palahniuk in the afterword of Fight Club. After Palahniuk answered fans' questions and said that Fight Club is a fictitious association, there were actual Fight
Clubs founded across the USA. There were young men who changed their names to Tyler
Durden. Donatella Versace's fashion collection had razor blades sewed into men's clothing, calling it „the Fight club look" (Palahniuk, 209-218).
However, it was principally the film version that succeeded in receiving generally positive references. Total film server even declared Fight Club the „Greatest Film of Our Lifetime"
(Pierce 11). Unlike the film, critics' reactions to the novel varied to a great extent. Critic Jesse
Kavadlo comments on Chuck Palahniuk's writings in this way:
Imagine what it's like to have your eyes rubbed raw with broken glass. This is what
reading Chuck Palahniuk is like. You feel the shards in your eyes, yes, and then
you're being punched, hard, your nose broken. Like the world is broken. Livid
because there's violence, but there's sex, there's the bodily fluids that accompany
violence and sex. Eyes rubbed in broken glass, first, then in blood and lymph, and
you want more. That's just the plot. Don't even get me started on the characters
(Kavadlo, 1).
Kavadlo notes the controversy of the novel, but at the same time, he appreciates it. On the other side of the spectrum, Henry Giroux found Fight Club to be an "intensely misogynistic representation of women" (17) and Mark Pettus stated Palahniuk is "ultimately fail[ing]"
(111) in rebelling against the capitalist society. Most of Fight Club's criticism aims towards the violent content and the relationship between violence, masculinity and capitalism (De
Chavez, 124). 9
It is obvious from Henry Giroux's and others' comments that they access Fight Club's characters as if they were representations of Palahniuk's own morality and opinions. As
Robert Bennet argues, „it is as if critics have forgotten ... that Fight Club is narrated by a highly unreliable narrator" (3). I agree with Bennet on this point. Since the behaviour and the opinions of the narrator are connected to his mental illness, they should not be associated with the author's actual values. In fact, it is especially important in the context of postmodern literature not to understand its works literally. Thanks to the contradictory nature of postmodern literature, which will be explained later in this thesis, it should be read with attention to irony and double meaning.
When analysing Fight Club, many critics either focus on masculinity (or gender issues in general) or explore themes of destruction, identity, violence, materialism and others. Due to the plot-line and characters' nature, only few critics concentrate on what seems to be a link among all Palahniuk's novels and that is the importance of love. Therefore the romantic themes such as emotionality, sexuality, romantic feelings and conversely sorrow, solitude and alienation will be discussed in this thesis in connection to the development of identity.
Another inspiration for analysing love in connection to the development of identity were the author's words. Palahniuk continuously tracks the reviews and analyses of his writings and he expresses his dissatisfaction with their aim in the afterword of Fight Club, included in the reissued version:
Our reviewer called the book science fiction. Another called it a satire on the Iron
John men's movement. Another called it a satire of corporate blue-collar movement.
Some called it a horror. No one called it a romance. ... Really, what I was writing
was just a Great Gatsby updated a little. ... It was a classic, ancient romance but
updated to compete with espresso machines and ESPN (Palahniuk, 209-218).
Having read many Palahniuk's novels, I agree that the topic of romance is always present, as is demonstrated in the relationship of Tender and Fertility in Survivor, Victor's inability to form a relationship in Choke, Carl and Helen's connection in Lullaby, etc.
It seems that finding connection to another human being in chaos of the contemporary society is a frequent focus of Palahniuk's stories. Palahniuk confirms this view by following 10 statement: „My books are always about somebody who is taken from aloneness and isolation
- often elevated loneliness - to community. It may be a denigrated community that is filthy and poor, but they are not alone, they are with people. Typically, too, my characters make that
Kierkegaardian leap of faith to commit themselves to one person." (Palahniuk, 12) The narrator, who seems to be Palahniuk's typical character, experiences the previously described frame of mind and the story is a process of escaping it and forming a more reconciled and love-filled one. Thus, this thesis focuses on the main character's identity development and shows how the theme of love supports it. The narrator's identity formation is present throughout the whole story, as a matter of fact, the story could be accessed as the narrator's
„quest for identity". Besides love, there are other influential aspects of the narrator's identity progression, which will be discussed in this thesis, the most important one being the narrator's relation to his alter ego.
Of course, it cannot be denied that Palahniuk frequently uses themes concerned with politics, destruction and violence in his novels. However, these themes are only used to criticise the society, which has been transformed during the last years and evolved in a way the author is dissatisfied with. Therefore, he ironically criticises society, capitalism, media, and other aspects he accuses of this unwanted change. Yet the main thing he (sometimes silently) criticises is the lack of deep human connection, truth and love in the transformed society.
The first part of this work describes the theoretical background of postmodernism and postmodern identity. Firstly, postmodernism, postmodern context and postmodern identity are defined and consequently, the previously obtained theoretical knowledge is used during the analysis. This thesis also includes plot-line overview of Fight Club, which facilitates the orientation in the analysis. The analysis, which aims at accentuation of identity and romance, is based on the practice of close reading. In conclusion, the content of the thesis and its most important points are summarized.
1.2 Plot-line overview
The novel begins with a passage referring to its end, where the story culminates: „Tyler gets me a job as a waiter, after that Tyler's pushing a gun in my mouth and saying, the first step to eternal life is you have to die" (Palahniuk, 11). By the very first sentence, Palahniuk draws 11 the attention to the peak of the story and the events leading to it are explained in retrospective.
The narrator, whose name is never mentioned, is a depressed individual, feeling alone in the world, sceptic and saying, „It's easy to cry when you realise that everyone you love will reject you or die" (Palahniuk, 17). He also suffers from insomnia and narcolepsy. Due to his health condition, the narrator decides to visit the doctor and ask for help. In reaction, the doctor ironically advises the narrator to attend therapy meetings for patients suffering from cancer, so as he sees the real pain (Palahniuk, 19). The narrator takes the advice seriously and starts attending therapy sessions for terminally ill people, even though not suffering from any disease. The support groups become the only place he can ever really relax, calling the meetings „his vacation" (Palahniuk, 18).
Until one day, when another „faker" comes to the meeting. A woman named Maria Singer, whose attendance in testicular cancer support group is clearly undue and who makes the narrator anxious about his own lie. After Maria begins attending the support group meetings, the narrator can no longer feel relaxed with Maria „looking at [him]" (Palahniuk, 35). The narrator decides to intervene and, at the next meeting, he approaches Maria. They agree on dividing various support group meetings so that they do not need to meet.
The third chapter introduces another character, Tyler Durden. The narrator meets Tyler, who is building a wooden sculpture at that moment, on a nude beach.
At the same time, the narrator's flat mysteriously explodes, leaving the narrator a homeless person. He decides to call Tyler and later in a bar asks him if he can live with him. Tyler responds positively, but in exchange he wants the narrator to „hit him as hard as he can"
(Palahniuk, 46). This is how Fight Club is created. Fighting starts occurring every week and after Tyler makes up the rules, starting with „The first rule of Fight Club is you don't talk about Fight Club", the whole concept becomes famous.
Meanwhile, Tyler begins a sexual relationship with Maria, which makes the narrator feel abandoned once again. Under a big influence of Tyler, the narrator's changing life view makes him threaten his boss and quit his job while still earning money. Fight Clubs evolve to
Project Mayhem, a terrorist group made of Fight Club attendees. Project Mayhem's target is 12 the consumerist society and it's embodiments. The narrator realises he is losing touch with
Tyler and his plans, while searching for him, the narrator discovers they are two personalities within one body.
In fact, Tyler is only the narrator's alter ego, which can control his body at the time the narrator is „asleep". At the end, former „best friends" become enemies. The narrator realises that the only way to destroy Tyler and save the society and Maria is to shoot himself.
After the narrator tries to kill himself by the gun, Tyler seemingly disappears and the narrator wakes up „in heaven" (Palahniuk, 206), which is in fact an asylum. The narrator feels safe there, but every once in a while someone with a „black eye or his forehead swollen" assures him „everything's going according to the plan", instigating Tyler's ongoing influence. 13
2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
2.1 Postmodernism
As Linda Hutcheon, an important literary critic focusing on postmodernism and the author of
The Politics of Postmodernism, says, there have been many attempts to define postmodernism. The name itself is sometimes understood as a historical period, other times as a cultural moment (Hutcheon, 1).
Postmodernism affects many cultural fields, it is represented in works of architecture, literature, photography, film, painting, video, dance or music (Hutcheon, 1). Its common feature is contradiction. Postmodern works are self-conscious, self-contradictory, self- undermining, there is commitment to doubleness, double meaning and irony.
The primary concern of postmodernism lies in an attempt to denaturalise some of the features that are perceived as natural in our lifestyle. This attempt is striving towards showing these features, so well-known and accepted, in a new light and towards questioning how they are understood among the society. The features, which can be for example capitalism or patriarchy, are in postmodern view not so much „natural" as they are „cultural". Here,
Hutcheon also stresses the connectedness of postmodernism and politics.
During the past years, postmodernism and politics have shown their relation, namely during the attempts to define postmodernism, which have been conducted in political terms.
Although there has been a dominant trend in criticism, which has perceived postmodernism as apolitical, mainly because of its narcissistic and ironic nature, Hutcheon argues that this stance is probably politically naive: „Postmodern art cannot but be political, at least in the sense that its representations - images and stories - are anything but neutral, however
'aestheticized' they may appear to be in their parodic self-reflexivity" (Hutcheon, 3).
Hutcheon dedicates a whole chapter in The Politics of Postmodernism to use of parody, which is considered central to postmodernism. Parody may serve to the purpose of 14 denaturalisation - parodying and ironising the art of the past shows the ideological consequences deriving from continuity and difference (Hutcheon, 89).
Frederick Jameson and Jean-Francois Lyotard understand postmodernism as a culture transformed by capitalism. All cultural areas are replaced by market; as a result, people's values transform in favour of commodities and to the detriment of art. According to Lyotard, together with the power of market, which causes emptiness and shallowness, there is the power of media. Congestion of information and force of the market are two central phenomena which cause the state of over-informed and de-contextualised society (qtd. in
Carlisle 10, 11). In Lyotard's and Jameson's perception, postmodernism is connected to the politics and society, since the postmodernism applies a notable critique of political situation.
In this sense, Lyotard's and Jameson's view of postmodernism is similar to that of Linda
Hutcheon.
2.2 Context of postmodernism
In discussing postmodern identity, it is important to explain the postmodern context. Dan P.
McAddams describes the postmodern world as „rife with images of discord and malaise"
(qtd. in Schachter, 5). McAddams also states that life in contemporary world misses the sense of purpose and direction, which naturally influences the identity and its development.
Cote and Levine (1988) stress two points concerning the postmodern context. Firstly, there are „certain challenges from the individual's environment" (Cote and Levine, 159) raised by the nature of the postmodern context. The environment is characterised by rapid social change and progress. Secondly, it is the possibility that the identity is not created merely by the individual, it is also influenced by the culture. In postmodern context, the main source of identity confusion during the development is cultural contradiction. In practice, this means that the postmodern individual is connected to multiple contexts (given by multiple, sometimes contradictory social groups the individual desires to be a member of) (Cote and
Levine, 159-178).
Another important aspect of the postmodern context is the great influence of media and the
Internet. These factors bring an instant proliferation of information and also a complicating 15 distinction between the real and the unreal, since the individual is more and more becoming the part of the unreal, simulated world through the internet, social networks and media.
2.3 Identity in the postmodern world
Erik Erikson, a German psychologist who focuses on the topic of identity, differentiates two main aspects of identity: „a sense of ... sameness and continuity" and the meaning for others
(qtd. in Schachter, 5). In the postmodern context the identity loses the sense of sameness, as it constantly changes with progression of the society. Moreover, the individual being anchored in more contexts can resolve in internal confusion, inflicted by the difference in the set of norms, role models and the modes of interaction valid in various contexts; Schachter calls this a „cultural contradiction" (5). The characteristics of postmodern context may cause problems with maintaining the stability and wholeness of the identity. Sociologists believe it to have a possible aftermath for identity development, postmodern context makes people alienated, anxious, emasculated and solitary, anxious to explore their own purpose in the world and their identity (Schachter, 5).
Peter L. Berger further explores this view and compares the traditional and the postmodern society. Identity in the traditional society, unlike the postmodern identity, was set and did not require a choice. In today's world, the individual has to be able to make a choice, an act which needs self-consciousness and reflectivity. Man of today is confronted with many ways of living, various ideas and courses of thinking and one's beliefs and values are dependent on social support. The incapacity to choose resolves in society which is „incohesive and unstable" (Berger, 15-17).
Influenced by the „computerised society" and the changes brought by the Internet and the development of media, the development of identity changed as well. Since the world is becoming a „world of simulations" (Schachter, 6), people are more involved in virtual connection, lack the authentic human contact and they experience the confusion between the real and the unreal. Concerning the issue of authenticity, Erikson mentions great importance of parent figures for the development of identity, as they help to create the sense of authentic experience. Their absence may evoke a fear of fragmentation and even a narcissistic rage
(Schachter, 7). 16
From another point of view, Cushman sees the individual of today as missing a „community, tradition and shared meaning" (qtd. in Schachter, 7). In addition, there seems to be an idea of ideal postmodern self, a person self-sufficient and self-satisfied, not relying on anyone.
Surrendering to this condition makes people feel empty and may even lead to psychopathic behaviour in some cases and finding a way to calm oneself through consumerism in others. 17
3 ANALYSIS
3.1 Quest for identity
3.1.1 The narrator's characteristics and identity crisis
Fight Club's protagonist, the unnamed narrator, is an unhappy individual, who feels unfulfilled and bored, despite his „perfect" life. Tyler, his alter ego, shows that the narrator suffers from dissociative personality disorder (WebMD describes it as presence of two or more distinct personalities which have control over the person's behaviour). At the beginning of the novel, the narrator also mentions his severe insomnia. His inability to sleep causes, except of the extreme tiredness, the hallucinating feelings of the unreal - the narrator is incapable of differentiating between a dream and reality. As he explains, everything is far away, everything is „a copy of a copy of a copy" (Palahniuk, 21). The issue of distinguishing the real from the unreal is one of the aspects of Schachter's postmodern identity. Although the narrator connects his confusion rather with his disease than with the state of society, as
Schachter does, later we learn that some of Schachter's points are also applicable in the narrator's case. For example, it is his lack of friends, authentic experience and human contact, although the original source of the issue remains unclear, with regard to the narrator's entirely twisted reality.
The narrator has no fulfilling relationships, friends or close ones; even his family members are mentioned in a very depersonalised tone. The fact that the father has abandoned the narrator and his mother during the narrator's early childhood is ironically compared to setting up a franchise (Palahniuk, 50), since starting a new family is, according to the narrator, his father's frequent habit. This situation draws the attention to the typically postmodern use of irony - situation, which must have been extremely painful for the narrator, is described as a sarcastic joke. As a result of the family situation, the narrator feels lonely, resentful and depressed, as if „everyone [he] love[s] will reject [him] or die" (Palahniuk, 17). 18
The fact that the narrator is reconciled with the world where „everyone will reject him or die"
undermines one of the two Erikson's basic aspects of identity: „the sameness" and the
individual's meaning for others (qtd. in Schachter, 5). Clearly, the narrator feels he has no
value in the eyes of others and his identity development can be further complicated under the
influence of this perception.
Another Erikson's point could be applied here as well - the narrator's complicated family
situation provides him with no parent role model, an entity essential for identity development
and authentic human contact (qtd. in Schachter, 7). As a matter of fact, lack of authentic
experience in the narrator's life may well be influenced by his parents' absence. Erikson's
outcomes of parental absence (fragmentation and narcissistic rage) are also possible
outcomes in case of the narrator. The narrator feels so lonely, that he attends support group
meetings for terminally ill people multiple times a weak pretending to be one of the ill, all
that in search of authentic experience. As he explains, „if people thought you were dying,
they ... listened instead of just waiting for their turn to speak" (Palahniuk, 107).
Having no real stimulus in his life, the narrator invests all his energy in his flat, car and
possessions. He surrounds himself with perfectly arranged IKEA furniture, which become the
only way through which he can identify himself. As Terry Lee states, he substitutes IKEA
home furnishings „for emotional connection to human beings" (418). Even his refrigerator is
full of „condiments, and no real food" (Palahniuk, 45), a metaphor for the narrator's empty
life missing a purpose, the life of a slave to his „nesting instinct" (Palahniuk, 43). By the
nesting instinct the narrator refers to the useless collecting of belongings. In an interview for
The Talks, Palahniuk elaborates on this view: „[People] find an identity in a series of
products, and the experiences provided by these products, rather than going out and having
strong, unique experiences."
The narrator is a victim of the consumerist society, in which people like him are „working in jobs [they] hate, just so [they] can buy what [they] don't really need" (Palahniuk, 149). This
statement not only expresses the narrator's unsatisfactory feeling about his career, but also
consciousness of his life being controlled by the consumerist culture. The narrator even
compares this dependency on consumer products to the ownership of identity when he says
„.. .the things you used to own, now they own you" (Palahniuk, 44). In this sense, through the
narrator, the author expresses Lyotard's stance towards postmodernism. The narrator, 19 similarly to Lyotard, perceives the postmodern world as being controlled by market and feels how it influences his general lifestyle (qtd. in Carlisle, 10).
Some of Cushman's comments on the postmodernism and consumerism are identifiable in the novel as well. Firstly, it is the postmodern obsession with consumer products, in the narrator's case it is the obsession over his flat and its furniture. Secondly, Cushman introduces a concept of an „ideal individual", a person, who is self-sufficient and does not rely on others in any way. Of course, this is a state which never works, since the individual is naturally sociable and certain dependency is a constituent part of every relationship. People in pursuit of becoming the „ideal individual" eventually experience only emptiness. In some cases, this can even lead to psychopathology or calming oneself through consumerism (Cushman, 599-
611), the latter being precisely what happens to the narrator, who is trying to solve his sense of emptiness by decorating his flat so that it looks exactly like a IKEA catalogue picture.
As was mentioned, an important factor contributing to the narrator's alienation is his job of a recall campaign coordinator. This profession is so dehumanising it has him perceive human life as a matter of money convenience for his insurance company (Bennet, 9):
You take the population of vehicles in the field (A) and multiply it by the probate
rate of failure (B), then multiply the result by the average cost of our out-of-court
settlement (C). A times B times C equals X. This is what it will cost if we don't
initiate a recall. If X is greater than the cost of a recall, we recall the cars and no one
gets hurt. If X is less than the cost of a recall, then we don't recall. (Palahniuk, 30)
Taking into consideration the previous arguments, the narrator may be described as a person without any form of identity, a man, who is unable to find fulfilment in any area of his life.
Going back to Erikson, neither of his two basic aspects of identity is met in case of the narrator. The sameness and continuity is difficult to achieve since the individual is member of many different contexts. If that is the case, his/her identity becomes fragmented and loses its authenticity and wholeness. The narrator seems to be an easily impressible person, a fact illustrated through his addiction to consumer goods. This weakness paired with his effort to belong to different social groups, to be a part of different contexts, resolves in his total alienation. During the course of the story, the narrator is shifting the contexts, some of which may even be described as contradictory (Fight Club and support group meetings). 20
The absence of identity is further emphasised by the fact that the narrator has no name.
Erving Goffman notes the importance of the three parts of human identity - social, personal and ego identity. The personal identity comprises from name or social security number, the name being an important factor for defining the individual in society (qtd. in Allan, 4). Also, the depersonalisation of the narrator is demonstrated through his typically detached way of speaking, some examples of which are mentioned above. When referring to his emotions, the narrator uses gags from Reader's Digest - „1 am Joe's raging bile duct"; „1 am Joe's grinding teeth" (Palahniuk, 59) - where organs or body parts speak, complain and express their feelings. This way of speaking serves to depersonalize the narrator even further. Through
„Joe", the narrator gives way to his sentiments, which seem to be inappropriate for his masculine character to express, and so he sarcastically „escapes" from them by creating distance - those are not his emotions, but someone else's (something else's) (Kuhn, 40).
According to Kavanagh, the author uses this technique to draw attention to and at the same time distract the reader from the narrator's dissociative mental state (67).
To sum up, the narrator is in the middle of identity crisis, whatever caused it, which requires changeover in his lifestyle. It ultimately resolves in formation of an alter ego.
3.1.2 Formation of an alter ego and identity development
The very first hint of the existence of an alter ego may be noted in the first chapter, when the narrator says „1 know this because Tyler knows this" (Palahniuk, 12). Through this statement, the author demonstrates the narrator's and Tyler's mutual closeness, it suggests that Tyler and the narrator are possibly close friends, who have identical opinions and knowledge.
However, Tyler, being the narrator's creation, is described as his exact opposite. More times throughout the novel, even though still not aware of the fact that Tyler is really his alter ego, the narrator fantasizes about becoming a different person, so unhappy he is with his own life.
While on a business trip, the narrator keeps asking: „If I could wake up in a different place, at a different time, could I wake up as a different person? (Palahniuk, 33)" The narrator is immediately given a chance to find out, since it is exacdy during this business trip he meets
Tyler for the first time. 21
The difference between both characters is especially obvious during Tyler's first appearance, even though specifics are given to the reader later in retrospective. Tyler appears when the narrator is „tired and bored with [his] job and furniture" and he „[can't] see any way to change things" (Palahniuk, 172). The narrator describes his life as „perfect" multiple times, as he connects one's perfection and completeness with consumer products. He feels that if one „has everything", his/her life should be flawless. At this moment, the narrator meets
Tyler, who is described as „naked and sweating, gritty with sand, his hair wet and stringy, hanging in his face" (Palahniuk, 32). Due to the description, Tyler appears manly and natural.
As a matter of fact, he seems to be the exact opposite of the narrator, who, on the other hand, is described as a young professional having a routine job and being surrounded by his IKEA furniture. At this moment, the narrator already created an alter ego, but still does not want to identify with it. The alter ego is present as a possible part of the narrator's identity.
In the narrator's world, sexual desire is substituted by the desire for possessions, which he highlights by saying „people he know[s] who used to sit in the bathroom with pornography, now they sit in the bathroom with their IKEA furniture catalogue" (Palahniuk, 43). The narrator's comparison of pornography and erotica with shopping in IKEA implies his lack of sexuality and the fact that he replaces human contact by possessions and consumption.
However, sexuality in Tyler's world is present and easy to reach, which is demonstrated by his easily accomplished affair with Maria.
Tyler's beliefs are also very distinct from the narrator's, the biggest divide lies in Tyler's anti- consumerist stance, which opposes the narrator's fixation to the consumer goods and possessions. Even Tyler's job, in which he commits „little acts of rebellion" against the contemporary bourgeois society instead of fulfilling his obligations, contribute to his world- view of hate of the society and at the same time ironically underlines the narrator's, in which money cost more than human life.
The great difference is also noticeable thanks to the narrator's and Tyler's home descriptions, given later on in the novel, when the narrator decides to live with Tyler. While the narrator lives in his IKEA furniture filled organized „ filing cabinet for widows and young professionals" (Palahniuk, 41), Tyler's home is the perfect embodiment of his often expressed desire for disorder: 22
The rain trickles down through the house, and everything wooden swells and
shrinks, and the nails in everything wooden, the floors and baseboards and window
casings, the nails inch out and rust. ... The house is waiting for something, a zoning
change or a will to come out of probate, and then it will be torn down (Palahniuk,
57).
At the time of the narrator's and Tyler's first encounter, Tyler is building a giant wooden construction, which at one moment casts a shadow of a hand on the ground. In this and other moments crucial for the narrator's identity development, hand as a symbol draws the attention to the ongoing transition and increasing conflict between Tyler and the narrator (Mathews 7).
Online Dictionary of symbolism of the University of Michigan provides a meaning of the hand symbol, which is „strength, power and protection" and a „tool of tools". In the story, the hand as a tool corresponds with Tyler's power to transform the narrator's life, the strength relates to Tyler's capability. When it appears in the story, it is a sign of a complete changeover awaiting the narrator.
The narrator's inner faith in Tyler becomes apparent when his apartment mysteriously explodes. The narrator instantaneously becomes a homeless person and instead of turning to an institution, he decides to contact Tyler, at the moment a complete stranger to him, and ask him for a place to stay. When the narrator is waiting for Tyler to answer the phone, his thoughts are hopefully turning to him: „Oh Tyler, please rescue me. ... Deliver me from
Swedish furniture. Deliver me from clever art. ... May I never be complete. ... Deliver me,
Tyler, from being perfect and complete." (Palahniuk, 46) The narrator's thoughts clearly resemble a prayer, specifically Psalm 140: „Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man: preserve me from the violent man; Which imagine mischiefs in their heart; continually are they gathered together for war." (OT, Ps. 140) This psalm turns to God awaiting his help, as does the narrator await Tyler's. This statement suggests that the narrator perceives Tyler as his saviour, someone who has his faith in his hands. As it turns out, the narrator is right; Tyler has the ability to dramatically change the narrator's life. After the call, Tyler and the narrator have their first fight, which leads to founding Fight Club.
Fight club creates an important context for the narrator. During a fight, he can become another person, together with Fight Club's other participants. As the narrator states, „What guys are at Fight Club is not what they are in the real world" (Palahniuk, 49). The narrator's 23 identity becomes even more fragmented, his roles of a Fight Club's member and of a mundane employee create a great contradiction and his identity constantly shifts from one context to another.
Many critics commented on homo-eroticism in the novel (Kavadlo, 4), however, it seems that the narrator's stance towards Tyler is different. Throughout the story, the narrator's relationship could definitely be described as fixation. At one point, the narrator is so identified with Tyler that he notes Tyler's „words are coming out of [his] mouth" (Palahniuk,
98). But since Tyler is only a part of the narrator's personality (the aggressive, masculine part), the feelings should be identified merely as a desire to become more aggressive and masculine. Following passage, where the narrator glorifies Tyler, his personality and reputation, supports that claim: „1 love everything about Tyler Durden, his courage and his smarts. His nerve. Tyler is funny and charming and forceful and independent, and men look up to him and expect him to change their world. Tyler is capable and free and I am not. I'm not Tyler Durden." (Palahniuk, 174)
The narrator seems to adore exactly those personality traits he lacks. Courage, independence, force and capability, all the masculine qualities the narrator seems to have forgotten due to his consumerist lifestyle. The narrator's „nesting instinct", decorating his flat and surrounding himself with expensive things are traits, which may be marked as feminine (Hock Soon Ng
11). After the „declaration of love", the narrator laments he is „not Tyler Durden", demonstrating his dissatisfaction with his own personality.
Another incident of great importance for the development of identity (in which the symbol of hand reappears) happens in Chapter 8. The narrator already feels an immense shift under
Tyler's influence, which is most apparent after visiting Fight Club together. Fighting makes the narrator feel „enlightened", it has a calming effect on him (Palahniuk, 70), however, Tyler thinks the narrator's equilibration and calmness is not genuine, telling him „sticking feathers up your butt doesn't make you a chicken" (Palahniuk, 69). According to Tyler, the narrator's changeover is not complete yet, he wants the narrator to thoroughly explore the idea of destruction firstly introduced by the explosion of the narrator's apartment. Tyler wants the narrator to „hit bottom" and „fall all the way", because „it's only after you've lost everything that you're free to do anything" (Palahniuk, 70). In order to truly transform the narrator's 24 existence, Tyler kisses the narrator's hand and pours lye over it, which causes chemical burn and an immense pain.
Cynthia Kuhn points at the kiss as a well-known method for awakening, familiar from fairy• tales. What Tyler wants from the narrator is a mental awakening (43), he reminds the narrator that „[he] will die and until [he] know[s] that, [he's] useless to [him]" (Palahniuk, 76). Tyler thinks that closeness to death (here represented by pain, which even leads to losing consciousness) is going to transform the narrator's life. The belief that similar experience may help one to „wake up" from the set way of living is present in more situations. For example, after the commence of Project Mayhem, Tyler gives the narrator an assignment: he should threaten a stranger with a gun in order for the stranger to transform his thinking and accomplishing his life goals. Constant exploration of death and other themes connected to destruction is what drives Tyler's personality. It begins with Fight Club, which has members of it destroy only their bodies, and it continues (and ends) with more serious action, setting up an organisation called Project Mayhem. The goal of Project Mayhem under Tyler's control is a „complete and right-away destruction of civilisation" (Palahniuk, 125).
How the narrator introduces the topics of destruction is apparent for example in his transformed way of thinking, which he dedicates to destruction of famous pieces of art
(possible representation of the opposite of destruction - creation). The narrator says he
„wanted to burn the Louvre" and „wipe (his) ass with Mona Lisa" (Palahniuk, 124). In this way, the narrator shows the disrespect of the traditional perception of history and culture, a very postmodern stance, as Hutcheon believes. Hutcheon talks about postmodern knowledge of history as something limited and narrow, since it is possible to learn of history only through a testimony of people:
We only have access to the past today through its traces - its documents, the
testimony of witnesses, and other archival materials. In other words, we only have
representations of the past from which to construct our narratives or explanations. In
a very real sense, postmodernism reveals a desire to understand present culture as
the product of previous representations. (Hutcheon, 55)
The narrator shows similar approach to history through his other statements as well. In chapter 1, he asks „Where would Jesus be if no one had written the gospels?". (Palahniuk, 25
15) This way he not only expresses his uncertainty about historical events and their authenticity, but also shows his interest in understanding the courses of history and culture influenced by its representations. It is easy to detect an ironical tone to the statement as well, irony being another important part of the postmodern identity according to Hutcheon. The past in postmodern literature tends to be displayed with some kind of irony or parody
(Hutcheon, 4).
After the kiss scene, the narrator changes, inclining more to Tyler's way of thinking.
However, disunion in his reasoning is evident even earlier on in the book in his contradictory statements concerning the issue of consumerism expressed in following passages:
It used to be enough that when I came home angry and knowing that my life wasn't
toeing my five-year plan, I could clean my condominium or detail my car. Someday
I'd be dead without a scar and there would be a really nice condo and a car.
(Palahniuk, 49)
Through this statement, the narrator expresses a typically consumerist life-view - the belief that it is possible to secure one's happiness through the ownership. The narrator's monologue on the previous page provides a completely different perspective:
I just don't want to die without a few scars, I say. It's nothing anymore to have a
beautiful stock body. You see those cars that are completely stock cherry, right out of
the dealer's showroom in 1955,1 always think, what a waste. (Palahniuk, 48)
Here, the narrator distances himself from doing what he previously promoted (detailing a car). Through those conflicting statements, the narrator demonstrates his fragmented identity.
Having participated in many contexts and not truly devoting himself to any leads to inconsistent opinions and confusion. The narrator perceives himself as a part of the consumerist society (the first citation) but under the influence of Tyler's anti-consumerist views, he is capable of instantly changing his own. This way, Erikson's first aspect of identity
- the sameness - is undermined. Also, Erikson's description of the postmodern context, which can lead to internal confusion, foregrounds this situation, in which the narrator's shifting identity and quick progression of his opinions cause the extreme kind of fragmentation. 26
The narrator's identification with Tyler's ideas, which becomes noticeable mainly after
participating in Fight Club together, is reflected also in the narrator's changed living situation.
The narrator changes his perfect condominium for Tyler's forlor house. On top of that, he
starts participating in „guerilla terrorism of the service industry" (Palahniuk, 81), doing little
acts of rebellion against the bourgeois society, for example inserting pornography pictures
into films during his job of film projectionist. The identification with Tyler is on the rise, until
the narrator experiences „Tyler's words coming out of [his] mouth" (Palahniuk, 81) signalling
the identification is complete.
Tyler's anti-consumerist opinions are closely related to those of Cote and Levine in the belief
that people are greatly influenced by the consumerism. Through Tyler, the author explores the
ideas of deconstruction: Tyler rejects to accept the generally promoted ideas of consumerist
lifestyle, he opposes it and even decides to fight against the very source of it.
At the time of the narrator's identification with Tyler, the narrator visibly gains Tyler's
„capability and forcefulness" as well, which enables him to threaten his boss and leave his job. The feeling of unification is even intensified by the narrator's insomnia, which has him
question the reality: „Am I asleep? Have I slept?" (Palahniuk, 99) In his constant state of
tiredness, the narrator is unable to distinguish between a dream and reality, in effect, what he
really is doing or what he only dreams about doing.
After the narrator's changeover, Tyler is free to start Project Mayhem, which is another
turning point in the narrator's identity progression. Tyler's side of personality begins living
distinct life without the narrator's involvement. For the narrator, „everything is so far away, a
copy of a copy of a copy" (Palahniuk, 21), he is distancing from reality and in this case from
Tyler as well - the narrator is not aware of Tyler's plans and actions any more, which makes
him feel anxious. The narrator is now again shifting to another context, now not towards
Tyler, but the other way around, towards Maria. While Tyler is outside, doing mysterious acts
concerning Project Mayhem, the narrator starts spending more time with Maria: „Every night,
Maria and I walk in the garden until I'm sure that Tyler's not coming home that night."
(Palahniuk, 132)
In Project Mayhem, „litde acts of rebellion" evolve to serious crimes, vandalising,
threatening and even murdering. Tyler forms an army of former Fight Club members, so- 27 called „space monkeys". This nickname reminds of animals used for space exploration, as well as the men are used for accomplishing Tyler's secret plans. The space monkeys, under the influence of Tyler, are robbed of their identities, they are given numbers instead of names, they wear the same black outfits and chant the same phrases. They are given homework which has them do various misdeeds. In the end, Project Mayhem escalates to accidental death of Robert Paulson or „Big Bob", who was, same as the narrator, former attendee of the testicular cancer support group, to killing the narrator's boss and attempted bombing of
Rockefeller centre and Space needle. The narrator's boss is a person embodying the hated consumerist society and order with his „extra-starched shirts and his standing appointment for a haircut every Tuesday after lunch"; also, the Rockefeller centre and Space needle are symbols of civilisation, which Tyler desires to destroy (Hock Soon Ng, 17). Together, these acts represent Tyler's effort to attack the contemporary society.
The narrator begins disapproving of his own acts (and therefore of Tyler's as well) so strongly that he starts referring to himself as to a „monster" (70) and speaking of himself in the third person. The narrator's fragmentation reached the point where he lost sense of his own self- knowledge and self-identification. This confusion is apparent in changing mode of speech
(switching from the first to the third person during one unit of speech) and it is no longer certain whether or not the narrator is in control of his actions: „The monster hooks its bloody claw in the waistband of the manager's pants ... and I wrap my bloody hands around the manager's smooth wrists." (Palahniuk, 117)
The narrator ultimately decides to stop Tyler and his plans connected to Project Mayhem by closing Fight Club. However, Tyler, who anticipated the narrator's acts had prepared for this situation in advance and blocked all the possibilities of doing so.
It is interesting to note that even after the narrator discovers Tyler's true nature, he refuses the fact and continues perceiving himself and Tyler as two distinct personalities (Kavadlo, 8):
„Tyler is funny and charming and forceful and independent, and men look up to him and expect him to change their world. Tyler is capable and free and I'm not." (Palahniuk, 174) It is near the very end of the novel the narrator is actually aware of Tyler's presence within his mind, when Tyler's memories are breaking into his own and, with that in mind, he is even able to name the origin of Tyler's existence (Sartain, 5): „A11 of a sudden, I know how to run a movie projector. I know how to break locks and how Tyler had rented the house on Paper 28
Street just before he revealed himself to me at the beach. I know why Tyler had occurred."
(Palahniuk, 194)
In the end of the novel, when the narrator shoots himself with a gun, he realises he is not killing himself, he is killing Tyler, his destructive alter. This is a crucial moment, for here the narrator decides to oppose Tyler's strong voice and refuses however appealing and seductive
Tyler's masculine character is, all for the greater good. On top of that, the narrator decides to end his own life in order to stop Tyler, as he identifies himself as the source of Tyler's existence (Hock Soon Ng 18).
Finally, instead of providing a new identity, Tyler's existence leads to the opposite. Tyler's ideas are embodied in Project Mayhem, which is build on robbing its members of any kind of identity, as the members of it are nameless (bearing numbers instead of names), all wearing the same black clothing and all chanting the same words. Thus, the narrator's quest for identity through creating Tyler resolves only in destruction and a dead end.
According to Erikson, historical, social and cultural context may influence the formation of identity. The postmodern society seems to complicate it and even promote an identity crisis, instead of helping the individuals to develop the identity (qtd. in Schachter, 7). Manuel
Castells believes that the postmodern society supports the fundamentalist formation of identity, which is a reaction to the complexities of the postmodern world (qtd. in Schachter,
8). It seems that this is exactly what happened to the narrator of Fight Club, and the fundamentalist identity is the one he was about to build under the influence of Tyler.
However, the novel suggest that the fundamentalist stance is not the ideal way to confront the complex world of today. The story implies that the headless fight against the society is not the right path; what Tyler's method proposes is solving immorality by immorality. As a matter of fact, the narrator ultimately attempts to do the opposite than what was promoted through
Tyler - save the society.
Tyler seems to be created primarily as a result of the narrator's inner desire to find deeper meaning in his life and he probably feels this may be resolved by escaping the consumerist lifestyle. The narrator inclines to Tyler's seductive opposing character, whose beliefs and values are, unlike his own, very anti-consumerist. At one point, Tyler's strong voice and ideology almost shut down the narrator's, yet eventually, the narrator finds a way to oppose 29
Tyler and seeks to retain his own belief system (Sartain, 4-14). What should be the best solution to the narrator's crisis is replacing Tyler's masculine and violent ways for connection and love (Kavadlo, 12). The story suggests yet another reason for the narrator's improvement, though, and that is the recognition of his problem and reconciling with his own identity, which happens when the narrator is able to accept Tyler as a part of himself.
3.2 Romance and identity
At the beginning of the novel, the narrator states: "The gun, the anarchy, the explosion is really about Maria Singer" (Palahniuk, 14). According to Cynthia Kuhn, through this statement, the narrator immediately identified Maria as a central player (36). Kuhn also highlights the ignorance of criticism, since Maria's character analysis is being neglected, despite of her importance for the narrator and the story as well. However, this does not seem to be so much the unconcern of the critics, as it is a little space the author provided for the analysis of the character. The story contains only a few encounters of the narrator and Maria
(however important they are) and they provide no deep understanding of Maria's motivations, desires and thoughts.
However, Maria's character clearly shares a number of similarities with the narrator's. Firstly, her job in funeral home and the narrator's j ob at an insurance company may both be classified as jobs from death-related fields (Kuhn, 42). Maria, similarly to the narrator, feels hopeless and alone in her life. She uses the detached way of speaking, describing herself in the third person, same as is it executed in the narrator's speech: „The girl is infectious human waste, and she's confused and afraid to commit to the wrong thing so she won't commit to anything.
... The girl in 8G has no faith in herself ... and she's worried that as she grows older, she'll have fewer and fewer options." (Palahniuk, 61-62) This kind of distancing from herself also instigates the inability to confront her identity, the issue detected also in case of the narrator.
Everything Maria does comes from her desire to be happier and live a fuller life, as is demonstrated in her reason for working in funeral home. She explains she only wanted „to feel good about [herjself, just the fact that [she] was breathing" (Palahniuk, 38). Through this statement, Maria also expresses the desire for authenticity and emotions the postmodern society lacks. 30
Both the narrator and Maria are confused and their lives lack any sort of connection, which they make apparent despite of their characteristic cynicism. Kuhn describes Maria as urban, alluring, threatening, non-material and anti-domestic and she points at Maria's surname
(Singer) as a possible allusion for her sirenesque nature (42). Maria, similarly to the narrator, has psychological issues, she is suicidal and her constant deliberations about death suggest she fears it. Through that all, Maria seems more balanced and stronger than the narrator, which is illustrated through her ability to name her problem and explain her motivations for the solution - a step which the narrator is unable to do.
Despite of information the author provides, Maria remains a mysterious person throughout the story, there is no suggestion of why she feels the way she feels, as the author does not provide any information about Maria's past. The evidence for Maria's character analysis is also limited because of the narrator's fixation to Tyler, which lasts majority of the story. The veil, Maria's characteristic fashion accessory and her constantly surrounding cloud of smoke contribute to Maria's characteristic sense of mysteriousness (Kuhn, 43).
The first narrator's encounter with Maria happens at the testicular cancer meeting.
Immediately after Maria's peculiar appearance, the narrator starts feeling anxious about her presence: „With her watching, I'm a liar. She's a fake. ... To Maria I'm a fake. Since the second time I saw her, I can't sleep. ... In this one moment, Maria's lie reflects my lie, and all
I can see are lies." (Palahniuk, 23) Maria, who obviously does not belong to the testicular support group meeting, mirrors the narrator's lie of not suffering from any terminal illness, a fact which makes him feel uncomfortable. On the contrary, Maria is obviously comfortable about her unsolicited presence at the support group meeting, however ironic it is. Maria's lie makes the narrator confront his own inauthenticity. Maria is very straightforward about her lying, when she says she „embrace[s] her own festering diseased corruption" (Palahniuk, 65).
The narrator becomes self-conscious, paranoically thinking Maria watches him or invades his physical space. On top of that, Maria haunts the narrator's guided meditation, where she appears as his power animal (Palahniuk, 36). In the end, it is Maria (or their possible relationship), whom the narrator seems to be afraid of the most (Kuhn, 41). In the film version of Fight Club, the narrator compares Maria to „the little scratch on the roof of [his] mouth that would heal if only [he] would stop tonguing it, but [he] can't", instigating that however unpleasant it is, he cannot stop thinking about Maria. According to Kavanagh, the 31 outcome of Maria's initial encounters with the narrator (dividing the support groups meetings) long before the relationship really started, reminds of an argument of a divorced couple over a division of their property (191).
Short after the narrator and Tyler start living together, Maria and Tyler begin their sexual relationship. When Maria calls the narrator and asks him for help, the narrator decides not to do that, instead, Tyler comes to „rescue Maria". The narrator, even though he decided to reject Maria's request, seems to be very angry about their relationship: „1 am totally Joe's
Gallbladder. All of this is my fault. Sometimes you do something, and you get screwed.
Sometimes it's the things you don't do, and you get screwed." (Palahniuk, 58) The narrator's regrets of not doing something are clearly connected to not visiting Maria and this way letting
Tyler take his place.
The narrator's fixation to Tyler (often being described as homoerotic) and Tyler's sexual relationship with Maria creates a chaotic relationship between the three main characters. The narrator comments on it in the following passage: „We have sort of a triangle thing going on over here. I want Tyler. Tyler wants Maria. Maria wants me. ... This is about property as in ownership.,, (Palahniuk, 14) The narrator, not being aware of him and Tyler being the same person, explains the feelings he has towards Tyler as romantic. Kavanagh comments on the difficult situation of the three characters as follows: „ ... the narrator generates a triadic structure where there was previously only a dual relation (with the female other: Maria). The introduction of a third term (the father) transforms what is a static and timeless relation into a complex sexual dialectic, one that cannot be synchronized because all three terms cannot be fully present at the same time." (205) The difficulty of the situation is set by Tyler, who desires to hide the truth about him being the narrator's alter ego. Tyler wants to remain hidden and asks the narrator not to mention him in front of Maria. Tyler, Maria and the narrator can never be in the same room, so their relationship has to evolve independently, which is a cause for chaos.
De Chavez, who proposes Fight Club to be read as a love story, explains the basic psychoanalytic axiom of love: there are two sexualised positions present, Man and Woman.
Tyler, who is not real, occupies a symbolic place. Two concrete beings are Maria and the narrator, but the narrator occupies the place of Woman until Tyler appears. As long as the place of Man is not occupied, the relationship cannot function, since there is „obviously no 32 sexual relation between two „Woman" positions". The relationship between Maria and the narrator may only begin through Tyler's existence. (De Chavez, 133, 134)
At this point of the story, the narrator seems not to be able to begin any kind of adult relationship, because he is too conscious of his own insufficiency. It is possible to explain the appearance of Tyler as a reaction to the narrator's inability to begin an adult relationship.
Tyler is the narrator's more manly and capable half, who is certainly more suitable for this quest (as is shown in his affair with Maria). A glimpse of Tyler's presence being connected to the relationship with Maria is expressed when the narrator says „without Maria, Tyler would have nothing" (Palahniuk, 14). As Kuhn states, „Tyler's very existence is a psychological response to the narrator's subconscious desire for Maria, coupled with his insecurities about entering a relationship" (41). Caroline Ruddell agrees and adds that Tyler and his hyper- masculinity are born of the narrator's vulnerability (qtd. in Turley, 18).
Throughout the story, it is evident that the narrator's opinion on relationships is not a positive one - he compares love to „ownership", he reflects on his bad family situation and he asks if
„another woman is really the answer he needs" (Palahniuk, 51). The dysfunctional family situation and the narrator's lack of self-esteem makes the source of his fear of commitment very clear. Another statement emphasising the narrator's scepticism may be found at the beginning of the novel: „That old saying, how you always kill the one you love, well, look, it works both ways." (Palahniuk, 13) This saying comes from Oscar Wilde's poem The Ballad of Reading Gaol, in which Wilde suggests a devastating force one has over his/her loved ones. The narrator evidently insinuates the frequency of people hurting or even destroying those close to them.
Palahniuk adds another aspect to the reluctance to commit during an interview: „My characters ... sabotage any chance of bonding with another person. They don't want to give up what seems like autonomy in their lives, and become dependent on another person."
(Kavanagh, 398) Leslie Fiedler states that the typical male protagonist of American fiction seeks an adventure and avoids civilisation (embodied by marriage and responsibility). It seems that this also applies to the narrator of Fight Club (qtd. in Turley, 2).
Throughout the story, the narrator is shifting the contexts (and simultaneously the characters he is influenced by). At the beginning, his identity is in its feminine form as he tries to solve 33 his problems by visiting the support groups, at the same time, he meets Maria, the novel's sole female character. The first shift of identity is apparent when the narrator changes the space of the support groups to Fight Club, a typically masculine space. During the phase of
„fear of commitment", the narrator is fixated to Tyler and at the same time, he understands his feelings toward Maria as hatred. At this point of the story, the narrator's inner confusion and the lack of self-reflexivity is extremely noticeable. After Tyler's persona starts functioning practically on its own, the narrator is not aware of Tyler's actions any more and he shifts towards Maria, which is Tyler's opposing character on the masculinity-femininity scale.
Once the narrator realises that he shares the same body with Tyler, it also helps him to identify his romantic feelings towards Maria: „And if Tyler loves Maria. I love Maria."
(Palahniuk, 199) Being faced to this fact, the narrator is able to point backwards to the development of his feelings, saying „from the first night [he] saw her, ... some part of [him] had needed a way to be with Maria" (Palahniuk, 198). However, the narrator passionately strives so as to appear as a masculine entity without emotions, which is evident once that he finally expresses his feelings to Maria, avoiding the word „love" and exchanging it for less emotional „like":
"Why should I believe any of this?" It happens that fast.
I say, because I think I like you.
Maria says, "Not love?" (Palahniuk, 197)
According to Badieu, love can only exist through its declaration (qtd. in De Chavez, 135). In
Fight Club, instead of declarations of love, the characters express something which may be called more fittingly „rejections" of love. Proof of this may be spotted in the statement above, as well as in other situations, for example when the narrator refers to Maria as Tyler's lover and Tyler immediately refuses to be called so (Palahniuk, 62).
Maria is the first person who truly appreciates the narrator's personality more than Tyler's, even though, according to the narrator, Tyler is the one who is loved and adored by everyone.
Maria chooses the narrator instead of Tyler: „1 like you. ... I know the difference." (Palahniuk,
205) Through Maria's feelings, the narrator finally experiences Erikson's sense of meaning for others, which helps him confront and objectively judge his situation: „Under and behind 34 and inside everything I took for granted, something terrible has been growing." (Palahniuk,
203) The narrator realises that the issue that evolved in the creation of Tyler is deeply ingrained.
At the same time, the narrator finally escapes Tyler's dogma: „1 want to be dead. Because only in death we have names." (Palahniuk, 201) „Having a name" in this statement seems to be a metaphor for a will to regain the narrator's lost identity. Without a name, the narrator could only represent a voice of society's majority. In comparison, the objects in the narrator's flat are given their full names according to IKEA catalogue - Johanneshov armchair in the
Strinne green stripe pattern (Palahniuk, 43) - instigating their uniqueness - in the narrator's world, the objects seem to be more human than himself (Turley, 15).
Although still unable to find any other way to face his crisis than suicide, the narrator realises the distinction between his and Tyler's ideas, he realises he is an individual who has a place in the world and this way is „unique", opposing the ideas of Tyler, according to whom „you are not a beautiful and unique snowflake, ... you are the same decaying organic matter as everyone else" (Palahniuk, 134).
In addition, an important point for this thesis is the primal reason the narrator starts attending the support group meetings, which seems to be his desperate need of authentic human contact. This is demonstrated by his encounter with Robert Paulson. When he meets Big Bob,
„the novels' only mother figure" (Kavadlo, 7), at the testicular cancer meeting and hears his detailed life story of a former body builder who lost his family, the narrator starts to cry.
Being exposed to this kind of honesty and emotions from a stranger makes the narrator feel touched. After such a strong experience, the narrator is finally able to fall asleep and this way he can relieve his insomnia. His following line, „babies don't sleep this well" (Palahniuk, 22), contributes to Kavadlo's understanding of Big Bob's position in the novel. The narrator's real mother is mentioned in the novel only once, which further supports the stance. Whether the narrator perceives the Big Bob as his mother or not, after their first encounter the narrator says „losing all hope was freedom", suggesting a releasing effect the experience had on him.
The narrator seeks attention, the interaction with terminally ill people makes him happy because he believes that if people are dying, they „listen instead of just waiting for their turn to speak" (Palahniuk, 107). 35
It is possible to understand the narrator's decision to attend support groups as his first feminine solution to his identity crisis, as was mentioned above. Fight Club and the creations of Tyler lay on the other side of the spectrum, they are a masculine way to resolve it. Kuhn supports this view, she perceives the support groups and Fight Club as typically „gendered" spaces (Kuhn, 25). In the novel, many suggestions to compare the two spaces are given. On one hand, Fight Club is described as a place where things „didn't happen in words"
(Palahniuk, 44), on the other hand, „support group" is a euphemism, a name created in order not to hurt its attendees' feelings, which implies the great importance of words. After all, majority of time spent at the support group meeting consists of talking. In addition, the narrator's face creates a „wet mask of how [he] looked crying" (Palahniuk, 22) on Big Bob's t-shirt, which opposes his bloody face print on the concrete after a fight (51). And of course, also the general reason for attending Fight Club and support groups much differs. The first one is a place people seek in order to solve their problems through violence, the second helps people face their serious disease merely by talking and human contact.
The narrator's shifting between the feminine and masculine spaces provide a proof of his identity fragmentation. Throughout the story, it is obvious the narrator needs to belong somewhere, he lacks the authentic contact and is extremely confused and disunited. At the beginning, he attends the support group meetings, where he calms his needs for human contact. Afterwards, he dramatically shifts and starts attending Fight Club. However, there is a possible connection of these two spaces, and that lies in the narrator's desire for an authentic experience. Both during the support group meeting and during Fight Club the narrator is able to come to contact with his primal emotions, even though very different ones. Another contradicting contexts are his job of a recall campaign coordinator and his job of a film projectionist, the first one truly serving the society, the other one fighting against it. Changing of contexts creates a confusion in the narrator's mind, the narrator seems to be in the middle of Schachter's „cultural contradiction", as he attempts to belong to various contexts, each with a different set of norms, role models and the modes of interaction.
According to Henry Giroux, Fight Club suggests a return to the traditionally masculine self and promotes masculine power (qtd. in De Chavez, 127). However, this opinion is considered to be simplistic. This thesis argues that since Tyler, as the representation of hyper-masculinity, is at the end (possibly) defeated and most importandy rejected by the narrator, the message 36 seems to be the opposite. The author's portrayal of the masculine world almost ends with a disaster, which by no means shows the author promoting hyper-masculinity and violence, conversely, it shows its possible negative outcomes (De Chavez, 128).
At the end, the narrator's identity seems to be at the beginning of its development. The narrator is able to choose between the various contexts by rejecting Fight Club and Tyler and striving towards a relationship with Maria. In this way, the narrator helps his identity development and its stability by anchoring in certain context. In addition, the narrator experiences the sense of his found meaning for others through Maria and her love. The narrator is finally able to fight his confusion about the real and unreal since he accepts Tyler as a part of his personality and even decides to fight against him, to improve his health, if
Tyler is considered the symptom of the narrator's illness. However, the narrator's presence at the mental asylum implies that there is a long journey and fight for mental stability awaiting him. Nevertheless, the narrator begins to experience a sort of happiness, which is present in the novel for the very first time. He calls the asylum his „heaven", he gets letters from Maria while he is recovering from his wounds and he considers it to be „better than real life"
(Kavanagh, 229). Kavanagh notes that Palahniuk's characters often face a restraint to their happy relationship (a mental asylum in Fight Club, past sexual trauma in Lullaby and
Survivor) and he even calls Palahniuk's novels „failed romances". However, Palahniuk's answer to this is that the only barrier to a sexual relationship is in the character's mind
(Kavanagh, 398-399). This was apparently also the case of the narrator, who was unable to begin a relationship because of his mental issues, fear of commitment and instability.
According to Peter L. Berger, the traditional society as opposed to the postmodern one did not require a choice of lifestyle, opinions and beliefs. In the postmodern context, though, a choice is necessary for the identity development. It seems that at the end of the story, the narrator was finally able to make a choice, which was the ultimate turning point for his identity (qtd. in Schachter, 15). Nevertheless, even at the mental asylum the narrator meets various members of Project Mayhem, which signifies Tyler's ongoing influence.
There are many theorists, according to whom the Erikson's concept of sameness and continuity is not so important for the healthy development of identity (Schachter, 8).
However, this thesis argues that devotion to a certain set of norms, values and beliefs appears to be principal for its healthy development and for identity crisis' prevention. Trying to be a 37 part of multiple contexts brings a risk of creating an identity fragmented and confused. The more contradictory the contexts are, the more this becomes an issue, as it is illustrated by the case of the narrator of Fight Club. Palahniuk comments on the position of the individual in
American society in Stranger than fiction: True stories. According to him, the American dream of gaining power and wealth brings emptiness and isolation (qtd. in Garrison, 81).
Therefore it is essential for Palahniuk to write about individuals who are trying to break through their alienation and find their place in community of people, to restore their contact with other people - as the narrator is trying to do.
People in the society of today seek a certain set of values in their life, meaningfulness, community and purpose, they desire to love and be loved and at the same time, they face the fact that these desires are often left unfulfilled (Garrison, 79). Fight Club's hero is a person, who experiences the feelings of disappointment since today's world offers very few possibilities of meeting these goals. As a matter of fact, the whole novel is the narrator's quest for the happiness, a very difficult quest with many constraints in the narrator's mind. Most people would probably not consider the ending happy, but it certainly should not be considered a failure. It seems that the ending is open to interpretation, however, the narrator succeeded in one thing - setting on a journey.
3.3 Deconstruction and identity
In my opinion, the author provided a number of significant ideas of deconstructing the reality in the novel. Firstly, the novel is trying to deconstruct the way the society functions, which is done in typically postmodern sceptical way. It suggests that IKEA catalogue does not bring happiness to anyone, even though that is what the media teach. However, the headless fight against the society brings no good, either. Which is the right way, then?
Another issue the author chooses to deconstruct is the concept of femininity and masculinity in today's society. During the support group meetings, which are marked as a feminine space, the narrator meets other men, men who gather in order to cry, in order to secretly express their emotions to one another. This undermines the ordinary picture of strong and independent men, who do not need any help with their mental issues. Another ironic situation 38 involves Maria Singer coming to the testicular support group meeting - however undue her presence is, the story nor the narrator refer to it in any way.
Through the narrator's shifting identity, the author deconstructs the position of the postmodern man in the society. The narrator's identity shifts from one fundamentalist position to another, but cannot find happiness in either of them. The first state is the complete and extreme subordination to the contemporary culture, which the narrator expresses by his obsession with consumer products. Afterwards, he tries to go another way - to fight against the society with Tyler - ironically, the state he find himself in after subordinating to Tyler is similar to the first one in many ways. Something which should have been the fight against the ruling society resolves in a new, minor society, which dictates another set of rules and a way of living and robs its members of their own choices, names and identities.
Deconstructing the individuals' values and beliefs seems to be Palahniuk's favourite topics.
He often tries to show the true nature of the society, the components of the world that not many people are comfortable enough to speak about. Nothing ever is what it seems like:
It just seems like more and more we are taught something throughout our growing
up, our education, and continuously, no matter how much we believe in this thing,
something comes up that forces us to revise our entire belief system. No matter
whom you idolize, it turns out that Louis Armstrong collected vast amounts of
pornography. Louis Armstrong is now a porn addict. ... Just the nature of our world
is constant revision, constant negation of previous beliefs, and so the whole world is
a twist ending. (Palahniuk) 39
4 CONCLUSION
The aim of my thesis was to explore the themes of identity and romance in Chuck Palahniuk's novel, Fight Club. Fight Club, however violent its content appears to be, is about a person who is trying to escape his loneliness and connect to another human being. The narrator's dissatisfaction about his profession and life contributes to his identity crisis. His position in the world seems to be further complicated by his mental illness and insomnia, which ultimately help to created an alter ego, a symptom of the narrator's mental condition.
In the theoretical part, the concepts of postmodernism are described, as Chuck Palahniuk's writing style falls under it, following the postmodern identity and its characteristics. The introduction also includes plot-line overview; it is important for the orientation in this thesis to elaborate on the plot-line as well, since the Fight Club's plot is rather complicated.
The most expansive part of this thesis is the analytical part. The analysis draws the attention to the concepts of Erik Erikson, namely the two basic points of identity - the sameness and the sense of meaning for others. Those concepts proved to be very helpful in treating the narrator's identity crisis. Other concepts concerning the postmodern identity are used as well, namely Cushman's concept of „ideal individual", a person completely self-sufficient, or
Erving Goffman's three parts of identity. The first part of the analysis focuses on the narrator's character analysis, describes his identity crisis, his profession, living situation and love life.
Consequently, the narrator's character description is used as a tool to compare the narrator to
Tyler, his alter ego. The second part of the analysis is devoted to the relationship of the narrator and Tyler, mainly because Tyler is the symptom of the narrator's identity fragmentation. The narrator's intensifying identification with Tyler and his changing character under Tyler's influence are elaborated on. The thesis argues that the narrator, who seems to be unhappy with his life being controlled by the consumer culture creates Tyler in order to escape it. However, at the end, Tyler's planned fight against the contemporary society evolves to a terrorist organisation, which suppresses any form of individual identity. Thus, the violent ways of Fight Club and Tyler prove to be inadequate in the pursuit of the identity development. 40
The third part of the analysis is devoted to the theme of romance, it examines the narrator's relationship with Maria and the effect it has on the narrator's identity. Firstly, the analysis describes Maria's character, despite of her limited appearances in the novel. Secondly, the
„love triangle" between Tyler, Maria and the narrator is discussed. According to many critics
(Kuhn, Ruddel), Tyler's appearance is connected to the narrator's inability to begin a relationship. As soon as the narrator meets Maria, he begins to feel a necessity to solve this situation. Since his fear of commitment and lack of confidence disallow the narrator to be in a relationship, he creates an alter ego who is more manly and capable of being in a mature relationship. At this point, the thesis provides another perspective to the creation of the alter ego, the first one perceiving the alter ego to be a reaction to the narrator's dissatisfaction with the society. It seems that Fight Club, as it is considered to be typical in postmodern art, provides a numerous ways of understanding its message and may be read from numerous points of view. After all, Henry Giroux, whose opinions are mentioned in my thesis, considers the novel to be the proud manifestation of violence.
However, according to this thesis, the violence as such and its representative - Tyler - are being denounced in the novel. After all, the narrator of the story decides to eliminate his alter ego which represents violence and eventually decides to save the society. This thesis argues that the main drive of the narrator's identity development is love. Tyler and his hyper- masculine plans resolve in intensified depersonalisation and dictation of rules, but the moment of improvement in the narrator's reasoning comes after the narrator admits the feelings he has for Maria and learns the feelings are mutual. At this point, at least one of two
Erikson's points (the sense of meaning for others) is achieved and the identity may begin its development.
At the end of the thesis, the doubleness of the novel is discussed, namely the representations of masculinity and femininity and the perception of cultural habits, as these topics are frequently commented on during the narrator's shifting to different contexts. 41
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