In a diabolically sharp novel, Fight Club, the reader gets to understand the twisted adventure built on the foundation of the Fight Club. The author, Chuck Palahniuk, introduces different characters which form the Fight Club and they include but not limited to: the narrator, Tyler Burden and Marla Singer. The Fight Club represents the different inadequacies the characters experience, and that their need to obtain a more authentic life that should be based on their rules. The idea that translated behind Fight club is the need for existence of man with the aim to achieve self-fulfillment, or to other, self destruction. The Fight club can therefore be seen as a motive for cultural placement for men, where masculinity risks its own annihilation by allowing practices that run counter to its alleged pretension. In addition, masculinity forms the culture of men who aim to win hegemony. As a result, becomes a ground on which masculinity transcends boundaries, defies limitation and sets forth to build their own rules that can exist above destructions in society that make men less masculine. The central theme in the novel is emasculation; the argument that men of today have been reduced to nothing but men who cannot do anything by themselves. Instead, they have become anesthetized to seeing others do things. As a result, masculinity has become the brand which sells ideas to men and, “being men” has been perceived to be having the right car instead of understanding who you are and the values you have. Therefore, the challenges that different characters face in Fight Club revolves around their struggle to establish the male gendered roles in a society that is opposed to those ideals. Tyler, for example, rejects this spoon-fed approach to the man’s lifestyle and seeks to fight by facing fear and pain, in an attempt to draw away from these unnecessary parts and find their true selves. Tyler identifies male gender as a representation of metonymy and manliness; as a result, he seeks out to fight against patriarchal and heterosexist of masculinity which he considers to be feminizing. He seeks to be the liberator and destroy these thought by defending their male identities. As such, the Fight Club is not physical combat, winning, skills or money, but it is a way of dealing in society where men are considered to be otherwise numb. In other words, it is a fight between men who have been stripped away of their “fear for pain”, and the dependence on material signifiers of their self-worth.

Comparison between Tyler’s Goals and Quest and their Relationship to My Experience

According to Roberts (103), he explains in his book “Writing about Literature” that it is important to write about the plot and development of tension and conflict in literature. He explains that “it gives the definition of the literary terms in a short, condensed and clear language”. As such, the Fight Club has been organized in the same manner as Robert’s title suggests “writing about literature” by use of themes, characterization, symbolism, structure, settings, amongst others.

Being the co-creator of Fight Club, Tyler is vicious and charismatic leader who once worked as a movie projectionist and as a banquet waiter. Tyler develops the goal to become successful at making soap and bombs, but he is on a quest to bring down civilization and form a better word. Tyler is a man of many skills but he chooses to start the Fight Club so that he could make a male example in their lives and assist them in shaping their masculinity. As rules given to masculinity, men are not allowed the dramatic, flowery things which are related to women. Also, the measure of masculinity is the size of men’s paycheck, power, status and other thing that elevate their self-worth. Tyler shows that men are not allowed to have emotions; they are always expected to go forward with an aura of daring and aggression. Tyler sets forth to establish the masculinity based on these rules in numerous instances in the novel; in attempt create a civilized society that identifies men by their masculine power. The fight club challenges men to withdraw from the society and build their own community. Tyler becomes the man who after searching for a father and not finding one, decides to build Fight Club where he functions as the authoritative, ubiquitous patriarchal. Tyler tells the narrator, “The liberator who destroys my property is fighting to save my spirit. The teacher who clears all possessions from my path will set me free” (Palahniuk 110). As a result, it can be understood that this statement make Tyler the teacher, a leader who is willing to form a community that adorns masculinity and as such, making the world a better place.

I related to Tyler’s idealism of respecting masculinity in a different perspective. It likely that everyone’s goal is to be ambitious and form business so that he can exploit his full potential; however, I can argue that I have a different approach to bringing down civilization and making the world a better place. Tyler idea of civilization seems to be built on establishing masculinity in all facets of the society. As for me, I share a different quest which is to create a civilized society that will be based on equal gender roles. I do not see the need elevate man’s worthiness against the female gender since I consider a man’s and a woman’s role is a function of a well-balanced society. There, I take a different quest; to build a civilized world that is based on shared roles and respect between men and women.

Tyler has a goal to create a cultural placement of men, but his sets on a quest to express the importance of men, by rejecting women as another way of showing masculinity. As a result, Palahniuk uses different styles such as symbolism to enhance Tyler’s approach to masculinity. For instance, the perpetuation and expansion of Fight Club depends on the sole purpose of making men feel alive. There is a quote from the book that states, “You see this same guy here six months later, and he looks carved out of wood. This guy trusts himself to handle anything” (Palahniuk 51). What Palahniuk implies here is that Fight Club is symbolic of the place where attend to lose their design from the society and allow them to act in their most natural instincts. Slade (234) explains that the Fight Club is portrayal of what men choose to idealize Tyler to be the man that defines the meaning and the boundaries of masculinity. Rejection of women is all braided in the rules of Fight Club which represents male gender manliness and cockiness. For example, when Tyler’s father tells him to go to college, get a job and get married, Tyler sees this form as castrating and feminizing. As a result, Tyler considers the setting of Fight Club as another way of showing that generation raised by men need powerful fathers to set them straight. Fight Club is used by Palahniuk to mean going back to their own beastly, natural states. In Fight Club, men can remain in their natural state so that they can fulfill their masculinity.

I also share the same goal of considering the importance of men’s values and culture in society, especially his position in the family as the breadwinner. However, I find representation of Fight Club and its purpose to be obnoxious. Tyler’s portrayer of men’s magnificence to be through rejection and lack of appreciation against women does not hold a lot of gravity. Instead, each character in the book after discovering his absence of fear, are reborn from the similar ashes that burned them. For me, I have a quest to build masculinity based on male-female gender relations, which is, appreciating the values of both men and women by their positive contribution and not concocting male-dominated excuses. Palahniuk supports this idea by saying, “Only after disaster can we be resurrected” (Palahniuk 70).

Palahniuk has also used the theme of “absence of father” to show the comparison between goal of seeking for a male-role model and his quest of largely accepting the role of men in society such as marrying, having children and getting a good salary. Palahniuk shows that Tyler become close with the narrator because of their recollections about their fathers. Tyler states that his father had not been a major part of his life and was just a distant figure who would speak a few times once a year. As a result the feeling of male absence, Tyler decided to take the job that had been presented to him through advertisement. As a result, this helped him to achieve the potential of his true self and the greater power of his spirit. Tyler here is revealed as the liberator, the one who leads to free his emptiness that dominated his mundane life. Tyler states that, “A moment was the most you could ever expect from perfection”. Slade (235) stated that this meant that men who had been brought up by women need men as their models. As a result, Tyler embarks on the freedom in a philosophical statement, “The liberator who destroys my property is fighting to save my spirit. It means that he is decided to create a better life in absence of male figure-father.

I agree with Tyler that the male figure is important in the shaping of the male child and for that reason, he also represents my goal to seek role male role model and as such, to make the quest to take the role of men such as providing for the family.

Conclusion

Fight Club novel starts with intriguing challenge and ends up with a testament to counter-culture, a society with squalor and presentability, social disobedience and upward mobility. The most salient point lies in developing a society that accepts men’s natural instincts to be in play. However, their views are discredited as condescending and aimed to seek superiority over women.

Works Cited

Palahniuk, Chuck. Fight Club. New York, NY: Random House Australia, 2011. Print

Robert, Edgar V. Writing About Literature (12th Edition). New York, NY: Pearson Education,

2014. Print.

Slade, Andrew. “To Live Like Fighting Cocks: Fight Club And The Ethics Of

Masculinity.” Quarterly Review of Film & Video. 28.3 (2011): 230-238

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