Fight Club

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I am Jack’s dependence on consumer society. Jack tries to rid himself of me by creating another persona—I do not succumb. I control every aspect of Jack’s life: his clothes, his furniture, his desires, his fears. Without me, Jack would be free. Free to do anything, free to be himself. With me, Jack is a slave to our culture, incapable of thinking—acting—for himself. With me, Jack’s revolt melds seamlessly with the system he is stuck in.

Fight Club, one of author Chuck Palahniuk’s most celebrated and controversial novels, tells the story of a schizophrenic white-collar worker, unaware of his mental condition, who collaborates with his dual personality to start a fight club. Violence, destruction, and chaos soon follow when the narrator—referred to in this essay as Jack—loses control over his insubordinate half, Tyler Durden. Jack’s life descends into bedlam as he spends more time asleep, allowing Tyler more time in control of their shared body that he spends pursuing his goal of the ultimate obliteration of consumer society. There remains only one constant between Jack and Tyler: a woman named Marla Singer. Moody, suicidal, desperate to be saved; Marla is “the little scratch on the roof of your mouth that would heal if only you could stop tonguing it, but you can’t” (Fincher). The love affair between Tyler and Marla that begins immediately after they meet leaks over into Jack’s life because of Marla’s ignorance in regard to her lover’s split personality, deepening the chasm between the two feuding personalities of the narrator. While Tyler treats her as a play thing, great in bed and good for a laugh, Jack slowly begins to realize he likes her for her understanding nature and eccentric world view, wanting to keep her ...

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... ads. His means: the overworked, underappreciated white-collar workers who have found a purpose in their life through Tyler, and who will do everything he commands because of this. They adapt quickly, following Tyler without question as he continues to expand their efforts even further. New clubs spring up across the country, and from the clubs arise Project Mayhem. Mischief. Mayhem. And soap. Project Mayhem has the singular objective of bringing down consumer society and starting an upheaval of the entire capitalist culture. The old house the Narrator squats in becomes headquarters, housing dozens of men with shaved heads, three black shirts, and $300 dollars for burial money. Tyler divides Project Mayhem into factions. One group covers mischief, others cover misinformation, and arson, and assault. The only knowledge shared between the groups is the rules:

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