Good Country People Compare And Contrast Batman And Bruce Wayne

The narrator (Fight Club), Joy (Good Country People), and Bruce Wayne in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns create alter personas in order to help society. However, neither want the same thing. In fact, Batman who is Bruce Wayne’s other half saves lives wile Tyler who belongs to the mentally unstable narrator is more of a terrorist with brilliant ideas. The Narrator is simply an average person who on the surface has insomnia. He does not know what to do and decides to go to the doctor who in turn tells him to go to a support group if he wants to see real pain. For a while he is ok, until a woman named Marla, who he knows is a faker like himself comes. He eventually creates an alternate person inside of himself who is everything he is not; cool

and outspoken. This other person he has made is named Tyler Durden. I feel as though the narrator needed to create Tyler in order to find himself. They together make Fight Club and everything is great for their relationship for the time being. However, when the narrator finds out that Tyler and himself are the same person the honeymoon phase is gone. For example, ““I’ll still live my life while you’re asleep, but if you chain yourself to the bed at the night or take big doses of sleeping pills, then we’ll be enemies. And I’ll get you for it.”” (Palahnuick168) Tyler’s motives at first were pranks which were harmless enough. This however did not last long as the secret “Project Mayhem” plot that Tyler created becomes unhinged. He eventually decides that blowing up the major credit card companies will reset everyone back to equal. The death of Tyler allows the narrator to be whoever he wants now. I feel as though he was successful in becoming his own new person, but he ends up in a psychiatric ward. For example, in the text, “Of course, when I pulled the trigger, I died. Liar. And Tyler died... Everything in heaven is white on white. Faker. Everything in heaven is quiet, rubber – soled shoes. I can sleep in heaven. People write me in heaven and tell me I’m remembered. That I’m their hero. I ‘ll get better.” (Palahniuk 206 - 207). The Narrator is completely out of his mind, and while he has gotten rid of Tyler, he thinks he killed himself too.

Everyone around him believes that he is Tyler along with him being imprisoned for shooting himself. I feel as though the Narrator was unsuccessful in the end because now he is completely a nut job. In “Good Country People”, the character Joy tries to reinvent herself as someone who knows everything. She does this because of the hunting accident she had when she was a child where her leg was blown off. She tries to educate everyone on what she thinks is right. She even changes her name to Hulga in order to show how she feels about herself on the inside. In the text it says, “She had arrived at it first purely on its ugly sound…she saw it as the name of her highest creative act.” (O’ Connor 2526 – 2527). Even though she puts up this front of being tough she is still vulnerable. While she does reinvent herself as Hulga she ultimately gets a reality check. She loses her leg to some creep because of her pride. Instead of seeing the signs, she decides she will educate this ignorant country boy. He proves to her that you do not need a college degree to believe in nothing. For example, in the text, the bible salesman says, “And I’ll tell you another thing Hulga,” he said, using the name as if he didn’t think much of

it, you ain’t smart. I been believing in nothing every since I was born!”” (O’Connor 2537). He plays her into thinking he is naïve, he steals he fake leg, and puts her in check. Ultimately, Joy is left alone, confused, without two legs to stand on, and lost.

I feel as though Joy reinventing herself as Hulga only left her bitter and alone. She was unsuccessful in reinventing herself and honestly in the end looks pathetic. Bruce Wayne in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns is rich, single, and older than he has been before. Bruce Wayne creates his alternate identity as the Batman in order to fight crime and protect the city of Gotham’s residents. However, because Bruce Wayne is now in his forty’s, so is Batman. For example, “My mistake was to match his savagery. To fight like a young man.” (Miller Book 2). He realizes his mistake when fighting the mutant boss; fighting like he was still a young man. Batman, while still one of the best detectives around, is not as agile and strong as he used to be. He cannot escape being the Batman because that is what he is used to. He has yet to get over his parent’s death which plagues him to no end. Then he must deal with the fact that he is not as young as he used to be, and therefore cannot fight as such. He is able to save others while at the expense of having a normal life. So yes, Bruce Wayne reinventing himself as the Batman has its perks, but he will always reminisce in the pain from his past. The authors each found a way to express the

pros and cons of reinventing oneself. Each had their character do so for different reasons. While each character does to different extents, they all have something in common. They all want to be someone else who is able to do the things they cannot.