One’s True Identity in Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

853 Words2 Pages

One’s identity is established at birth when given a name. Often times, one’s identity can change throughout one’s lifetime. During adolescence, identity can be linked to playing a sport, an instrument, being involved in art, acting, singing, or some other hobby. As adulthood approaches, identity can be described as, but not limited to, the career path someone has chosen, or the family they may or may not have. In the novel Fight Club, written by Chuck Palahniuk, the narrator has a difficult time finding his true identity. In the novel the theme identity is discussed as the narrator discovers the truth about himself and who the real Tyler Durden is.
The first way to identify a person is simply their name. It can be troubling for some to have a narrator of a novel who remains nameless. That is exactly the case in Fight Club. Instead of giving a real name, the narrator says, “I am Jane's Uterus. I am Joe's Prostate” (Palahniuk 58). The narrator is constantly giving fake names to go along with the organs. Giving fake names to organs that he does not have is insane. He keeps doing this because it gives him closure and allows him to sleep. Most importantly, it shows our narrator identifying himself as someone else’s organ and not his name given to him. His identity is recognized as a piece of a larger whole that is not totally in control. The narrator is anonymous, and his life is out of control. The narrator meets Tyler Durden and is on the quest to discover his real identity.
The narrator meets Tyler and realizes quickly that Tyler is everything he is not. The narrator is disappointed in his life when he compares it to Tyler’s. “I am nothing in the world compared to Tyler. I am helpless. I am stupid, and all I do is want and need thin...

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...es, if one will sit back and evaluate they will find the true meaning of self-identity, beyond ones name, hobbies, or careers. The narrator took his journey of self-awareness and found his identity. In the novel Fight Club, the narrator discovers the truth about himself and his true identity. The path of self-discovery leads our narrator on a dangerous path. Where will your path lead you?

Works Cited

Barker, Jennifer. "'A hero will rise': the myth of the fascist man in fight club and Gladiator." Literature-Film Quarterly 36.3 (2008): 171+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.
Palahniuk, Chuck. Fight Club. New York: W.W. Norton &, 1996. Print.
Ruddell, Caroline. "Virility and vulnerability, splitting and masculinity in Fight Club: a tale of contemporary male identity issues." Extrapolation 48.3 (2007): 493+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.

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