fight club Essay -- essays research papers

Chuck Palahniuks Fight Club, that perhaps gained more exposure through the film adaptation, is narrated by a character whose name is never revealed but who is often referred to in critiques and reviews as Joe, a reference to the characters discovery of an old Readers Digest article in which the bodily organs and functions of various people refer to themselves in the first person. The name Joe is used in this context throughout the novel to comically articulate the characters mood or mentality, for example on page 59, he says I am Joes unfounded Bile Duct. Joe discovers a cure for his insomnia in various support groups for diseases that he does not have, taking solace in the pain and open suffering of others until he encounters Marla, another tourist as he describes her, who disrupts his self prescribed therapy. After his apartment mysteriously explodes while away on business, Joe moves into a dilapidated residence with what is later revealed as an alter ego in the form of the char acter Tyler Durden. The pair set about creating an anarchistic club where the primary physical documentary is to fight, for reasons that will be textually observed in relation to this notion of identity. Tyler and Joe eventually develop what is essentially a small organisation, which is often narrated in almost militaristic descriptions, where a group of followers receive instructions and engage in seemingly anarchistic activities that are orchestrated by Tyler, motivated by issues of socio-econ...