Anarchy in Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk - Literary Analysis Essay

Introduction

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk is one of the most celebrated books in the United States of America even though most people think that the film is so much better including the author. The narrator in the book who remains unnamed throughout the book is the main character in the book. The book begins with him standing on top of a building that is about to explode with Tyler Durden with a gun to his mouth. That alone captures the attention of the readers and their curiosity to know the events that led to this events. The novel generally is promoted social and political anarchy mainly through the character Tyler Durden who embodies violence and chaos (Giroux, 27). He rejects the social and political order of the society and actively seeks to change things, the first step in doing so is the formation of Fight Club which later on develops into a movement 'Project Mayhem' which completely disrupts the order of the economy, society and government leaving the world in total chaos. Tyler in the end asserts "only after disaster can we be resurrected" (Chapter 8) therefore putting forth his life to destroy order and civilization.

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The narrator works recall campaign coordinators whose life no longer bears meaning and has just been reduced to a mere cycle of living. The narrator is financially stable and lives in a nice apartment with the latest furniture but he still lacks. He realizes that material wealth cannot define him and therefore he finds emptiness within himself. An emptiness that deprives him of sleep and therefore makes him an insomniac. He consults a medical professional who refuses to give him medication citing that he had fewer problems than people in support groups and that he should be grateful. The narrator resolves to go to these support groups where he is able to face the pain of testicular cancer patients and this gives him to sleep at night. At one of the meetings, he meets Marla Singer who also needs the same therapy as he does at these meetings and she ruins the meetings for him. Therefore they decide to divide the meetings each one of them can attend without disrupting the other. Attending the meetings allows the narrator to forget his own troubles and finds peace in the pain of others, however, when he meets a fellow liar he becomes conscious of his troubles again until he meets Tyler Durden. The narrator represents the revolution, some sort of anarchy whereby he realizes that he cannot find his true identity in his possessions or money (Giroux, 30).

Tyler Durden is the opposite of the narrator, he is handsome, amoral and carefree. Tyler and the narrator meet on a flight and later he moved in together when the narrator's house is destroyed. The two go for a few drinks and decide to get into a fight after both realizing they had never been in a fight before. The pain the narrator feels is overwhelming and he enjoys it as he realizes, unlike everything he owns this is actually a real feeling. The realization drives them to start a fight club which solely aims at sharing the feeling that is authentic and real, pain. The fights are purely made for recreational purposes and over time it draws a lot of attention and the group gets bigger. The liberation fight club provides is what attracts people as people are able to put aside their titles and differences and fight against each other as equals (Workers Federation). The fights in themselves are anarchy, they reject the social order of the society by providing a platform on which people can stripe off their social given status quos and titles and fight equally with the rest. The fight club has rules the first being "don't talk about Fight Club" and the second "don't talk about Fight Club" (Chapter 6). Fight clubs move away from the providing a platform for fighters and attacks consumerism and capitalism through its rules. The rules are aimed at rejecting advertisements and consumerism (Giroux, 23). The fight clubs grow and become more organized and paramilitary with the aim of fighting for the oppressed.

Tyler Durden is the embodiment of anarchy, he sabotages different companies and harms customers. He steals human fat that has been excreted during liposuction procedures and uses it to make soap which he sells to the rich. He later goes ahead and forms project mayhem which is against consumerism and uses it to fight social, economic and political order. Tyler and the narrator decide to each blackmail their bosses and they quit their jobs in order to focus more on the fight club. Tyler represents masculinity and throughout the book, he seeks to pass that to members of his group. He was anarchist and capitalist and he used these philosophies to unite the members of his groups and to keep them focused on the goal ahead. The destruction of the louver and Mona Lisa among other impulsive actions by Tyler clearly show that he preferred simplicity to material possessions and titles. He says "nothing is static. Even Mona Lisa is falling apart." (chapter 6) referring to the fact that material possessions do not last forever even a timeless piece of art like the Mona Lisa. Tyler seeks to give people freedom and liberate them from the chains of civilization, capitalism, and consumerism.

Project Mayhem reflects the idea of anarchy as the groups of people from the fight clubs come together under the guidance of Tyler to rebel against order and rules and live their lives liberated. The group takes part in acts of terrorism and public pranks in a bid to express their desire for anarchy. However, it is safe to say that to some level as much as the members of Project Mayhem rebelled against the being ruled and sort freedom they still did not embody anarchy. They had a leader, a ruler by the name Tyler who guided them and what they did, they were guided by the rules of the group meaning they were not entirely free but under a different ruler. The driving force of the group and movement was indeed anarchist in nature but they never quite achieved anarchy since they never lacked a leader or rules. The members of Project Mayhem believe in dogmatic hierarchy and therefore Tyler becomes their leader in the quest for freedom. The members of Project Mayhem are driven by the desire to find themselves to have an identity they can identify with and to truly know what drives them. For instance the narrator tells Tyler "May I never be complete. May I never be content. May I never be perfect. Deliver me, Tyler, from being perfect and complete."(Chapter 5). He does not want the perfection that comes with order but to rather find himself despite the rules. When Bob Paulson is shot during one of the missions by the group, the other group members question what they stand for and if they have achieved it (Giroux, 37). They realize that they had lost themselves along the way and that the idea of finding what they were aggressively looking for would only be found in their death. The narrator realizes that the actions of Project Mayhem are getting out of hand and decides to put a stop to it.

The final act of anarchy by Project Mayhem is the destruction of the buildings holding credit cards information. The mission of the group was to reset the debts of the society and provide a clean slate. It helps individuals cure their pain by demolishing the system that created it. The movement and its leader criticize capitalism and fight it to the letter. However, it is safe to say that they themselves are ruled by the very thing they are fighting against (Giroux, 33). Tyler makes soap from the human fat he stills in a bid to criticize the act of creating one's body as a work of art yet the main aim of the fight club is the same as that of the liposuction clinics.

Conclusion

The greatest realization in the book is that Tyler and the narrator are actually one and the same person and that they represented two dissociated personalities of the same individual. Tyler was the part of the narrator that he did not want to relate to and he was constantly fighting himself. Tyler was the bad guy who executed all the fantasies of the narrator like the formation of the fight club which was only open to men and sort to offer solace from capitalism, civilization and being ruled (Fight Club). The narrator at the end of the novel finds himself and what he stands for in the world. He realizes that the carefree nature of Tyler is not approved of and decides to change and take responsibilities for his actions. The narrator realizes that Project Mayhem has taken root and it is true that "Only in death are we no longer part of Project Mayhem" (Chapter 23). Fight Club has projected many of the events that have happened in the US over the last decade even though it was written in the 90s.

Work Cited

Giroux, Henry A. "Private Satisfactions and Public Disorders:" Fight Club", Patriarchy, and the Politics of Masculine Violence." jac (2001): 1-31.

Giroux, Henry A. "Brutalised Bodies and Emasculated Politics: Fight Club, Consumerism, and Masculine Violence." Third Text 14.53 (2000): 31-41.

"Is Fight Club an Anarchist Film? | Workers Solidarity Movement." Workers Solidarity Movement | Anarchist Organisation in Ireland, www.wsm.ie/c/fight-club-anarchist-film.

"Fight Club - Montreal Film Journal." Montreal Film Journal - Est. 1998, montrealfilmjournal.com/fight-club/.

Palahniuk, Chuck. Fight Club: a novel. WW Norton & Company, 2005.