FIGHT CLUB THESIS

[Adam]

Ok so I decided to do Fight Club for my culminating. This was my original thesis:

The book Fight Club illustrates that our identities are formless and can be made or broken at any moment.

My english teacher basicly told me that the theme of Fight Club was not identity when he looked over my thesis. He said it did not tie in well enough with the end of the book.

He then asked my why the narorrator needed Tyler. I thought about it and said cause Tyler was a character he acted through in order to be able to live. He asked my why wasn't he able to live. I said because he was afraid. He said afraid of what? I couldn't answer

Can anybody help me out here im not asking you to write my thesis but can somebody share some ideas on the book.

[perceverance]

Tyler is the man's ego. He cannot live without Tyler because society requires you have one in order to be able to identify yourself in the mass of social robots that surround you. In the end, he shoots himself and thus ends his fear of death. Without the fear of death, there is no ego. Your ego wants consistency and death breaks the consistency of life, thus you are afraid to die.

That's what I think anyways

[RMO]

It's literature but Tyler was not his ego in my opinion. He was afraid yes, but Tyler durden was an additional personality formed from the mindless commercialization of our culture. Now take all mention of fight club from yur thesis, that's what the intro is for, and make a statement on how modern culture has removed manhood from our identites and made us a bunch of pussies

[canadiankid]

^ yup. I think it's definitely about identity. The narrator represents the regular male and Tyler, his fight for liberation from the restraints of society. That's a supper brief, over tired version
Spend a while brain storming about the questions your teachers asked. It helps a ton

[Adam]

Ok so when he shoots himself shows that he is not afraid to die therefore not needing tyler anymore i get that but why did need tyler in the first place and why did tyler turn self destructive

[RMO]

Didn't turn that way, Tyler didn't change, Tyler was Tyler. If you want to understand fight club, read it, read the wiki, read the spark notes, research commercialism, research Buddhism, and then think about all the themes and motifs that book is talking about.

[Adam]

ok so then what did tyler symbolize represent just need clarufication

[RMO]

Tyler is the alpha male. Masculinity in society. The guy who knows what to do and does it.

[perceverance]

heres the problem prodigy. if tyler represents masculinity in society and he started project mayhem in which his group of guys fuck the community up the ass, that gives us a negative view of masculinity and the destruction that it causes. i still think its his ego.

[DanZy]

How is it his ego? Tyler represents all that the narrator is not. Like prodigy said he reflects masculinity. As for project mayhem, that's all a part of the rebirth of modern man. It's a phoenix from the ashes sorta thing

[Adam]

Ok but that still gives a negative out look on alphamales cause tyler was bat shit crazy/evil. Plus he kills tyler at the end does that mean he kills his masculinity

EDIT: I kinda wanna agree with percevarance

[RMO]

well your own morals say tyler is evil. He kills tyler in the end so that he may evolve out of the shadow of tyler, become is own man, and become free.

and masculintinty already has a negative image in our society, I really think its a pheonix born from ashes thing like danzy said. They are trying to find thier own freedom, and Tyler is just a path.

[Hero]

tru tht^^^

[Adam]

Okay guys when I was at school I had an epiphany. I now understand. The book is about a man's struggle with his masculinity.

Tyler is the narrator's suppressed masculinity. Fight club was a type of therapy for the narrator to let it out and be a man in a world where there is almost no other way. This is why fight club was so popular because it helped men let out there masculinity.

The bad thing about tyler was that he was an over compinsation of masculine energy and eventually turned self destructive. He wanted control and power and wanted everybody to see he had it. He wanted to die in a blaze of glory hence him doing the whole murder suicide thing on top of a building that was blowing up. He wanted to die a hero. That is also the reason why he didn't let the narrator commit suicide in fight club (not in the movie).

At the end the narrator shots himself. He shot himself in the head and at this point the narrator was not afraid of death and intended to kill himself thus killing Tyler. Fortunately he misses and shoots right through his cheek.

So my thesis is: As men we must balance our masculine and feminine energies for if we are to feminine we shall become submissive to life and accomplish nothing but if we are to masculine we will become too violent and self-destructive

[perceverance]

^ I see now. Perfect thesis man, good job.