Apollonian And Dionysian Mindets In Tyler Durden's Fight Club
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Apollonian and Dinoysian mindsets are two polar opposites of each other. You have the Apollonian with its quiet and contemplative nature, and the Dionysian with its emphasis of taking action and doing things at that very moment. Both mindsets manifest themselves in Fight Club, with Jack, the narrator, representing the Apollonian mindset, and Tyler Durden representing the Dionysian mindset. The narrator’s life is repetitive, and uninteresting. Tyler Durden’s lifestyle, however, is harmful to himself and to many others around him. Between the two of them, however, a lifestyle that balanced both mindsets in a very healthy manner is existent.
In Fight Club, Jack leads a boring, tedious lifestyle. describing it as “living in a cardboard box” (Fincher).…show more content… Jack recognizes this at the end of the film, saying to Marla, “You met me at a very strange time in my life” (Fincher). Jack meets Marla during the time in which he was trying to find a good balance of the two mindsets in his life, and the whole process is rather ugly, due to him becoming too Dionysian for the most part. Tyler also speaks to the mindlessness of the general public and their lack of Dionysian thinking, saying “People do it everyday, they talk to themselves… they see themselves as they’d like to be, they don’t have the courage you have, to just run with it” (Fincher). Having the courage to run with something can really make the difference between a good life and a boring one. Finally, a rule that can be healthily followed by an owner of both mindsets was also addressed by Tyler, as he says “No fear. No distractions. The ability to let that which does not matter truly slide” (Fincher). He stresses this idea multiple times, saying to face the world without any fear, and to let what doesn’t matter to slip away if necessary. An example of something that does not matter would be Jack’s apartment, as it and its furniture was not something important on the large scale of