Fight Club Research Paper

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Chuck Palahniuk’s novel Fight Club shares the story of a nameless man (the narrator) and his struggle to combat his Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and the malicious personality Tyler Durden that it created. Living in a society dominated by consumerism and working a stressful corporate career, the narrator feels trapped, wanting to break free from a life which brings him no happiness. This is accomplished by Tyler, who believes that in order to help the narrator, he must tear down society and build something new. Throughout Fight Club, Palahniuk explores this idea with his theme of creation versus destruction, showing the reader how creation and destruction work together in a cycle that is both natural and necessary in order to make something…show more content…
For example, when the narrator is helping Tyler make soap, the narrator continually asks Tyler whether he is close to hitting bottom. In the beginning of the soap making process, the narrator stirs the boiling water, trying to skimming off the tallow that had risen to the top. During this stage, Tyler tells the narrator “(You’re) nowhere near hitting bottom, yet. And if (you) don’t fall all the way, (you) can’t be saved” (Palahniuk 70). Later on, when no more tallow had risen, the narrator asks Tyler if he is any closer to hitting bottom, and Tyler replies “Where you’re at now, you can’t even imagine what hitting bottom is like” (Palahniuk 70). This shows how the soap making process acts as a metaphor for hitting bottom, and when no more of the clean tallow rises, one gets closer to hitting bottom. In the process of making the clean tallow rise and throwing out the remains, soap can be made, showing that destruction in necessary in the creation of something beautiful. The concept of hitting bottom can also be seen when Tyler pours lye on the narrator’s hand and Tyler constantly reminds him that he cannot escape his pain if he wants to hit bottom. For example, when the narrator is crying of pain and trying to keep his mind on Ireland, Tyler tells him “You can cry…but first you have to know you’re stupid and will die…We can use vinegar to neutralize the burning, but first you have to give up…first you have to hit bottom” (Palahniuk 76). This shows that in order for the narrator to be relieved of his pain, from both the lye and his lifestyle, he must first give into it and hit bottom. Therefore it is only through the destruction that pain causes that the narrator can ever create a new life for himself. In addition to pouring lye on the

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