Looking at Violence in the Novel Fight Club

Chuck Palahniuk's novel, Fight Club, concentrates on the psyche of the Narrator, a nameless car recall inspector, and his inability to find happiness and a niche in modern society. As an insomniac, the Narrator realizes himself to be a lifeless drone who only contributes to the modern consumer culture. As the Narrator's frustration grows, his fearless alter ego, Tyler Durden, becomes increasingly active in his life. Tyler is everything the Narrator wishes he could be. Persuasive, intelligent, and very much a leader, Tyler is, at first, a breath of fresh air in the Narrator's life. However, unbeknownst to the Narrator, Tyler systematically creates a revolution against the consumer culture, starting with a simple fight club and culminating with a nationwide anarchist group called Project Mayhem. The use of violence dominates Fight Club, acting as a tool for control, a form of escape, and a pathway to self realization.

Tyler uses violence as a tool for control frequently, specifically in Project Mayhem. In Project Mayhem, the members, referred to as spacemonkeys, feel violence is necessary in achieving their goals of anarchy. The actions begin with simple destructive attacks on specific individuals or things. For example, whenever an authority stands between the spacemonkeys and their missions, they simply castrate the opposition. In another example, spacemonkeys threaten to murder an individual at gunpoint if they do not pursue their true aspirations in life. However, small petty acts of violence escalade into much more violent, terrorist-like attacks. In fact, Tyler wants to literally destroy every by-product of the consumer culture; he states, "We wanted to blast the world free of history. You'll hunt elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center, and dig clams next to the skeleton of the Space Needle leaning at a forty-five degree angle" (116). These visions become realities; the novel culminates in Project Mayhem attempting, although unsuccessfully, to explode world's tallest building.