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In Palahniuk’s debut novel, Fight Club, characterization plays a crucial role in conveying a message about the emasculation of men by consumer culture. This is perceived as the upper class using superficial products to achieve satisfaction that lacks spiritual meaning. With this, the novel also reflects how certain experiences and values allow one to self-assess life and use their hardships to feel complete, as seen in the portrayal of Tyler Durden. The character of Tyler Durden is a reflection of the effects that result from authority and domination. His methods of manipulation, violence, and emasculation are used as an application of asserting control over others. He uses means of violence to discover himself and this reflects how the members of the fight club use brutality to abolish the irrelevant parts of their lives and through the journey, discover their true identities. Throughout the novel, Tyler’s malicious personality, symbolic representations, violent actions, and social commentary help to further how he affects the narrator and certain social outcomes.
Tyler Durden serves multiple representations in the novel. The character traits that accompany these symbolic representations serve a major role in furthering his plan to destroy the societal class divide; his motive is established by channeling his inner frustration toward consumer culture. Tyler wants to show the upper class in society that he can hold power over them without them being aware of it. An example of this is seen when he writes an anonymous note telling Madam that he “has passed an amount of urine into at least one of [her] many elegant fragrances”(Palahniuk 82), although he did not do so. This shows that although the upper class holds power over the lower class, it is still able to control certain aspects of their lives through the values that they place on material goods. This also reflects Tyler’s cunning nature allows him to take control of those around him and use his demeanor to create tension between innate violent tendencies and emasculation. He uses the euphoria that he receives from defying the upper class as a motivation to work to bring them down.
Tyler symbolizes a hallmark of masculinity and uses violence to help emasculated men regain their manliness. When Big Bob tells the narrator that “the group’s disbanded” and that “there’s a new group...called fight club”(Palahniuk 100), it shows how Bob and the other members of the testicular cancer support group want to reinforce their masculinity by fighting. This represents the direct link between violence and masculinity and that to be seen as masculine, one must suppress a range of emotions and engage in violence. To destroy modern-consumerism built on a front of superficiality, Tyler works to give men a purpose that revolves around destruction. He uses his club as a form to “teach each man in the project that he [has] the power to control history” and that by enabling them to do so, they “can take control of the world” (Palahniuk 122). Tyler’s ability to transform others into being like him also connects to overall society and how individuals try to make others adopt their own beliefs to hold dominance. His vision of gaining an abundance of power is directed toward turning his recruits against society.
When it comes to Tyler’s social representations, they vary widely inside and outside the novel. In society, he represents how noncompliance to societal norms can lead a person to anarchistic actions against a larger force of authority. Contrastingly, in the novel, he serves as an emblem of the masculinity that the narrator strives to have. In terms of the novel, Tyler represents the complete opposite persona of the narrator. His embodiment of masculinity and persistent state of nonchalance leave the narrator feeling a disconnect between his place and that of Tyler in society. The narrator lacks ambition, whereas Tyler is always scheming and planning for the future. The narrator is initially seen as compliant to societal values but as he spends more time with Tyler, he starts to become more like him and less like himself. This loss of self expands on the recurrent theme of isolation because the narrator isolates himself from his reality to satisfy the “teachings” of Tyler.
When connecting to overall society, Tyler represents absolute defiance. His belief that using violence and resistance as a medium to achieve a better purpose in life leaves him feeling that he lacks an identity. This reflects how people in society defy certain norms to raise a voice for themselves. Connecting to this, Tyler also believes in the idea of self-destruction over self-improvement. He believes that the narrator is “nowhere nearing hitting the bottom, yet. And if [he does not] fall all the way, [he] can’t be saved”(Palahniuk 70) because he needs to completely lose his old identity to create one with a purpose. Another connection to society is observed through Tyler’s deep investment in engaging in all means to defy the upper class; this also reflects the motivation that many cults in society use to achieve their purpose. Rather than thinking about the consequences, they only value the completion of their goal and how it can leave the victim in agony.
Tyler’s actions and social commentary have further symbolic significance in furthering his depiction in the novel. His reckless nature ties into the means that he is willing to go to acquire a state of power and eradicate the social class divide. When he leaves a mark on the narrator’s hand “in the exact shape of Tyler’s kiss”(Palahniuk 77), he is branding someone whom he wants to hold authority over. This action also represents how in society, cults can mark members as belonging to them to show how they control all aspects of their lives, which is ultimately what Tyler wants to do. He believes that the upper class has distanced themselves from their reality and inner feelings by placing importance on material objects. When he briefs that at the hotel “he was nobody. [That] Nobody cared if he lived or died, and [that] the feeling was...mutual”(Palahniuk 113), it mirrors how the upper class does not care about the lower class until they begin to affect their lives. For example, until Tyler sullied the food at the hotel, the upper class overlooked him, as he was seen as below them; however, as they realized that that action affected them directly, they seemed to care more.
About how he can affect other characters, situations, and social outcomes, Tyler’s role is far from being seen as negligible. The most substantial effect is seen on the narrator. As he spends more time with Tyler, he transforms into becoming more like Tyler and less like himself; the loss of self signifies Tyler’s belief that one has to hit bottom and sacrifice their values before being able to create a new identity. Tyler wants to take those who essentially work for him and strip them of their identities to mold them into the way he wants them to be. Only then will they be able to envision the same resentment towards the rich that he does. Tyler’s ability to manipulate situations according to his own will also represents his scheme of using violence as his purpose to change the world. The extreme ideals that he wishes to instill in his followers are to free them from any attachment so that they can achieve the ability to be their true selves. He wants them to embrace their pain rather than eluding from it.
Palahniuk’s application of symbolic characterization helps to show how men can be corrupted due to the pressures of the upper class and consumer industry. His depiction of Tyler Durden represents him as a victim of consumer culture; he perpetually works to defy societal norms and emasculate men to have them act according to his own will. Tyler employs tactics involving manipulation and violence to achieve his goal of acquiring power and defying the upper class. By engaging in violent actions and social commentary, Tyler is seen as an immediate factor in affecting social situations and the lives of others.
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