Fight Club Identity

For generations authors have been exploring the human consciousness, dissecting the psyche within their works. A particular area often explored is the one of identity. Identity is often believed to be the very core of a human being, and is crucial to bring purpose into one's life. So what happens when one loses sense of who they are? Or goes through an identity crisis? Within his novels, Chuck Palahniuk argues that a lack of identity leads to isolation and chaos and uses his characters to explore the consequences that come with a lack of identity. Palahniuk uses the characterizations of the narrator from Fight Club, Brandy Alexander from Invisible Monsters and Victor Mancini from Choke to illustrate the detrimental effects caused by a lack

He is never sure of who he is and was never established to even have an identity in the first place. He is never introduced to the reader, and often instead refers to himself as a personified organ, stating that “I am Jane’s uterus. I am Joe’s Prostate” (58); simply changing the organ each time. It reoccurs during the novel, highlighting how the Narrator sees himself not as a whole individual, but simply part of something bigger. Throughout the story, each time the character discusses a fact, one he knows as true, he easily brushes off his knowledge as “I know this because Tyler knows this” (12). He has no security in his own knowledge and pushes the responsibility onto an established character that he believes is separate from himself. Tyler Durden is the opposite of the Narrator. He is sure of who he is and has a clear and established character, known to be “capable and free” (PG). However the build-up of the novel reveals that Tyler Durden and the unnamed Narrator are in fact the same person, thus leading the already confused Narrator into a spiral of self-doubt and chaos as he becomes further unable to distinguish between what he, as an individual has done, and what he, as Tyler Durden, has done. His lack of established identity leads to allowing this “other persona” to execute control over him; not only in his daily life but even his relationships with others. Tyler develops a sexual relationship with Marla Singer that is maintained throughout the story; Marla Singer, who the narrator later admits he has feelings for; Marla Singer, who knows the Narrator as Tyler Durden. The Narrator has no relationships that he maintains himself, as Tyler significantly affects each person. And as his friendship with Tyler develops through the novel, the Narrator starts to lose what little of his personality existed in the first place, as the more