Fight Club *WIDER READING NOTES*

Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk

What is it about?

Set in America and written in 1996, Fight Club tells the story of the narrator and his relationship with Tyler Durden - whom he admires. They create fight club, which ends up evolving into an anarchistic organisation called Project Mayhem in which the narrator, Tyler Durden, and the many nameless members of Project Mayhem intend to tear down the American social structure, and promote testosterone-filled "manly" men as the rulers of the new society.

It echoes the minds of many working class American men at the time, wanting to break away from the civilised American society and create an anarchistic, primal replacement.

Tyler begins to take over with fight club and Project Mayhem, and becomes somewhat a celebrity as it expands and grows. The narrator begins to feel pushed aside and isolated as he never sees Tyler anymore. However, the plot is revealed when he is on the phone, and happens to ask what his name is, to which the reply is "Tyler Durden". It turns out that he is both the narrator and Tyler Durden.

Themes:

• Society and social class: The novel makes a statement about the treatment of social classes, and Project Mayhem inspires to gaining social and economic equality, and inspiring change from the bottom up. This is still relevant in today's society. In the beginning, Project Mayhem use petty tactics such as subversive bumper stickers, to attempt to achieve their aims. When this does not work, then they resort to violence. It presents the idea that social change is only possible with the use of primitive violence.…