Character Analysis
(Avoiding Spoilers)
Grew Up… in a fairly average American family, beneath the shadow of his parents’ unhappy marriage. He grew up with many privileges, but isn’t necessarily any better off for them.
Living… out of a suitcase, as much in airports as in their nearby hotels. He has a condo in his hometown (wherever that is) and it’s on its way to being all he’s ever wanted – not that he’s there very often to enjoy it.
Profession… product recall specialist for an unnamed car company. One of the less pleasant parts of his job involves witnessing the aftermath of grisly car accidents. That, plus the constant business trips he goes on are starting to take their toll on his psyche. “You wake up at Seatac, SFO, LAX. You wake up at O'Hare, Dallas-Fort Worth, BWI. Pacific, Mountain, Central. Lose an hour, gain an hour. This is your life, and it’s ending one minute at a time... If you wake up at a different time, in a different place, could you wake up as a different person?”
Interests… sleep and support groups. One of the major psychic problems brought about by his work is insomnia, and the only cure he can find is sharing in the problems of others via support groups. Unfortunately he’s only pretending to have those specific problems in order to attend the various groups.
Relationship Status… single. But he’s vexed by a woman named Marla that’s started showing up to all of the support groups he fraudulently attends – including the one for testicular cancer sufferers.
Challenge… finding meaning in his existence and sleep at night. After losing his condo to a freak explosion he may have a second chance at both. He meets a man named Tyler Durden, who invites him to stay at his place – and invites him to punch him in the face. Soon he and Tyler are forming a “fight club,” where guys like them can tap into the primal energy of punching each other senseless. Maybe that’s the best way to feel something in life.
Personality… jaded, lonely, and lost. He’s capable of friendliness and courtesy, but also sees himself as weak when he fakes being polite.
Get to Know him in...
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A ticking-time-bomb insomniac and a slippery soap salesman channel primal male aggression into a shocking new form of therapy. Their concept catches on, with underground "fight clubs" forming in every town, until an eccentric gets in the way and ignites an out-of-control spiral toward oblivion.
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The first rule about fight club is you don't talk about fight club. Chuck Palahniuk showed himself to be his generation's most visionary satirist in this, his first book. Fight Club's estranged narrator leaves his lackluster job when he comes under the thrall of Tyler Durden, an enigmatic young man who holds secret after-hours boxing matches in the basement of bars. There, two men fight "as long as they have to."
