Fight Club is a novel written by Chuck Palahniuk which details the complex life of a young man who appears to have a major identity problem. The young man is the narrorator of his own story throughout the book. He is a business man, working for a popular car company, and has built an “average” lifestyle for himself. He has a successful job and all of the latest brand name clothes and products. Despite this fact, he is greatly unsatisfied with his career and even his own life in general. The narrorator suffers from insomnia and feels as if his life is inadequate. To make himself feel better, he starts to attend support groups that deal with other people’s problems. Seeing the lives and problems of others in the support groups make him feel better about himself, it even helps his insomnia.
At one of the support groups, the narrorator meets a girl named Marla. Marla, like the narrorator, does not suffer from any of the ailments other members of the support groups do. She is attending the support groups for reasons other than having the illnesses, much like the narrorator. Marla brings the fact that the narrorator is faking all of his problems and doesn’t belong in the support groups to his attention. In turn, this causes him to despise her. He can no longer vent his life’s frustrations through the support groups and his insomnia returns. Soon, the narrorator meets a man by the name of Tyler Durden. Tyler embodies the polar opposite of the narrorator. He can express himself freely, is care free, and hasn’t become a slave to the popular culture around him like the narrorator has. Tyler has a strong sense of his own reality. He seems to love his life and finds the way other people, such as the narrorator, have been socially conditioned to live their lives to be amusing.
One night, the narrorator’s apartment explodes and he loses every possession he has worked for. This is a crushing blow because he based the value of his life greatly on his possessions and money...