Fight Club Lesson 5

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 4

Fight Club

Lesson 5

In Class Today

Theme and creative response

Theme

A theme can be defined as a main idea or underlying meaning of a literary work. 

Theme vs Subject

It is important not to confuse a theme of a literary work with its subject. 

Subject is a topic that acts as a foundation for a literary work, while a theme is an opinion expressed on the subject. For example, a writer may choose a subject of war for his story, and the theme may be his personal opinion that war is a curse for humanity. 

It is up to the readers to explore the theme of a literary work by analyzing characters, plot, and other literary devices.

Creative Response

Groups of 4-5.

Each member chooses a theme for their creative response.

Each member has to write a justification for their choice of theme and their creative response to it (500 words).

Themes in "Fight Club"

• Consumerism, Perfection and Modernity
• Masculinity in Modern Society
• Death, Pain and the "Real"
• Rebellion and Sacrifice
• Repression and the Unconscious Mind

Themes in Fight Club

Write down 5-6 details from Fight Club (such as specific plot points, symbols, or quotes) that the author uses to explore the theme that you have chosen.

Things to think about

• How do the ideas or actions of the main characters reflect different aspects of the theme?
• Does the theme develop or change over the course of Never Let Me Go? If so, how?
• If your evidence includes symbols, explain how the author uses those symbols to explore the theme.
• If your evidence includes specific quotes from the text, explain how those quotes provide examples of how the theme applies in Fight Club?

Creative Response

Next, think about the theme that you have chosen and try to conceptualize this in a drawing (in other words: imagine what 'Life, Death and Humanity' would look like in a drawing).

Present your conceptual drawing to class