Fight Club Lesson 4

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Fight Club

Lesson 4

Symbolism

In Class Today

Symbolism 

Recap and analysis Chapters 7 - 9

What is symbolism?

Symbolism

Symbolism is the use of symbols (an object or a word) to represent ideas and qualities, by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from their literal sense.

An action, person, place, word, or object can all have a symbolic meaning.

Examples in daily life:

• a red rose  symbolizes love
• a white dove symbolizes peace

Symbolism in Fight Club

- Soap

"You have to see," Tyler says, "how the first soap was made of heroes."

Think about the animals used in product testing. 

Think about the monkeys shot into space. "Without their death, their pain, without their sacrifice," Tyler says, "we would have nothing." (Ch.9 , p.78)

• Soap - Soap symbolizes the cleansing of the life, in the sense that it will clean them of their past which is considered bad by Tyler. Fat symbolizes the excess of everything that the rich have.

Can you come up with other symbols in Fight Club?

- IKEA symbolizes materialism. People buy things to feel good about themselves. When the narrator's building is blown up, all his furniture is lost which symbolizes the change that Tyler hopes to bring forth. (CHAPTER 5)

- Paper Street. The house in which Tyler and the narrator live in is on a street ironically named Paper Street. A paper street is a road that is on paper but does not actually exist. The fact that the house they live in is on a street named Paper Street, and that the owner Tyler is also not real, both symbolize the frail mental state that these individuals are in. (CHAPTER 7)

How would you summarize Chapter 7?

Chapter 7 - Summary

The Narrator wakes up in Tyler’s dilapidated home, where he’s been crashing lately. He notices a condom floating in the toilet, and remembers that the night before, he dreamed about having sex with Marla.

Chapter 7 - Analysis

The Narrator’s life has its own “dream logic.” He dreams about things that then seem to come true, or else, it’s suggested, his dreams aren’t really dreams at all.

Chapter 7 - Summary

The previous night, while the Narrator was asleep, Marla called from a hotel. Tyler answered the phone and learned that Marla, whom he’d never met before, was dying by suicide. 

If he had just let Marla die, the Narrator thinks, “none of this would have happened.”

Why do yo think Marla tried to commit suicide?

Chapter 7 - Analysis

How Marla gets Tyler’s house number isn’t explained, as Palahniuk drops more hints about Tyler’s true nature. 

Marla, it’s shown, has continued to flirt with death, hurting herself by overdosing (on Xanax, we’ll later learn). 

The passage also reminds us that Marla is, supposedly, to blame for “all of this.” We still don’t know how, which makes the Narrator’s apparent willingness to let Marla die seem pointlessly cruel.

How would you summarize Chapter 8?

Chapter 8 - Summary

The Narrator gets sent home from work because he showed up with blood all over his pants. He leaves, thinking about how he’s given up his worldly possessions to live with Tyler and fight. 

When he’s home, he can hear Tyler and Marla having sex. Over time, Marla continues to come by to have sex with Tyler, though the Narrator never sees them in the same room together.

Chapter 8 - Summary

Tyler asks the Narrator not to mention him to Marla, ever. 

The Narrator promises not to do so. 

Tyler’s request isn’t explained, and won’t make sense for a long time. 

Chapter 8 - Analysis

There’s a clear romantic triangle between the Narrator, Marla, and Tyler: The Narrator seems to resent that Tyler is having sex with Marla, even though he doesn’t say so.

Notice that Tyler, The Narrator, and Marla are never in the same room together.

Chapter 8 - Summary

Tyler teaches the Narrator how to make soap. 

As the fat cooks on the stove, Tyler tells the Narrator that Marla is “trying to hit bottom.” 

The Narrator, Tyler claims, is nowhere near rock bottom—just because he’s given up his property doesn’t mean a thing. The Narrator’s sense of eerie calm is just “premature enlightenment.” 

Chapter 8 - Summary

Tyler and the Narrator then return to making soap. 

Tyler points out a layer of glycerin forming on the cooling fat—a product that can be used to make the explosive TNT.

What do you think of when you think of soap and TNT?

Chapter 8 - Analysis

This shows that soap, a symbol of domesticity, civilization, and ordinary life, isn’t that far away from TNT, a symbol of chaos and destruction.

 This suggests that civilization contains the seeds of its own destruction - an important idea in the book.

Chapter 8 - Summary

Tyler kisses the back of the Narrator’s hand. He then pours lye (a caustic solution used in making soap) on the Narrator’s hand.

Tyler causes the Narrator tremendous pain, as if he’s trying to push the Narrator down toward “rock bottom.”

How would you summarize Chapter 9?

Chapter 9 - Summary

Tyler yells at the Narrator to remain calm. As the Narrator squirms in agony, Tyler reminds the Narrator that one day, he will die, just like everybody else. 

The Narrator tries to make himself think of his “happy place” -Ireland- but Tyler tells the Narrator to focus on here and now. 

What do you think Tyler is trying to do/say with his kiss?

Chapter 9 - Analysis

The Narrator tries to use “new age” psychological techniques to cope with his pain, but Tyler insists that the Narrator is just dodging the real issue. Instead of evading his pain, Tyler wants to make The Narrator embrace his pain. 

What do you notice of the bond between Tyler and the Narrator?

Chapter 9 - Summary

The Narrator remembers being in Ireland and learning about the human sacrifices that the Celts made centuries ago. 

Tyler reminds the Narrator that the melted fat of the sacrifices trickled into the Irish rivers, reacting with the water to form lye. 

Because of the lye in the water, the Irish were able to clean themselves in the water, centuries later.

Chapter 9 - Analysis

Tyler’s explanation for the link between human sacrifice and cleanliness exposes the sinister link between civilization, symbolized by soap, and violence. 

Furthermore, his explanation suggests that all social progress requires sacrifice: without human sacrifices, the Irish wouldn’t have had clean clothes.

Chapter 9 - Analysis

Tyler is a cruel teacher, but he seems to be trying to get the Narrator to embrace pain instead of hiding from it. 

All true progress, according to Tyler, requires pain.

Homework

Read Chapters 11-14

and have a one-line summary prepared for each chapter