The he meets Tyler. So they look to Tyler, a childish leader, who believes in the purity of impulse and expression, while trying to escape from material possessions. Tyler shows us his childish behavior by the mischief he always seems to be getting into. Tyler spends his nights making his own formula soap, which doubles as dynamite, and working odd jobs. He has a night job as a part time projectionist, where he gets his kicks out of splicing single frames of pornography into family films.
He is also on probation from another job, as a banquet waiter at a five-star hotel, "over the urine content of their clam chowder. Violence, destruction, and chaos soon follow when the narrator—referred to in this essay as Jack—loses control over his insubordinate half, Tyler Durden.
There remains only one constant between Jack and Tyler: a woman named Marla Singer. On the way to his room, in the elevator the elevator attendant offers to send him up a hooker for the night. Being a virgin Holden decides to take him up on the hooker. Once the hooker makes it up to his room he gets cold feet and decides not to have sex with her and just talk.
The hooker gets mad at Holden for wasting her time and leaves. Harry got into a fight with "Gay" Perry Vanshrike, the private detective, on the roof top of his hotel.
Perry told Harry that he was not Harry's friend, and the entire time, Harry thought the two of them were friends. Harry is viewed as kind of a loser in L.
Although at the end he does end up becoming friends with Perry and even his partner detective and starts to fit in with the whole L. Harry in the movie also tries to fit in by pretending to be many things that he is not. From going for married woman, gay club, and threesome relationship, Brandon reaches for the indiscriminating options for his sexual addiction.
With that the movie ends. Where will our not-so-trusty narrator go from here? Back to the IKEA catalog? Start a family with Marla? Keep running amok, but in a slightly less devastating way?
Whatever happens to dear ol' Tyler, we know that Marla will be holding his hand through it all. Parents Home Homeschool College Resources. Study Guide. Previous Next.
Here's the kind of heartless work he does for a living: NARRATOR: Take the number of vehicles in the field, A, multiply it by the probable rate of failure, B, then multiply the result by the average out-of-court settlement, C. Liable to Hurt Someone We ended that last segment on such a happy note.
One Billion Knockouts Served Our narrator's disassociation from reality is just… impressive. What's Up With the Ending? All of this sends him into a panic, and he frantically tries to stop Tyler's plans from succeeding. At the end of the story, Tyler makes it clear to Jack that he plans to kill Marla, on the grounds that she stands in the way of Jack's freedom. This is the final straw for Jack, who opts to kill himself and destroy Tyler in the process.
Tyler apparently dies, but Jack survives because the bullet merely goes through his cheek. Marla then arrives in the book she came with members of a support group to save Jack; in the film she was brought there by members of Project Mayhem under orders from Tyler. The movie version of the story ends with Marla and Jack's hand in hand, silently watching buildings explode as Tyler's plan takes effect.
This is in sharp contrast to the end of the novel. In that version of the story, the building explosions fail. Jack then shoots himself right in front of Marla. He subsequently winds up locked in a mental ward, wrongly assuming that the gunshot killed him and he's in Heaven.
The Narrator's real name is never revealed. Throughout the film, he refers to himself several times as Jack in the novel and the screenplay it's Joe. He does this as a nod to a series of articles he read that were written about the first person perspective of a body part. Edward Norton himself refers to the character as "Jack" because of this.
When Jack goes to Marla's to help her check for breast cancer it is still day light outside. His exchange with Marla takes less than a minute, yet when he leaves it is entirely dark outside. Immediately out front of Marla's he bumps into Bob. Where did the time go? We know Jack didn't hang out with Marla for an extended period of time since we watch the entire exchange and right after checking her for breast cancer he says "Are we done here?
This takes place in just seconds. This change in time makes sense however if he simply lives at the hotel, and when he left the hotel was transitioning from being Marla to becoming Jack again. Why would Jack think it's necessary to help Marla check for cancer anyway? If you consider the idea that Marla is in fact Jack, then it makes perfect sense. If Marla has cancer, Jack has cancer - so he has to check himself for cancer. This explains why Marla offers to return the favor as well.
She says she will check his prostate, which is interesting since it connects to the idea that he is somehow removed of his sexual organs or they are compromised by cancer.
Marla's anxiety about having cancer is figurative in that it represents her impending death if Jack doesn't acknowledge her, but it also, again, represents Jack's anxieties about his actual cancer leaking into the narrative through his manufactured alternate personalities. Everyone remembers how Tyler Durden makes his soap - stolen fat from the liposuction clinic. In the scene where they go to steal the fat they alert the attention of the security guard more on this later and hide behind a dumpster marked "infectious waste".
To be more specific, the contents of the dumpsters are in fact infectious human waste. When Tyler had gone to save Marla, we see her yelling at the paramedics and emergency responders that are coming to save her that she's "infectious human waste. This makes perfect sense since Marla is Tyler and in this scene we are actually watching Jack running away from the hotel and speaking about Marla.
She's referred to as "infectious human waste" because Tyler and Jack know this, so she knows it. Just like Jack said in the first 30 seconds of the movie, "I know this, because Tyler knows this. What are the odds that Marla, if she were her own individual person and not a figment of Jack's imagination, would choose to use the word's "She's infectious human waste!
This is a deliberate connection the director was trying to make. After Tyler and Marla have sex Marla famously says "I haven't been fucked like that since grade school. The actual line in the script is "I want to have your abortion. However if you consider that Marla is Tyler and Jack, then Jack is fucking himself, and will ultimately destroy himself - essentially an abortion of himself. This makes her choice of words make much more sense. Tyler never finishes his sentence.
Since we know that Tyler was actually supposed to say, "masturbation is self improvement, now self destruction is the answer" based on the script then this makes perfect sense.
Marla is Jack, Jack is also Tyler, when Marla and Tyler are done having sex she says "I want to have your abortion" which is the same as self destruction, since they are the same person. Marla says something very interesting after having sex with Tyler, as she comes downstairs while Jack is feverishly trying to scrub his jacket clean in the kitchen. Earlier in the film we saw Jack go into the bathroom to find used condoms in the toilet.
For those of you who might not know, this is a reference to the fairy tale Cinderella. A story of a woman who puts on a piece of clothing a shoe and undergoes a transformation.
Remember the gown Marla is wearing? Marla even says herself… "It's a bridesmaid's dress. Someone loved it intensely for one day , and then tossed it. Was Cinderella a bride's maid? No, but she was a " poor maid " literally taken from the Cinderella text and the entire story of Cinderella occurs in one day and completely revolves around the transformation of characters.
Marla saying this implies she is Cinderella in this metaphor, Jack then says that it makes sense that Tyler is ok with this - since he is used to splicing in sex organs to Cinderella. There's one problem here though, Jack says this about Tyler before Marla ever makes her comment about the glass slipper. This is consistent with other points in the film where we see that characters seemingly "share" what they know with one another, i.
And sure enough, how many condoms are in the toilet, despite the script stating there should be 6…? In the script the original Disney film that is referenced in Jack's comment is Little Mermaid instead of Cinderella. This shows that Fincher deliberately made a change to the script in order to make this connection between the two. Think about the implications of making a parallel between Fight Club and Cinderella, particularly with Rule 2.
Bob played by Meatloaf , who we later come to know as Robert Paulson, supposedly was a former body builder who had his testicles removed and grew breasts after receiving hormone therapy. Obviously Bob's breasts symbolize the emasculation of men in American culture, even under very shallow scrutiny, this is generally accepted.
But doesn't giving a supporting character actual breasts come across as cartoonish and unrealistic? How many men have you ever heard of have breasts as large as Bob? It's so uncommon that it is almost unheard of. This is yet another odd choice of words amongst many others throughout the film remember "a big rubbery one"? Then hormone therapy.
He developed bitch tits because his testosterone was too high and his body upped the estrogen. If you have been following along until now and agree that it is probable that none of the other "people" exist, and that Jack most likely was either diagnosed with testicular cancer and feels feminized or has chosen to actually become a woman, it makes the case for Bob's inexistence even stronger. Additionally there are 2 very strange things that stick out regarding Jack's comments about Bob's breasts.
Most Western religions do not believe that God is a woman. Most Western religions do not believe their male God has breasts. Bob is the creator, in the sense that he is the origins of Marla and Tyler. Think about the quote above regarding Bob's breasts. These are two very direct references to Bob being some type of creator or God - or at the very least, the origins of other characters.
We already know that Tyler's appearance was "extracted" from the hotel welcome video Jack saw on the hotel tv and that he readily constructs his alternate personalities around the media and advertising he's exposed to, so this perfectly explains where Bob comes from. Who stays up all night watching television and infomercials because he can't sleep? There you go. When we see him again outside Marla's hotel he is holding a box of Krispy Kreme donuts and Sunny D orange juice , 2 items that were in Jack's garbage can in the beginning of the film and in the refrigerator of the Paper Street House.
When Bob is doing an operation for Project Mayhem he is shot in the head by a security guard as he is running away. Meanwhile his only partner who was helping him, who was also running away, found the time to go back and pick up big Moosey all on his own and bring him back to the non-existent Paper Street house. Why would a cop shoot someone who was unarmed and running away?
Also, where the hell was the omnipresent Tyler Durden when all of this was happening? Tyler is never missing from the Paper Street house or any other Project Mayhem operation and is often the one leading them, yet he is completely absent from this operation with no explanation. We see Tyler overseeing every other aspect of the house, even doing things as mundane as indoctrinating the Project Mayhem members over a megaphone as they do garden work in the backyard informing them they are "not a unique snowflake", more on this later , yet he was completely absent and ignorant regarding one of their most destructive operations as an organization?
When Bob is first confiding in Jack at the testicular cancer support group, he even implies he has two adult children. Bob says, "I'm bankrupt, I'm divorced, my two grown kids - won't even return my phone calls.
What is something we learn about Marla and Tyler after Jack comes home to find his condo exploded and he attempts to call both of them…? Tyler is deliberately screening his phone calls, while Marla who we know lives at a hotel, and cannot possibly have caller ID simply picks up the phone.
Furthermore, it's pretty damn hard for your 2 grown kids to return your phone calls when the phone you're calling them on doesn't receive incoming calls…. Another interesting piece of evidence that proves Bob's inexistence are his breasts, or rather him losing his breasts, just as Marla does, when the prospect of him being "retired" as an alternate personality becomes a possibility.
We know she is virtually no longer in Jack's conscience anymore either as a real or imaginary person and she begins to have anxiety that she is going to lose her breasts. Bob tells Jack, "they're going to have to open my pecs and drain the fluid again" while confiding in Jack at one of the support group meetings.
In other words, Bob is going to lose his breasts. The timing of this exchange is exactly in the same context as Marla telling Jack her tit is going to "rot off" since this is the time right before Marla enters the story and effectively replaces Bob as his primary alternate personality. Bob's pecs didn't need to be drained, he was beginning to disintegrate the same way Marla was after Jack had abandoned them for Tyler. And just like Marla "came back" as an alternate personality after Jack checked her for breast cancer, Bob showed up immediately after seeking the same salvation.
Jack explains his occupation to the woman on the airplane, who later turns into Tyler on the same exact flight, saying…. The rear differential locks up.
The car crashes and burns with everyone trapped inside. Now, should we initiate a recall? The movie cuts to Jack inspecting the car wreckage with two technicians. One of the technicians says…. See how the fat burnt into the driver's seat with his polyester shirt? Very modern art.
Who is the father? Just like inferred earlier with the subtle hints regarding the breasts and God, the father is Bob. Further proof he is not real.
Right now if you are thinking "so Bob is the father, mother and God.. The symbolism is simple and completely congruent with the theme of the film regarding the duality of the sexes, particularly within the narrator. Bob is the creator - man and woman - or God, that gives "birth" to the rest. Even the members of Project Mayhem treat Bob like a God after he dies, almost ritualistically chanting "his name was Robert Paulson" repeatedly, even though it makes absolutely no sense in the context of the story or the timing.
He's huge. The car that is in the wreck is the same Lincoln Towncar that Jack and Tyler later crash and wreck. And um, oh, yeah Bob's shirt is burnt to the seat. Raymond is yet another personality of Jack's who similarly is threatened with the same fate as Bob, Tyler and Jack.
At this point you have probably picked up on the fact that Tyler wants to kill or control any personality whom threatens his control over Jack. Raymond is yet another alternate personality that he threatens in order to control.
The most significant thing about Raymond is that he is unlike other personalities in the story. He is not a completely "full" alternate personality in the same way that Bob, Marla and Tyler are. But he also is not the type of personality that has zero identifiable characteristics like the members of Project Mayhem. He's somewhere in between, and that is important. Raymond is basically on his way to becoming a real, "full" alternate personality in the same way Bob, Marla and Tyler are - which is why he is a threat Tyler wants to deal with preemptively.
As far as we know, Raymond is never actually shot by Tyler, but he is literally ran off by Tyler with the threat of being shot in the back of the head, unless he pursues his actual career of practicing animal medicine.
Apart from Bob, Marla and Tyler, Raymond is the only other personality that has a full name in the film. But there is a case to be made that his name is only partially complete, as we do not know his middle name. Since we only know the middle initial, we can only guess what his middle name is and since that is deliberately left out, this subtly suggests he is still just a partial or semi-complete identity and also not a fully intact personality like the other 3 main personalities.
How does Tyler know that Raymond lives in a "small, cramped basement apartment"? One explanation is the one Tyler gives Raymond: "they give shitty basement apartments letters instead of numbers. But how would he know specifically that it was a small, cramped apartment? The answer is simple: Raymond does not exist, and is just another alternate personality that Tyler is trying to control and destroy.
Tyler knows the details of where Raymond lives because he knows where the other alternate personalities live: the Paper Street house basement. We know the Project Mayhem members live in the basement after Jack goes down to talk to Tyler and discovers the make shift bunk beds Tyler had been noisily constructing while he was talking to Marla in the kitchen.
If Raymond had been a personality of Jack's that had been developing inside Jack's psyche, up until this point it is logical to assume Raymond had just been an anonymous member of Project Mayhem, or an equivalent, who would have resided in the same basement apartment. In addition, when Tyler and Jack are screening the potential Project Mayhem members on the front porch as part of their initiation, we see the address of the Paper Street house, which interestingly has a letter in the apartment unit - 1B.
What is particularly confusing about this is the fact the house has any letters on it at all, as it is not an apartment complex or unit, and is simply a house. This further adds credence to the theory that the Paper Street house does not actually exist as Jack imagines it and that it is rather an apartment or hotel room in reality. When Tyler asks Raymond what he studied at community college before dropping out to work at the convenience store, Raymond says "S-s-stuff.
Why was Raymond so hesitant to tell Tyler this? Sure, he's got a gun to his head - but why does him finally saying "Veterinarian! Why does it feel so much like an interrogation? Why does Raymond act cagey by answering merely…"Biology, mostly" and "s-s-stuff. Just to recap on the persistent animal references: Bob Robert Paulson is the "big moosey", Marla Singer is a cat with a "hair ball" instead of a death rattle and we see on the Lincoln town car there is a bumper sticker stating "Recycle your pets" and the bus that delivers Jack to the Paper Street house dons a lighting company's advertisement saying to "Illuminate your pets.
So why is Raymond a threat? Why is he being interrogated and terrorized? Because he wants to be a veterinarian. Veterinarians help animals, and more specifically - pets. This is completely at odds with Tyler's motives - which is to remain Jack's primary alternate personality and to take over Jack completely. If Raymond is the type of alternate personality that would metaphorically help heal and in general care for dying or soon to be dead "pets" personalities , he would be directly working against what Tyler wants, which is to destroy any other alternate personalities Jack has created.
Each alternate personality poses a threat to Tyler.
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