Overanalyzing Chuck Palahuniuk's Fight Club

Over Analyzing Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club
by Joe Conley

Any book which features grown men beating the snot out of each other is bound to provoke controversy. "Fight Club" is no different. Its levels of unflinching violence aren't gratuitous, though. And the book isn't so much about physical fighting as the fight within man - that raging battle between the public self and the private hell. "Fight Club" follows in the footsteps of provocative masterpieces like "A Catcher in the Rye ". It features a lonely protagonist, occasionally referred to as "Jack" - a man unsure of his place in the world, and losing direction in his life. Battling against unremitting insomnia, succumbing to commercialism and working a banal job all present major problems in his life. He finds solace in group therapy sessions, and although he doesn't belong there, he becomes addicted to attending them. At the testicular cancer support group, he meets Bob. Bob is an effeminate man with large breasts,...