Nassos

Georgios Nassos
Prof. Jose Alvarez
English 113B
Essay 3 Project Text (Fight Club)
1st Draft of Prompt #1
Society Anxiety
There is a saying that goes something like this When one person suffers from delusions,
we call it a mental illness, when society suffers from them, we call it being normal. Could our
society be ailing? And if so, how can we make it better? Thats a question or more likely an
enigma that as timely as it may seem, scientists, philosophers and psychologists (in recent years)
have studied and examined for thousands of years to date- as early as ancient Greece. From
Themistokles to Jean-Jacques Rousseau to Freud. And then comes Tyler Durden the character of
the fictional novel, Fight Club by decorated author Chuck Palahniuk who seems to wonder about
the same thing in his own intriguing ways.
During this semester we saw consumerism and sustainability through the eyes of Annie
Leonard and investigated it further with Project Web. It became clear, that consumer products is
only a means, however, not an end in itself. In Project Space we came to the realization that by
exercising moderation and rethinking our priorities and social norms there is nothing wrong with
living in a tiny home. In fact, it proved to be fun, cost-effective and an opportunity to be closer to
nature. Project Text enfolds all these ideas we studied during the semester and seals them in a
captivating novel that is, to say the least, food for thought. Even though it was written twenty
years ago it still touches accurately trivial issues that concern and influence our society to this

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day and will presumably keep on doing so in the future.

In Fight Club the audience is brought into the world of the main protagonist and narrator of
the entire storyline who suffers by insomnia and dissociative identity disorder. To put it simply,
partly due to his sleep depravation, he switches between two different personalities, that of
himself and an alter ego he created by the name of Tyler Durden. However, the narrator isnt
aware that he and Tyler are one and the same. On the contrary, he believes that Tyler is a loyal,
highly knowledgeable, fascinating friend that he can rely on and look up to. A man who seems to
have the answers to all questions. Meanwhile, the narrator forms an on/off romantic relationship
with Marla Singer an equally controversial character, often philosophical in her own feminine
nature that seems to appeal to the logic and sentimental side of the narrator. In time, it becomes
evident that through the alternate persona of Durden the protagonist finds the guts and wit
necessary to reveal and express underlying angles of his character that had been suppressed by
conforming into the rules and convictions of society. Tyler is an extrovert, a rebel, a wild
untamed spirit. But most importantly, Tyler is a man with a purpose and an anarchistic vision to
create a social revolution that will hit rock bottom, disarm authority, ban capitalism, end
consumerism and in turn empower the hard working people who society had belittled, used and
neglected for so long. At first, Tyler and the narrator came up with Fight Club an unorthodox
self-explanatory undercover men's club usually located in the basement of a bar with its own set
of strict rules that everybody had to comply with. Fight Club wasnt just about fighting but
regaining control, feeling content, empowered and relaxed. Those ideas resonated with so many
people that it amassed a huge following in cities all over the US. Then, the members of Fight
Club mesmerized by Tyler's social propaganda soon became his loyal minions and thats how
Project Mayhem was created. Project Mayhems mission was the manifestation of Tylers vision.

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