Essay on Man's Search for Meaning in Fight Club and Siddhartha

Fight Club is a complex movie in that the two main characters are just two sides of the same person. Edward Norton’s character is the prototypical conformist consumer working a morally questionable office job to feed his obsession with material possessions. He works as a recall coordinator for a “major car company” and applies a formula based on profitability, rather than safety, to determine the necessity of a recall. Though never explicitly stated, he seems to be in his late twenties or early thirties and throughout the movie has a constantly haggard appearance because of his insomnia and fighting. Brad Pitt’s character is a carefree nonconformist and the manifestation of Edward Norton’s

Perhaps it is a case of minority influence, when a few influence the many. Tyler and the Narrator have held the same viewpoint for a while now, months even, that they do not care about clever art or Swedish furniture, and they are comfortable admitting that they have scars from fighting. With this unwavering view, others start to take notice, and even begin to respect their ideology. They join fight club to become loyal members. After a while, Tyler decides that they have to expand or “move out of the basement,” and hence creates Project Mayhem.

After the narrator has met Tyler Durden, this is when the chaos and destruction has begun. Tyler was always telling the narrator how to make dynamite, napalm, and other gases that could blow up. Tyler had created a fighting club and a working club that would help him break down civilization. At first, the narrator did not know how to handle it but then started to become involved. The narrator’s apartment blew up from the home made dynamite that Tyler had made. Soon after, the narrator had asked Tyler if he could move in with him. Men were always having bruises or scars on their faces from “Fight Club” and later on, men would show up at their front door wanting to come in to be apart of Project Mayhem. The narrator always had to deal the dirty work, meaning telling the guys if they were not the right fit. Tyler had handed out proposals to each member, which involved in human scarifies, stealing identify cards, or destroying private property. After being around Tyler so much, the narrator had started to agree with Tyler about destroying civilization, “I wanted the whole world to hit bottom” (Palahniuk 123). The narrator finally realized that there has been way too much chaos when he notices Tyler has been gone. The narrator starts questioning every man he sees and tries to chase after Tyler. Towards the end of the novel after the

The movie Fight Club has one main character, who is split into two different actors: Edward Norton and Brad Pitt. Norton plays the lead: the neutral, model-yuppie narrator who is unnamed except for the self referencial title of "Jack". Pitt plays Jack's dangerously controlling alter-ego, Tyler Durden. Tyler is a man without scruples, ethics, or decency. Tyler is Jack's darker side. He's the type of kid your mother warned you to stay away from, always up to mischief and mayhem. In fact, he spends most of his time plotting the downfall of society.

The first of these works of literature that show connections and differences with my novel is Lord of The Flies by William Golding. In both novels, a concept that unites people is the fight between good and evil through the author's use of symbolism. In Golding’s novel, the separation between good and evil is symbolically shown in the followers of Jack and Ralph. In the followers of Jack, the animalistic traits of humanity show over those more civilized traits. However in the camp of Ralph, the traits of civilization attempt to thrive. This is such an interesting comparison, that people in the same situation can have such a vast range of reactions. This range of reactions and emotions is truly shown in Bradbury’s novel through the

In Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl describes his revolutionary type of psychotherapy. He calls this therapy, logotherapy, from the Greek word "logos", which denotes meaning. This is centered on man's primary motivation of his search for meaning. To Frankl, finding meaning in life is a stronger force than any subconscious drive. He draws from his own experiences in a Nazi concentration camp to create and support this philosophy of man's existence.

All societies have a basic structure, and in order to function well with others, a person must conform to the laws and regulations of said society. In the novels Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, a variety of themes are discussed, with the major theme being rebellion. The main characters of both these novels struggle with the established structure they are living in and are unwilling to conform to its rules. They both rebel by openly defying laws, and disobeying authoritative figures. The novels’ main characters are furthermore comparable because they not only rebel but also guide others to do the same. The men whom they lead carry on

One of the first major problems addressed in Fight Club is toxic masculinity, and the fear of seeming feminine. Bob encapsulates this problem perfectly through both backstory and physical appearance. The reader is first introduced to Bob with a distinct quote: “Bob’s big arms were closed around me to hold

Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club is the story of a man struggling to find himself. The main character, a nameless narrator, is clearly unhappy with his life. He obsessively fakes diseases and attends support group sessions as a way to deal with his hopelessness. Obsessive behaviors often lead to unfavorable events if they are interrupted (Lizardo). Just as it seems the support groups have brought him to a form of equilibrium, they are interrupted by a fellow faker. His inability to treat his restlessness by attending these support groups drives the narrator to shocking extremes.

David Flincher's movie, Fight Club, shows how consumerism has caused the emasculation of the modern male and reveals a tale of liberation from a corporate controlled society. Society's most common model of typical man is filthy, violent, unintelligent, immature, sexist, sex hungry, and fundamentally a caveman. In essence Tyler Durden, is the symbolic model for a man. He is strong enough to withstand from society's influences and his beliefs to remain in tact. Jack, the narrator, on the other hand is the opposite. He is a weak, squeamish, skinny man who has not been able to withstand society's influence; therefore, he is the Ikea fetish. Unlike Tyler, Jack is weak minded. Both Jack and Tyler are polar opposite models of

The plot sequence is enacted in a way that the viewer would perceive the two personas as completely different people. Through various scenes, the narrator comes to realize that he had fabricated his second persona. Upon this realization, the narrator must accept the fact that he is the force behind the complex plans of destruction. He quickly focuses his efforts on the reversal of his alter ego’s plans that turned the fight club into the disparaging “Project Mayhem.” The ideas behind this project were based off of the principles of equality, minimalism, and anti-corporate America. The targets of the destruction were all of the major credit card company headquarters. The reason behind these plans was to eliminate the debt records, thus allowing everyone to “start at zero.” Tyler thought that with no debt record, problems surrounding materialism would vanish. The reversal process would take the narrator on an arduous journey across the country. He follows Tyler’s paper trail, uncovering the plans little by little; all while realizing what was upon him.

Fight Club is a movie based a man deemed “Jack”. He could be any man in the working class, that lives and ordinary life. The movie starts out giving an overview of his life, which consisted of a repeat of flights and cubicles. He is basically to the point of break when he takes another business flight and meets a man that calls himself Tyler Durdan. They instantly become friends and after an unfortunate explosion in “jack’s” apartment, he moves in with Tyler. One night after last call at a local bar, Jack and Tyler start fighting in the parking lot for no reason other than essentially to feel free and do something other than the norm. Later in the film this bar-back fight turns into a club run by the both of the men, or so it seems. At the

From an existentialism point of view, there is no right or wrong choice, since one gives an action value by the virtue of choosing it. Choices can only be judged on how involved the decision maker is when making it. Judging by this standard, the narrator is justified in killing Tyler, since he fully became involved in choosing to both accept and reject Tyler’s values by that action. “Existentialism’s first move is to make every man aware of what he is and to make the full responsibility of his existence rest on him.” In my essay, I shall first discuss how shooting Tyler is crucial in allowing the narrator to achieve the first move in embracing existentialism. He acts as the catalyst for the narrator to make the first move in

In a way Jack belonged there as much as the rest of them, because he too had been emasculated much to the same degree as many of the men who had been physically separated from their manhood. By engaging in the primal violence of the fight club, the men could get a piece of that back. They wore their battle scars with pride, and it gave them a new sense of empowerment, and a new, more forward and domineering attitude.

The Fight Club, then, is a way which men can express their angst in a much more masculine, albeit sadomasochistic, way.