History Literature / FightClub

''Fight Club'' is a 1996 novel by Creator/ChuckPalahniuk. It revolves around an unnamed insomniac narrator who works a blue-collar job. The narrator becomes addicted to feigning illness at certain support groups in order to get himself to sleep, but eventually becomes obsessively plagued by an apathetic woman named Marla at a support group for people with testicular cancer. The narrator eventually meets Tyler Durden, who starts a Fight Club where men alleviate their stress through fighting; as the club goes larger and its acts more heinous, the narrator is forced to confront Tyler, who reveals his true identity...

''Fight Club'' is a 1996 novel by Creator/ChuckPalahniuk. It revolves around an unnamed insomniac narrator who works a blue-collar job. The narrator becomes addicted to feigning illness at certain clubs in order to get himself to sleep, but eventually becomes obsessively plagued by an apathetic woman named Marla at the club. The narrator eventually meets Tyler Durden, who starts a Fight Club where men alleviate their stress through fighting; as the club goes larger and its acts more heinous, the narrator is forced to confront Tyler, who reveals his true identity...

''Fight Club'' is a 1996 novel by ChuckPalahniuk. It revolves around an unnamed insomniac narrator who works a blue-collar job. The narrator becomes addicted to feigning illness at certain clubs in order to get himself to sleep, but eventually becomes obsessively plagued by an apathetic woman named Marla at the club. The narrator eventually meets Tyler Durden, who starts a Fight Club where men alleviate their stress through fighting; as the club goes larger and its acts more heinous, the narrator is forced to confront Tyler, who reveals his true identity...

* RevisedEnding: In the book, [[spoiler:The protagonist tries to destroy one building, but fails when Tyler botches the explosive mixture (the botching of which is foreshadowed in the book's opening chapter.) The Narrator ends up in a place he describes as being Heaven, but is really a mental institution, and some of its wardens are members of Project Mayhem, convinced that Tyler some day will return from the depths of the Narrator's mind and are patiently waiting for it. It's also stated outright (instead of suggested in the film) that the mental split happened the moment the Narartor fell in love with Marla; the Tyler psyche loved her while his regular psyche hated her.]] In the movie, [[spoiler:the Narrator manages to regain his sanity, eleven buildings are destroyed by Tyler's explosives, and the Narrator and Marla hold hands while watching in awe. [[FreezeFrameBonus Big black cock]], roll credits.]] ChuckPalahniuk likes the movie's ending more than his.

Project Mayhem was an exaggerated version of the very real [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cacophony_Society Cacophony Society]], which the author was a member of. The Cacophony Society was formed out of a group known as the Suicide Club ([[ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything though they did not actually commit suicide]]) and is more or less the {{evil twin}} of ImprovEverywhere, where they play pranks to make people unhappy rather than happy.

** Narrator & Tyler, more so in the book.

* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: "The first rule of fight club is you [[{{Masquerade}} do not talk about Fight Club]]. The second rule of Fight Club is you '''don't talk about fight club'''." Justified in-universe, since Tyler isn't joking -- you really shouldn't be telling anyone.

It was [[Film/FightClub adapted into a movie]] starring EdwardNorton, Creator/BradPitt and Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter.

* ArcWords: Too many to count, this trope being a core part of Palahniuk's writing style (Palahniuk referred to them as "choruses".) "This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time.", "On a long enough timeline the survival rate for everyone drops to zero," and [[{{Foreshadowing}} "I know this because Tyler knows this"]] are three of the most well-known examples. There's also mentions of "space monkeys," and the "I am Jack's *insert characteristic here*," a reference to a pamphlet that described internal organs in the first person.

** Narrator & Tyler.

* BrokenRecord: "His name is Robert Paulson. His name is Robert Paulson."

* HappyPlace: Ireland.

--> '''Tyler:''' "On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero."

* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Darkly subverted with Marla. Tyler is sort of a Manic Pixie Dream Guy.

* PercussiveTherapy: A big part of the movie's premise.

* RatedMForManly: One of the themes of the movie is that society has neutered the male nature and made traditionally male impulses and activities shameful or discouraged -- the Fight Club itself is, in part, a way for the characters to subvert society's expectations by releasing their impulses in secret (emphasis is put in dialogue on the Club being "for men only"). This makes it one of the most notable masculist ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masculism yes, there is such a thing]]) works out there.

* WhamLine: [[spoiler:"you have a birthmark, Mr. Durden."]]

* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: "The first rule of Fight Club is you [[{{Masquerade}} do not talk about Fight Club]]. The second rule of Fight Club is you '''do not''' talk about Fight Club!" Justified in-universe, since Tyler isn't joking -- you really shouldn't be telling anyone.

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* HeWhoFightsMonsters: By the end, Tyler has shaped his group to be just as conformist as the consumerist society he's trying to overthrow, and in some cases, it's even worse.

* HoYay: All over the place, and in fact is an important part of the plot, since much of the conflict may stem from the Narrator's sexual confusion. The phallic imagery gets so out of control that at many points it's not even imagery.

* ArcWords: Too many to count, this trope being a core part of Palahniuk's writing style (Palahniuk referred to them as "choruses".) "This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time.", "On a long enough timeline the survival rate for everyone drops to zero," and [[{{Foreshadowing}} "I know this because Tyler knows this"]] are three of the most well-known examples. There's also mentions of "space monkeys," and the "I am Joe's *insert characteristic here*," a reference to a pamphlet that described internal organs in the first person.

''Fight Club'' is a 1996 novel by ChuckPalahniuk.

* MemeticMutation: The much referenced and parodied "The first rule of fight club..." line, as well as "You are not a unique and beautiful snowflake..." Played darkly with in the InUniverse example, "His name is Robert Paulsen", when the Narrator first realizes that no matter how much he tries, any members of Project Mayhem not present at the birth of a rule will just become the MisaimedFandom of the ''mutated'' meaning.

* {{Antihero}}: The Narrator is [[SlidingScaleofAntiHeroes Type I]]. Tyler is a [[SlidingScaleofAntiHeroes Type V]].

--> '''Tyler Durden:''' Remember this. The people you're trying to step on, we're everyone you depend on. We're the people who do your laundry and cook your food and serve your dinner. We make your bed. We guard you while you're asleep. We drive the ambulances. We direct your call. We are cooks and taxi drivers and we know everything about you. We process your insurance claims and credit card charges. We control every part of your life. We are the middle children of history, raised by television to believe that someday we'll be millionaires and movie stars and rock stars, but we won't. And we're just learning this fact. So don't fuck with us.''

It was [[Film/FightClub adapted into a movie]] starring EdwardNorton, BradPitt and HelenaBonhamCarter.

It was [[Film/FightClub adapted into a movie]] starring Brad Pitt.

* YouAreTooLate: Subverted. [[spoiler:Marla and the support groups would have arrived too late to save the Narrator and stop the buildings from coming down, but Tyler's bomb didn't work properly.
-->Tyler, you mixed the nitro with paraffin, didn't you.]]

* FightClubbing: The eponymous Fight Club is the {{Trope Namer|s}}.
* NoNameGiven: The narrator/protagonist.

Some of the examples listed on the film's page really belong here, but moving them is a job for someone who's familiar with the book and/or doesn't mind spoilers.
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