Masculinity and gender expression in Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club

Abstract

[Abstract] The main focus of this project is the examination of the representation of the masculine gender in Chuck Palahniuk’s 1996 novel Fight Club. Throughout this analysis I aim to explore the novel’s depiction of the state of masculinity at the turn of the 20th century, from the origin and cause of the perceived “crisis of masculinity” experienced by the narrator of the book, to the social and material remedies that emerged as a direct result of this critical situation, concluding with an exploration of the consequences of the main character’s retaliation against the larger cultural context. The first section of this paper is devoted to providing historical context for the fluid nature of the definition of masculinity, as well as the discontent it can generate in men. The western idea of maleness has always been susceptible to change, fluctuating according to a myriad of other social, historical and economic factors. In the late 20th century, one such shift had taken place. In Fight Club, the essence of manhood, which is variable, as mentioned, but also unattainable, is proven to be frustrating and harmful for men. As the most perfect ideal of masculinity is placed always in the past, it is impossible for men to ever achieve a totally satisfactory form of gender expression, which results in a constant fear of social rejection and general unease. Thus, men’s psychological state and position in society become, consciously or subconsciously, linked to their performance of masculinity. Following this initial segment, I analyze the consequences of men’s detrimental relationship to their own gender, as depicted in the novel. Once the narrator’s despondency reaches a boiling point, his first instinct is to lash out against femininity. Perceived as the complete opposite of masculinity, it is selected by the narrator as the leading cause of male dissatisfaction. The conclusion he reaches is that society, and therefore the men raised by that same society, have become over-feminized. He then seeks to return to a previous idolized version of maleness. The narrator aims to abandon post-industrial consumerist masculinity for post-war masculinity. In doing so, he creates a schizoid alternate personality, Tyler Durden, to represent this seemingly more meaningful version of masculinity. Tyler, then, creates fight club, as a space devoid of any femininity, where men can forge bonds and reclaim aspects of masculinity now disdained by mainstream society, mainly, the enactment of violence. The third and final section deals with the escalation and consequences of the narrator’s pursuit of post-war masculinity. Unconsciously, he ends up recreating and perpetuating the same systems that had led to his initial ennui. He realizes too late into the novel that he cannot find a remedy for his troubles in another version of manhood, as dominant standards of male gender expressions are unsatisfying by design. Instead, I posit that the novel offers gender hybridity as a solution to the oppressive principles of the gender binary. In conclusion, Fight Club’s author recognizes the dysfunctional state of masculinity and the pain it can inflict on men. At the same time, he condemns acts of violence as ultimately useless in providing an alternative to a significant gender expression. As mentioned above, the novel seems to shine a positive light on individuals who embody both feminine and masculine qualities, existing outside the confines of traditional gender norms. Rather than a return to the past and more rigid separation between the genders, the path forward would be an evolution, an incorporation of the best qualities of both masculinity and femininity.