Fight Club's Influence On Society

In today’s culture of political correctness and female empowerment, Fight Club would have never been written. However, Fight club offers a unique and new definition of the word masculinity in the context of self-help and violent empowerment rather than modern day’s overbearing and crude meninism. As Tyler Durden proclaimed “we are the middle children of history, no great war, we have no depression. Our depression is our lives” (Palahniuk 35). Fight Club is an irresistibly fast, timely and quotable book which follows a young man with multiple personalities disorder through the chaos and destruction of his alter ego. However, because of the circumstances and the era in which it was written, it has become a cult classic in every sense of the word
One thing that makes a novel a cult classic is the influence it has on culture. Fight Club had undeniable influence on small groups of people throughout America. Fight Club presented a new method of catharsis that many young men felt very strongly about. After the release of the novel and subsequent film, “authorities discovered over a dozen fight clubs” (McCarthey online). The idea of Fight Club is violent and infectious, with the sharp language and even sharper characters, the novel immediately infiltrated the minds of many people. From Menlo Park, California, where members of the tech industry started a “Gentleman’s Fight Club” (Emerson online), to Texas, New Jersey and Washington, where teens and preteens joined, Fight Club gave its readers (mostly young males) a way to reassert their masculinity. “Many fight club brawlers are suburban high school kids, and many take place on pleasant tree lined streets, with brick homes and well-tended lawns” (Pirnia online). The way Fight Club influenced culture could not have been expected. Although Tyler Durden fought for exploited, blue
However, a small group of people found profound enlightenment after reading this book. The cult, the people highly dedicated to this book, mostly young middle class men, found a new sense of direction after reading this book. Fight Club teaches young men they are all from the “same compost heap” (Palahniuk 175) but simultaneously preaches “you are not your job. You are not how much money you have in the bank” (124). Fight Club, in theory, gives men a sense of community and purpose while also emphasizing the capability and power of men, “I see the strongest and smartest men who’ve ever lived, I see all this potential” (Palahniuk 177). The book provides enlightenment in a very carpe diem fashion, where living today and not planning for tomorrow to come is ideal. In theory, the plan is flawless: live for today, “what do you wish you had done before you die, do it, do it now” (Palahniuk 168), because only after disaster can we be resurrected” (Palahniuk 25), and if we die, it is okay because only in death do we truly have a name. This kind of thinking very much clicked with many young middle class men who may feel disenfranchised by their current situations. Although the idea of taking control of your own life is in no way a new idea, Fight Club presents taking control of your life in a new way. Instead of promoting change