Fight Club Transcendentalism
The Fight to Self-Reliance Picture waking up everyday simply to follow the same things you did the day before. The narrator in the film Fight Club possesses that image just like every other being a part of society. That is, until his conscience comes alive and goes against his original beliefs of conformity. Tyler Durden, the narrators alter ego, is a nonconformist who promotes the idea that it's okay not to be perfect. His plan is to rid the world of materialism and "let the chips fall where they may" which points out the ideals of Emerson's transcendentalism. In order to be self-reliant, one must be able to refrain from having material objects consume them. Society promises to reward the conformists who seek a purpose but yet they feel
alone. According to Thoreau and his beliefs, "the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." Tyler's fight club encourages the people in quiet desperation to provoke their anger at society for its false promises. Fight club freed these men of constantly having to obey rules. "We were finding out more and more that there were men just like us After fighting, everything else in your life got the volume turned down You could deal with anything." The fact that they had these men to empathize with through fighting made them feel as if they were actually not alone. They did not rely on their material belongings anymore, in fact they were constantly learning ways to rely on themselves. Therefore, their idea that material belongings were all that were needed to be complete was another one of societies false promises. The false promises were what Tyler Durden was trying to point out. He was trying to rid people's minds from what society expected and from their reliance on material possessions. The narrator speaks for all conformists in society when he says "that condo was my life. I loved every stick of furniture in that place. That was not just a bunch of stuff that got destroyed. It was me!" which concludes to Tyler's quote saying "the things you own, end up owning you." These objects were consuming the people who owned them. Life's significance is based on what one owns and how much they own. According to Thoreau, "Our life is frittled away by detail." The material's are the details in life and the amount one owns is the amount of themselves being consumed. As a result, society's signal of one's purpose is connected with material belongings. Society's expectations are clear in that all it wants is uniformity. The residents rely on their furniture, clothing, and other belongings to give them a purpose but Tyler insists that these residents are "the middle children of history" with "no purpose or place." No man will have that purpose unless they are ethical and self-reliant enough to figure it out on their own. How is that so, if "society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members?" Fight club was the only way out for these men. They found there place there but it would only last for a certain amount of time and then they would be back to society. Consequently, there is no way to completely escape society's plan of conformity. Although Emerson, Thoreau, and Tyler Durden stress the importance of self-reliance, is that really the way out? Tyler Durden is an alter ego and the narrator's reliance is solely on that alter ego. He does not rely on himself for that all of Tyler's beliefs are the complete opposite of what the narrator's are. Society consumes the person which is consumed by their material possessions. Society has and always will revolve around conformity and the people in it will find that the only way out.
alone. According to Thoreau and his beliefs, "the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." Tyler's fight club encourages the people in quiet desperation to provoke their anger at society for its false promises. Fight club freed these men of constantly having to obey rules. "We were finding out more and more that there were men just like us After fighting, everything else in your life got the volume turned down You could deal with anything." The fact that they had these men to empathize with through fighting made them feel as if they were actually not alone. They did not rely on their material belongings anymore, in fact they were constantly learning ways to rely on themselves. Therefore, their idea that material belongings were all that were needed to be complete was another one of societies false promises. The false promises were what Tyler Durden was trying to point out. He was trying to rid people's minds from what society expected and from their reliance on material possessions. The narrator speaks for all conformists in society when he says "that condo was my life. I loved every stick of furniture in that place. That was not just a bunch of stuff that got destroyed. It was me!" which concludes to Tyler's quote saying "the things you own, end up owning you." These objects were consuming the people who owned them. Life's significance is based on what one owns and how much they own. According to Thoreau, "Our life is frittled away by detail." The material's are the details in life and the amount one owns is the amount of themselves being consumed. As a result, society's signal of one's purpose is connected with material belongings. Society's expectations are clear in that all it wants is uniformity. The residents rely on their furniture, clothing, and other belongings to give them a purpose but Tyler insists that these residents are "the middle children of history" with "no purpose or place." No man will have that purpose unless they are ethical and self-reliant enough to figure it out on their own. How is that so, if "society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members?" Fight club was the only way out for these men. They found there place there but it would only last for a certain amount of time and then they would be back to society. Consequently, there is no way to completely escape society's plan of conformity. Although Emerson, Thoreau, and Tyler Durden stress the importance of self-reliance, is that really the way out? Tyler Durden is an alter ego and the narrator's reliance is solely on that alter ego. He does not rely on himself for that all of Tyler's beliefs are the complete opposite of what the narrator's are. Society consumes the person which is consumed by their material possessions. Society has and always will revolve around conformity and the people in it will find that the only way out.