Entry 4

Plot and Setting
Tyler never seems to be in the same room as Marla. Even thought their sex life is very active, they never seem to be together in the same room. The narrator begins to notice this in this part of the novel. Marla walks into the kitchen while the narrator is also in the room but when she leaves, Tyler appears in the room. Suddenly she comes back into the room and Tyler has now vanished. Marla walks up to the narrator and speaks in a sexy voice and grabs his crotch which surprises him. She finally leaves and Tyler asks the narrator to NEVER talk to Marla about him. He says that if he does that it will mean the end of everything. He makes the narrator promise this.

Later, Tyler inflicts an intense chemical burn on the narrator. He says that before he can be reborn, he must hit rock bottom and this pain is like rock bottom. Tyler kisses the narrator's hand and and then pours a chemical on his hand that leaves a massive burn in the shape of Tyler's lips.

Tyler gets the narrator hired as a waiter where he works and together they begin to sabotage people food by rubbing their genitals in their soup or spitting in their meals before the customers eat them making them completely oblivious.

The narrator goes back to one of his support groups for the first time in a long time and speaks to Bob. Bob tells him about this new group he has began to attend called "Fight Club". The narrator is slightly shocked by this remark and pretends as though he isn't already a member of Fight Club.

Character

As this novel progresses we really begin to see the balance between Tyler and the narrator. Tyler is wild and takes risks while the narrator is quite secluded and passive. However Tyler is beginning to taint the narrators good morals because as Tyler influences him, he slowly becomes more and more like Tyler in his risky behavior. We also begin to see the potential insanity of the narrator. He seems quite sane really, but gives the impression that if pushed too far could lose all sanity completely. In general Bob's character is the same but I sense that he will play a larger role in the plot in the upcoming chapters.


Theme

In our society today we view violence as barbaric. However in this novel, the violence used helps those who use it. By going to Fight Club, these men are able to cope with the problems they have in their lives, for example for the narrator, going to Fight Club helps him sleep at night. It takes all the jumbled thoughts in his brain and straightens them out. I find it ironic that something seen as so horrible in our society works so well in this novel. Although it is only a story, maybe it is trying to teach us that humans must rely on their animal-like nature at times to live life to the fullest and by hiding it away and sheltering it, the human mind only suffers.