Masculinity in Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
Abstract
The narrator in Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club is one in a clear crisis of manhood brought about by his own contradictory experiences relating to power as dictated by the impositions of the hegemonic masculinity that is abound in his society. His struggle is even aggravated by the certain disparity between the experiences of his lived life and his inherited dictates of masculinity. To counter this sorry state of affairs, the narrator resorts to a rather nostalgic backlash which include buried feelings, homophobia as well as aggression. Though he succeeds with his backlashes as transgressive assertions of masculinity, the narrator ultimately becomes disillusioned with his challenges and decides to embrace the crisis of manhood he faces by establishing an affectionate bond with the sole female character in the story, Marla Singer (Tuss 16).
From the struggles of the narrator, it is apparent that manhood/masculinity is a major crisis at present and use of nostalgic attempts such as violence or other hyper-masculine reactions are not effective (Vafa & Talif 19). It can be said that the backlashes of the narrator are only but nostalgic endeavors resorted to in order to appeased the seemingly buried pain men so as to resolve the crisis of masculinity.
History of Masculinity
The idea of masculinity alludes to a man whose actions are informed by his gendered character (Connell & Connell 186). Masculinity is thought to have first begun shaping in the period between 1450 and 1650, when the modern capitalist economy, as we know it today, was born in the North Atlantic. It was during this period that modern gender roles started to assume shape in that region. Social researchers have attributed four major developments as significant contributors for the gradual configurations of the social practice otherwise referred to as ‘masculinity’.
Firstly, there was significant cultural change that resulted in a whole new comprehension of both sexuality and personhood in then metropolitan Europe. This was the historical time when the long-established and strong ideals for men’s lives were altered thanks to the spread of Renaissance secular culture as well as the Protestant reformation which also both disrupted the existing medieval Catholicism. This was the beginning of the decline of religion to run the intellectual world as well as regulate the everyday life of people (Friday 14). With masculinity perceived as a character structure defined by rationality, and Western civilization taken as the bearer of reason to a rather benighted world, a cultural connection between the legitimatization of patriarchy on one hand and legitimatization of empire on the other hand, was forged (Connell & Connell 187).
The second widely acclaimed factor for the development of the notion of masculinity is the establishment of overseas empires by European nations –Portugal, Spain, Netherlands, France, and England (collectively referred to as Atlantic seaboard states). The same was true with the second round of imperialism, which involved the overland empires of the United States, Russia together with the overseas empires of Italy, Germany and Japan. Masculinity developed through colonialism because the idea of empire was itself a gendered enterprise from the inception because it was a result of the segregated men’s occupations that were soldiering and sea trading.
This is especially true because European Women who travelled to the colonies were in their capacities as wives and mermaids in households headed by men. With the exception of a handful of monarchs, the imperial states established to rule the newly-claimed empires were fully staffed by men besides developing a statecraft founded on the force made up by well-organized bodies of men (Connell & Connell 187). As a matter of fact, the first group to be seen as a masculine cultural type in the modern context was the ‘conquistadors’ – men who used force at their colonial frontier. Such men were delinked from customary social relationships, usually overly violent in the quest for land, gold and converts, and a headache for the imperial states to control. As such, the lack of control of these men at the frontier is a synonymous theme in the history of colonization or empires and thus closely linked with the creation of masculine exemplars.
Thirdly, the subsequent growth and development of commercial capitalism cities such as Antwerp, Amsterdam, and London, brought about a new setting for everyday live and an emerging gender form. Men commanded greater economic say while women were subjected to second best with less economic power (Friday 10). It was the negative social perception of women’s gendered character as compared to men, which inspired the famous late-eighteenth century debate –Vindication of the Rights of Woman.
The fourth development to the concept of masculinity is said to be the large-scale European civil war. There was significant compromising to the legitimacy of the then existing gender order during the 16th-and-17th century religious wars, as well as the 17th-and-18th century wars of dynasties (Kimmel 123). During the English civil war, the Quakers in English-speaking nations first tried to advocate for equality in religion for women, their efforts were quashed by the powerful patriarchal holders of power. Similarly, the strong centralized state that emerged following the European civil war helped consolidate the patriarchal order by providing an even enhanced institutionalization of the men’s power during the era of absolute monarch. This in effect became an issue of nationalism and masculinity, the latter representing a new gender order opposed through femininity but deeply incorporated in economy and state.
In addition, there was development of hegemonic form of masculinity or hereditary landowners (the gentry) dominantly found in the North Atlantic region in the eighteenth century. Land ownership and politics followed kinship lineage which was a reserve of great families that followed patronage. Gentry masculinity practiced domestic authority over women.
The challenge to masculine
The challenge to the European/American masculinity has come in form of splitting of the initial gentry masculinity, its displacement by newer hegemonic forms over time, together with the rise of a number or subordinated-cum- marginalized masculinities. Sociologists have attributed this change to a host of reasons such as increased challenge to the existing gender order from women, the logic of gendered accumulation process itself in industrial capitalism, as well as the power relations of the empires (Diken, & Laustsen 83).
First, there was significant shift in gender politics during the nineteenth century following the emergence of a new form of mass politics called feminism. As such, there was increased mobilization for granting of women rights especially on matters relating to suffrage. Similarly, the sexual prerogatives of gentry men came into increased challenge from gentry and middle class women who pushed for reforms of morals and domestic customs. As the factory system evolved, there was increased contestation by working-class women who opposed their economic dependence on men. Ultimately, there were far reaching modification to the patriarchy system along with the hegemonic masculinity (Connell 98). Warfare was gradually transformed to become more organized as violence was mixed with rationality. Economically, women constituted a sizeable workforce in textile, coal mining, steelmaking, and printing factories during the industrial revolution. However, masculinity was now based on the wage-earning capacity, domestic patriarchy, mechanical skills, and combative solidarity (Price 9). As such, working-class masculinity was practiced through the exclusion of women from heavy industrial roles as propagated by the craft union movement.
Masculinity at the present moment
Today’s man is faced with the great challenge of meeting the rather high expectations that society has placed on them because of the notion of ‘masculinity’. As a result, the modern man is constantly fighting with the thought of not living up to expectation, which is a great source of frustration for him (Connell 23). This expressly brought to light by the Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club story, where the narrator greatly fights with his masculinity in rather interesting ways. The men in the story fight against each other in the desperate effort to assert their masculinity and therefore a sense of self which has not been pre-defined shrink-wrapped and offered to them by a corporation or society. Fight Club presents the issue of masculinity, man ideals, and power or the lack thereof. On one hand, commentators see the story as an almost perfect depiction of a threatened traditional type of masculinity in desperate struggle to reclaim its control through extreme violence (Diken, & Laustsen 89). However, other critics have challenged this view as a mere criticism or rather a stereotypical subversion of masculinity.
The unnamed narrator in Fight Club depicts a man struggling with personal loss of power. He represents individual dissatisfaction faced by men in society, even those that have the privileges of manhood offered by society. The anonymous narrator lives alone, in isolation, and has problems connecting with others in a healthy way (Baker 89). All these represent his painful struggle with hegemonic masculinity which has placed him at loggerheads with his heterosexual orientation.
The narrator suffers from “emotional emptiness” along with a great sense of emasculation which are product of measuring up to the ideals of masculinity. By and large, the narrator’s “silence” is brought about by the absence of his father in his life as he grows up (p. 14). Furthermore, he is unable to communicate with the female character Marla, he regards his career as paternal figure, and is obviously a senseless slave to his rather consumerist “nesting instinct” (Genz & Brabon 143). These are issues that become weighty under the dictates of hegemonic masculinity as a result of the ensuing alienation.
In the same vein, the narrator intensely ponders on the apparent frailty of ethics relating to hegemonic norm of manhood while in a meeting with Microsoft representatives after he establishes the first Fight Club. The narrator attacks one of the representatives of Microsoft, Walter, as a mere archetype of the so-called emasculated and powerless under crisis, lacking a paternal figure, plus being indoctrinated by the existent masculine hegemony (Genz & Brabon 145). In doing this, the narrator is acting from a point of view of fight club, now regarded as a position of empowered masculinity. Thus, the narrator’s frequent use of action (as is in fight club) instead of language in the effort to build a relationship with his peers show his discrepancy between his own lived experiences and the inherited language of masculinity (Baker 78).
The narrator is not only a “generation of men raised by women”, but also a victim of consumer capitalism resulting from post-war masculinity and hegemonic Cold-War masculinity that demanded men “to define themselves through their identities as consumers.”
A fleet of painful and stress provoking events and the need to compensate for his personal masculine insecurities forces the narrator to adopt alternate personality – that of Tyler (an imaginary confident, tough, handsome street fighter with the freedom and power to do act he pleases). The narrator becomes an average Joe when he shows his lack of self esteem by worrying that the world perceives him as less manly, timid, weak and frightened. It is the struggle to meet the masculine ideal as defined by society (Arnold & Brady 78). Real men are expected to lack fear and not to fail. While the narrator has a well paying job, he still feel insecure because he is without other basic qualities of being manly the likes of muscles, scars and no fear of death (Nelmes 295). So he is persuaded to think that self improvement is no good as self destruction. He perceives his self improving lifestyle as less masculine and less significant compared to Tyler’s self destructive lifestyle.
Similarly, the narrator feels emasculation with his (Tyler’s) relationship with Marla. He feels he has is no match to the perfect masculine Tyler as depicted by advertisements. As such, the narrator is a worried of a rejection that is bordering on romantic jealousy without Tyler’s attention. Violence is used by men as a way to remind them that they alive and that they will die (Vafa & Talif 21). Thus fighting is seen as a way to reach the core of whom they are or achieving spiritual awakening. While fighting is an attempt by men to reassert their apparently lost masculinity, it greatly represents a rejection of what they have grown to know about masculinity by preceding generation, their careers and the mass media (Andersen 452).
References:
Andersen, Robin. Battleground: The Media. California, ABC-CLIO, 2008.
Arnold, H. John, & Brady, Sean. What is Masculinity?: Historical Dynamics from Antiquity to the Contemporary World. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.
Baker, Brian. Masculinity in Fiction And Film: Representing Men in Popular Genres, 1945-2000. London: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2006.
Connell, W. R. & Connell, Raewyn. Masculinities. California: University of California Press, 2005.
Connell, W. R. The Big Picture: Masculinities in Recent World History. http://www.las.iastate.edu/wsp_kcgs_partners/english/modules/stereotypes_nationalism/Connell.pdf
Diken, Bulent, & Laustsen, Bagge, Carsten. Sociology through the projector. California: Routledge.
Friday, Krister. “A Generation of Men Without History”: Fight Club, Masculinity, and the Historical Symptom. 2003. Retrieved from: http://pmc.iath.virginia.edu/text-only/issue.503/13.3friday.txt
Genz, Stephanie, & Brabon, A. Benjamin. Postfeminism: Cultural Texts and Theories. United Kingdom: Edinburgh University Press, 2009.
Kimmel, S. Michael. The History of Men: Essays in the History of American and British Masculinities. New York: SUNY Press, 2005.
Nelmes, Jill. An Introduction to Film Studies. California: Routledge, 2003.
Palahniuk, Chuck, Fight Club, London: Vintage, 1997.
Price, A. Marc. The Fight for Self: The Language of the Unconscious in Fight Club. 2002. Retrived from: http://chuckpalahniuk.net/files/papers/fight-for-self-marc-price.pdf
Tuss, Alex, S.M. A Critical Analysis of Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley and Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club. Retrieved from: http://michael-miller.wiki.uml.edu/file/view/Masculine+Identity-Ripley%26Fight+Club.pdf
Vafa, Amirhossein, & Talif, Rosli. Manhood in Crisis: Powerlessness, Homophobia and Violence in Fight Club. Retrieved from: http://www.pertanika2.upm.edu.my/Pertanika%20PAPERS/JSSH%20Vol.%2019%20(2)%20Sept.%202011/14.pdf
