Troy Neeley
Eng. 101
5/8/2007
The First Rule Is…
Materialism, an ideal that says the more stuff you have, the better person you are, encompasses many people and tricking them to become “super-consumers.” In this day and age in America, people (Group A) believe that owning many objects leads to the road of happiness. They believe the more money you make and the more you own. Some other people (Group B) out there believe that the aforementioned are crazy. Group B believes that the road of destruction that Group A chooses must come to an end and we must get back to basics. I’m sure they do not mean back to caveman days, but to days were one person equals the next. A day when wealth and poverty become abolished and classes of people dissolve. “The first rule of fight club is that you do not talk about fight club.” The ever occurring line that lies throughout the cleverly titled movie, Fight Club, transforms from just a rule to a battle cry for the revolution. Fight Club tells a story of the king super-consumer and his search for the way out of his ultimate materialistic life. Fight Club denounces the consumerism lifestyle and starts a revolution of change, to get back to simpler times and equality.
At the beginning of Fight Club we see “Jack”, “a slave to the IKEA nesting instinct.” Jack bought everything and “things” were his life. He displays the exact qualities as our Group A. Jack also ha a severe case of insomnia. No matter how hard he tries, he can not fall asleep. Jack tries desperately to find an escape from his prison of stuff and insomnia. He goes to his doctor for some medication, “Come on I’m in pain.” The doctor tells him to go the seminar for men with testicular cancer, “That’s pain.” Jack attends the meetings and meets Bob. Upon their first meeting, Bob spills to Jack that he received cancer from using steroids too much, he was a body builder. Bob tells Jack to cry with him and all of a sudden Jack burst into tears. “I let go. Lost in oblivion; dark and silent and complete. I found freedom. Losing all hope was freedom.” At that moment, Jack let go of everything that was making him feel trapped. He forgot about his job, his stuff, and found peace in Bob. Jack started to go to many other support groups, finding comfort in other people. “When people think you’re dying, they really listen.” Even though Jack was not dying physically, he had been on the verge of a mental breakdown. Then another factor entered his life, Marla Singer. “If I had a tumor, would name it Marla.” Marla became the foil to Jack. “Marla -- the big tourist. Her lie reflected mine.” She exploited Jack; he was not sick or dying as many people came to believe. She did not publicly exploit him, but caused Jack to feel exploited because he knew he was lying. Then Jack could not sleep again. This is where Tyler Durden enters the picture. Just as we meet Tyler, Jack’s apartment of stuff turns into a “volcanic blast of debris.” Jack feels as if his life has come to an end. All of his things are gone. He then calls up Tyler for a place to stay.
