The end of this novel was really interesting. I think I liked the ending of the novel much better than the movie. With the movie, the audience is left questioning what will happen next to the narrator and Marla. In the novel, however, the narrator is happy in his little world with “God” behind his desk and all the little angels bringing him food on trays and pills. We know where he’s ended up and we even get some sort of feeling of happiness for the narrator.
He says everyone is writing him letters about looking forward to getting him back, but he doesn’t seem to be in a rush. It’s also interesting to see how he doesn’t object to being called Mr. Durden at the end either. He says,
But I don’t want to go back. Not yet. Just because. Because every once in a while, somebody brings me my lunch tray and my meds and he has a black eye or his forehead is swollen with stitches, and he says: ‘We miss you Mr. Durden’ (207-208).
At this point after all the work the narrator was going through to get Marla to see he wasn’t Tyler Durden, he’s using Tyler and fight club as some sort of crutch again. He likes seeing these members of fight club and the connection he still has to it, yet he’s no part of it anymore. This reminds us of what we were discussing at the end of class yesterday also. I can’t remember exactly what it was, but I remember thinking about how at the end of the novel, the narrator wanted to be the center of fight club, the person in charge. If I remember correctly we may have been talking about who has the power in the novel and the role of removing that power. I kept thinking about the how when fight club was first created by Tyler and the narrator, they were the power whether or not we’re supposed to think so, that is how I saw it. Tyler, who was essentially the narrator, instructed everyone on what they were supposed to do; their homework, if you will.
It was interesting to me that with that idea, Tyler seems to remove himself from power, but the narrator is kicked out of the fight club meeting for trying to take control. The narrator, who didn’t really want the control all along, was demanding it, and I got the feeling that this was because without power or control Project Mayhem was created so he was attempting to destroy Project Mayhem and restore control. There are a lot of points in the novel where I feel like control can’t be removed and will always be there. I see this with the support groups, and with Marla and her relationship more with Tyler and then with the narrator.
Marla is another important issue in the novel. As I wrote in one of my posts about the movie when Marla and the narrator meet at the support groups, Marla has begun invading his life and could very well be the cause of his mental creation of Tyler. In a way her constant fearlessness and freedom also resembled Tyler and who the narrator wanted to be (My blog post). The narrator admits to needing Tyler to get close to Marla in chapter 28 when he says, “I know why Tyler had occurred. Tyler loved Marla. From the first night I met her, Tyler or some part of me had needed a way to be with Marla” (198). The narrator needed Marla from the moment he met her and thus, created Tyler as a way to Marla. Marla caused Tyler!
I think that’s all I really wanted to talk about for the end of the novel, but I really liked the differences in the novel from the movie. I enjoyed the novel so much more!
I’m not sure if the narrator was opposed or not to being called “Mr. Durden.” Do the members have any other name to call him? I’ve wondered if he even remembers his own name…or if Tyler Durden was the name of both personalities. I’ve re-read that final chapter and at first I thought it was that he enjoyed the fight club members being there. Then I began to wonder if it made him fearful, especially with that ending line, “We look forward to getting you back.” They very well could blame him for the fact their plan to blow up the buildings failed and like everyone else who threatened Fight Club/Project Mayhem he needs to be taken care of (again). But then I wonder…he’s in a mental hospital, is there any easier place to kill someone by something as inconspicuous as overdosing his medication? Why do they need to wait for him to be out of the institution? Alas, it is just another enigma of Fight Club.
I agree that the ending of this novel is much more appropriate than the movie. I also was brought back to considering Marla’s role at the end of the novel. I absolutely agree that the narrator created Tyler as a means of appealing to Marla. I’m really not sure that this was a necessary move on his part, however. Instead I would argue that his lack of masculinity was self-perceived rather than indicated by Marla. Marla noticed the narrator and talked to him at the support group before Tyler was active. And, though she enjoys having sex with Tyler, the narrator was involved in that, as well, though to him it was like a dream. And, after the sex, Marla always seemed desperately wanting to have a conversation with the narrator, but he kept shutting her out. And, at the end of the novel, he realizes that Marla might be in love with him, and he feels like he has to go kill Tyler. I think Tyler is the narrator’s perception of what his masculine self should be, but, he ultimately destroys that perception.
I enjoyed reading your post, especially the part about Marla Singer. The character proved to confuse me throughout the novel. I wondered why this trashy, chain smoking support group junkie always kept reappearing in the majority of the chapters. I agree that Tyler was probably created because the narrator wanted this person. What also seems interesting is that both Marla Singer and Tyler Durden are eerily similar characters. It’s almost as if the narrator’s mind used Marla as a template in which to create Tyler Durden. Right off the bat, the first and last names of both characters share the exact same syllables. Interesting post.
Alex Mc Allister
I personally dissagree with you about the narraters point of veiw at the end of the book. In the end of the book I get the feelings of fear from the narrater from the presence of fight club and project mayhem members… I wish I could give you the quotes that support this but unfortuneatly I don’t have my copy of the book with me, and I can’t find the manuscript online…
*** editing from my last post since I found a copy to quote
Marla’s still on Earth, and she writes to me. Someday, she says, they’ll bring me back.
And if there were a telephone in Heaven, I would call Marla from Heaven and the moment she says, “Hello,” I wouldn’t hang up. I’d say, “Hi. What’s happening? Tell me every little thing.”
But I don’t want to go back. Not yet.
Just because.
Because every once in a while, somebody brings me my lunch tray and my meds and he has a black eye or his forehead is swollen with stitches, and he says:
“We miss you Mr. Durden.”
Or somebody with a broken nose pushes a mop past me and whispers:
“Everything’s going according to the plan.
Whispers
“We’re going to break up civilization so we can make something better out of the world.”
Whispers
“We look forward to getting you back.”
See he is afraid of going back because of fightclub, and project mayhem. He misses Marla and loves her, and wants to be with her but is afraid to go back because of the presence of project mayhem and fight club even in his “heaven”