First, feminism. There is plenty to be said about the idea of a fight club exclusively for men, and the fact that in Palahniuk’s book men feel the need to fight back against the emasculation forced upon them by “excessive feminism.” Which is a bit of an oxymoron in terminology anyways - ‘force’ and ‘feminism’, considering that being forceful is not a typical trait assigned to women in most cultures.
But let’s begin by examining the few female characters available to us, Marla and Chloe. The interesting thing about Marla, and Chloe to some degree, is that they are two of the characters which we get the most physical description about. On page 18, the narrator describes Marla for us - “Short matte black hair, big eyes the way they are in Japanese animation, skim milk thin, buttermilk sallow in her dress with a wallpaper pattern of roses…” Again, on pg. 36 the narrator talks about her “black hair and pillowy French lips…Italian dark leather sofa lips.” Why is it that Marla gets so much attention devoted to her looks, more so than any other character in this novel? Because we have the propagation that women are defined by their appearance. Neither the narrator nor Tyler appear to really like Marla at first, but it is not difficult for us to believe that they would sleep with her because she is initially created as a sensual character. In juxtaposition to this we have Chloe, a woman who seems to garner a great deal of respect from the narrator, perhaps a genuine degree of affection, and yet she cannot be seen as an individual worth initiating a relationship with simply because of her appearance. pg 20 “Our Chloe, however, is a skeleton dipped in yellow wax.”
Another interesting aspect to the construction of Marla’s character is the repeated mention of her wearing dresses. On pg 18 we hear about her wallpaper patterned dress, pg 67 she describes her bridesmaid dress, on pg 93 there is distinct mention of her Indiaprint skirt. Granted, some women still prefer to wear dresses but in today’s times it is far less common without a religious or cultural motivation. Why does Palahniuk feel the need to paint such a stereotypical picture of a modern woman?
Even with all her other hang-ups about life and society, Marla cannot seem to escape the obsession with youth and beauty that is pushed upon women in society today. She remarks on pg 91 that she is keeping the collagen from her mother in case of old age, the fear that it will rob her of her “Paris lips.” Also Marla and her mother relate best through the context of beauty - hence the continuous gifts of collagen from Marla’s mother, and that the only real contact they seem to engage in, via telegram, is appropriated by Tyler to read “Hideously Wrinkled - Please Help” (pg 89) which her mother finds nothing strange about.
Interestingly, although the men in Fight Club say that they are reclaiming their masculinity from an effeminate society that has robbed them, a society that has reduced gender roles to cookie-cutter dimensions, the narrator creates a character like Tyler. Confrontational, engaging in relationships purely for sexual motivation, the culturally-accepted stereotype of what it means to be a ‘man’ - merely bouncing from one preconceived notion to another.At the point in the book where we may imagine that Marla began to fight back against Tyler, to revolt against his imposed rules upon her of asking no questions and asserting herself after witnessing his commit a murder, Tyler reacts in a very stereotypically masculine way as well. On pg 195 - “‘You can suck shit’ Marla says and pushes her punched-out black eye at me. ’Just because you and your little disciples like getting beat up, you touch me ever again, and you’re dead.’” His inability to deal with a woman that doesn’t fit his ideal of obedience results in her physical punishment.
In regards to lesbian/gay theory, this story is ripe with innuendo that can be plucked out. Perhaps the biggest is the idea of moving into a home with a man you met on a nude beach – definitely not typical behavior. For many men, they would never even initiate a conversation with another man if he were naked while in a public place where women could also be. Perhaps it would be more acceptable in a locker room or gym, but not in a public area.
Also, the branding of the disciples themselves. Earlier I talk about how much emphasis is given to Marla and her lips. This is carried out with the narrator and Tyler as well. Tylerbrands the narrator with a kiss, a burn that shows up as “swollen red and glossy as a pair of lips.” (pgs 77, 85) The purpose of lipstick for a woman is to draw attention to the lips, because swollen, red lips are a physiological sign of sexual arousal. What does this say that the narrator describes his brand as such, or that Tyler chooses such a means to mark his disciples instead of something more benign?
