Fight Club (The Novel) – Review and Discussion

Social insignificance disturbs a person. Without appreciation from other members of society, we feel disconnected. After a period of time, this disconnected state starts to create an emptiness in our lives. We begin living an incomplete life. When something is incomplete, we can only focus on the imperfections. A maddening obsession to fix the imperfections is what ensues soon after. Simultaneously, we neglect and destroy everything else that gives us good qualities due to our inferiority complex that builds. Thus, without feeling important, man begins to feel inadequate. How his attempt at remedying his inadequacies drives him to destructive lengths is the main essence of Fight Club.

In this case, our nameless, insignificant main character lacks two things. Firstly, he feels a lack of attention as an average middle-class white-collar worker, slogging away in a capitalist rat race. Secondly, and more importantly, he feels emasculated, given that he lacks a father figure to relate to. He is a brokie little incel wagey. As such he craves attention from society, while also breeding a dangerous desire to compensate for his daddy issues by proving his masculine power to the world around him.

But Fight Club does not stop there. It is not a story about just one incel. If incels everywhere were to unite in their combined efforts to prove their masculinity to society, by violating society, and to prove it to themselves, by gaining attention, what happens? What happens if incels channel their hatred for American society and decide to retaliate? As such, Fight Club also serves as a look into how extremists are born.

Fight Club, as we might learn, is a cult in itself. We learn how cults are formed. As we proceed into the novel, we learn that cults form because of the innate nature of cowardly men, which is to idolise. Being men who have felt weak their whole lives, they might idolise and worship a strong and powerful leader, so as to feel more connected to the glory of the leader. A cult leader is born when he recognizes the pains of the cult members, thus making him someone the cult members can connect to. When he is significantly stronger than the members, this makes him look invincible and godlike in their eyes, while attracting members to connect and attach themselves to the leader to get closer to his glory. Thus, he becomes a worthy idol for weak men to worship in a cult.

But how do cults work? They would not function; it the leader did not have an innate desire to become king of the world and the ability to manipulate his slaves to help him achieve his intended outcome. They would not function if the cult members had any sight of the final intended outcome. As such, we realise that cults exist only when the leader and members have a large power imbalance between them. A cult member remains insignificant and worthless, even though the sole purpose of joining a cult is to make oneself feel validated in some twisted manner.

Why does Fight Club matter today? The lowest hanging fruit is Andrew Tate. Weak men. His invincibility. Their insignificance. His glory. Their desire for a masculine show of power. His curt understanding of their problems. Their gullibility. His desire to become an omnipotent entity. Their unwavering support. Tate is a modern-day cult leader and a hero for insecure men who wish to prove their masculinity to themselves by consuming pseudo-motivational content. Although some of Tate’s advice to his audience might be actually helpful, the similarities between a typical cult and Tate’s following are undeniable. In a society which makes individuals unremarkable, such groups are bound to form, where these individuals try to prove their presence in the world. We see them in real life, and we see them in Fight Club too.

Also, Tyler Durden as the narrator’s intrusive thoughts and masculine Id personified is a nice touch. I haven’t watched the movie, but I strongly recommend people read the original novel. It was a fun read, and this was my discussion of its core ideas 🙂

– Bhargav Ramakrishnan