Melissammoore’s Weblog

One of the important themes that I have found in the beginning of Fight Club, by Chuck Palahniuk is the underlying theme of capitalism. In chapter five, the narrator explains himself through his belongings. He states all of this belongings and explains how, “It took my whole life to buy this stuff” and continues, “Then you’re trapped in your lovely nest, and the things you used to own, now they own you” (44). I saw this as really touching on the nature of capitalism. Many people tend to buy and buy out of no real necessity other than the fact that it is what our society has taught us to do. You get to the point where you have accumulated a bunch of items that you don’t really need, that hold no real meaning and often puts people in debt to the point where now the belongings own you. I felt that the narrator summed this sentiment when he is listing the food in his refrigerator and states, “I know, I know, a house full of condiments and no real food” (45). There is no real substance to what he owns, and this goes hand in hand with the idea of capitalism being expressed in the book.

Fight club in a sense offers an escape from capitalism. If capitalism is about purchasing rather than having to experience anything, fight club offers the alternative. It is something you don’t talk about, because you can not put it into words. You do not need to put fight club into words because it is inevitably about experience. Fight club gives control back to the subject. In a capitalistic world, the subject is a reflection of what they own and fight club offers a release from that.