Double Identity

In this paper I shall compare the movie Fight Club with the book The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Palahniuk mirrors this conversion with the residences of the author (Jack) and his other half, Tyler Durden; unlike the motionless house portrayed by Stevenson, the structure Palahniuk uses change with their owners. In the course of this essay Im going to be examining these differences, although in class we only saw the movie based on the novel by Palahniuk, the quotations in the rest of this essay are from the novel since the evidence is clearer then.

Firstly, in the strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the house is used as a powerful prop, by which it is possible for Dr. Jekyll to use, even when he is in the form of Mr. Hyde. The front of the house mirrors an elite, upper class, and respe ctable home. However, the rest of the house is quite the opposite due to the darkness Mr. Hyde represents as he lives there too. The novel states that the discolored wall on the upper; and bore in every feature the marks of prolonged and so did negligence. Consequently, the back door could be used by Mr. Hyde, with very few suspecting Mr. Hyde of having any connection to Dr. Jekyll. The house supports Dr. Jekylls secret of being Mr. Hyde. The house symbolizes the double personality of its owner. Therefore Dr. Jekyll and his house have parallel characteristics. Yet, in the strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde the one house is shared by the protagonists dual state whereas in Fight Club, there is an element of change that is related to the resident.

On the other hand, before the narrator (Jack) meets Tyle r, he lives alone in an apartment. Palahniuk directly connects the two when Jack says, I loved that condo. I loved every stick of furniture. That was my whole life. Everything, the lamps, the chairs, the rugs were me. Jack feels that instead of being a reflection of him, the apartment is what he is.

Jacks hobby is finding and furnishing his apartment with what he considers to be the best furniture and accessories; yet he finds it fruitless. He describes himself as being owned by his possessions, a slave to my nesting instinct. The descriptions of the apartment and the expensive furnishings Jack is addicted to buying show that he leads a lonely and unsatisfactory life. Jacks life lacks any real substance or meaning, despite the expensive, clever things he owns.

Tyler's house, into which Jack moves, is decadent yet in ruins. It has three stories, it leaks in the rain and the front door has been kicked in. It serves as a sharp contrast to Jacks highly valued possess ions, reflecting the initial differences between himself and Tyler who sees possessions as needless things. The house is also a product of neglect, which is how Tyler views himself: We are God's middle children, according to Tyler Durden, with no special place in history and no special attention.

However, the run down house undergoes a change when Jack loses control of Tyler and their relationship ends. Both the changes in the house and in Tyler begin with the creation of Project Mayhem, an extension of Fight Club in which the members, instead of simply Fighting each other, perform criminal, destructive pranks around the city. Tyler creates Project Mayhem alone, without explaining it to Jack; at this point he truly gains a life of his own.

Tyler vanishes for a period of time, displaying independency from Jack that hadn't been present before. He even has the foresight to establish a Project Mayhem rule that prevents Jack from learning his location: The first rule about Project Mayhem . . . is you don't ask questions about Project Mayhem. Tyler has taught the other project members the rule so well; they only repeat it to Jack when he asks about Tyler.

Jack returns to the house, where he begins actively trying to stop Tyler. Tyler Durden is a separate personality I've created, he tells his girlfriend Marla, and now he's threatening to take over my real life.

In the following scenes, the house has undergone its final metamorphosis: it is empty. The space monkeys are cleared out. Everything is relocated ...Only the garden is left behind . The barrenness of the house foreshadows Tyler's final, permanent vanishing in the next scene. Everything in the house has been relocated because Fight Club and Project Mayhem have truly become self-governing, so much so that they can be run by it. The house is no longer required. In the same way, for the same reason, Tyler himself is no longer needed, and he finally vanishes when Jack shoots himself in the jaw.

In conclusion, unlike the house Stevenson uses in the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde where the one house is divided into two just like the personalities of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, in Fight Club the settings vary. Jack is paralleled to his condo, while Tyler is paralleled to the run down house. Later as Jack moves in with Tyler, the house like Tyler dominates Jacks personality and when it has fulfilled its duty, it is cleared out. So it could be sa id that while Stevensons use of the house in his novel is static unlike in Fight Club.

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Author:: Sharon White
Keywords:: IDENTITY, Fight, Club
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