Joe Howlett

To what extent do you agree that Fight Club is an

updated version of The Great Gatsby that
captures the zeitgeist of modernism?

Both Palanuik and Fitzgerald have a common agenda in the way their novels
discusses the preoccupations of their time. Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby even if
written 70 years ahead of Palanuik's Fight Club indicates lots of similarities can
be seen in the way both writers expose the misleading concept of the American
Dream that has led to a series of concerning the false hopes to American
property and its devastating impact on the individuals as seen through their
characters who may have differences since they belong to different eras but they
both suffer from disappointment at the nature of the society. Despite the
similarities the differences cannot be ignored which is why Palanuik's Fight Club
cannot be acknowledged as Gatsby simply updated a little.
A common theme throughout both of the novels is the presentation of a huge
consumerist culture. This is evident in the Great Gatsby right at the beginning
when Gatsbys mansion is being described to us: raw ivy, and a marble
swimming pool, and more than 40 acres of lawn and garden. It was Gatsbys
mansion. From the very start of the narration we are introduced to the
corrupting ideas of consumerism with the opulence of a mansion being more
than 40 acres of lawn and garden It was what defined your status and power. In
Fight Club, Palahniuk depicts the corrosive nature of consumerism what through
commodities like condos with Ikea goods, where Palahniuk uses the
unconventional hero Tyler Durden as anti-consumerist, a rebel and a
revolutionary. For example when he says The things you own end up owning
you. Which shows how this obsession with commodity is engulfing our identity
and how it is destroying us as individuals. We want all of the new gadgets of the
time and soon find out that they have been updated so we constantly want the
new objects which end up draining all of the identity from the person.
Also another idea of the consumerist society is technology and how they cause
the downfall of both of the heroes in the novels. For example in the Great
Gatsby the idea of the invention of the car, which ends up hitting Myrtle and in
turn leads to death of Jay Gatsby. The idea that the car is a relatively new
creation of the time shows us how times change and everything is just constantly
evolving. This is also a way to tell us that whatever we own can end up being the
downfall of us, as if it can be the downfall of humanity as what we own will
eventually end up taking control of the person, the person will be lost and the
objects will take their place.
The idea of technological evolution is also explored in depth in a negative light in
Fight Club, for example when we find out the idea of the soaps being made into
explosives. Here Palahniuk is attempting to show technological use has spiralled
out of control leading to a brutal society. Fitzgerald also attempts to do this in

Joe Howlett
The Great Gatsby with the idea how technology can start (with a car for
example) and lead to the death of someone.
Similary, the use of a gun that kills Gatsby sets a subtle message of the negative
power that technology has given us and how it is leading us to self destructive
society as the writers are cynically laughing at the decision that society is facing
as it heads for collapse. Ironically instead of heading for an ameliorated life we
head toward a society which is destroying itself. This is sad but it is the truth with
all the technology around us we are slowly losing each other, this captures the
idea of the times because this is happening around us right now whilst we speak.
What is seen in both of the novels is the idea of a love triangle. In the Great
Gatsby it is the love triangle between Gatsby, Daisy and Tom where as in Fight
Club it is the love triangle between the characters of the unnamed narrator, Tyler
Durden and Marla Singer. Both of these novels also convey the idea of how
relationships between people have been decaying over time, for example in the
Great Gatsby Tom has a mistress so he has already broken the vows of marriage
and in Fight Club the idea of a relationship is entirely more physical and sexual.
Another point that you can comment on is the idea of the names of the female
characters in the story, For example the name Daisy Faye shows that in the
times of the Great Gatsby women were supposed to be quiet and lady like, soft
and delicate (hence the idea of her name being Daisy, a soft flower), also the
idea of Faye meaning fairy. However on the other hand there is the idea of
Marla Singer with the idea of the word singer meaning that she is loud and
boisterous which is supposed to mean that she is not lady-like.
Furthermore another way that you can see that Fight Club is just an updated
version of the Great Gatsby is the idea of the two narrators of the novel. They are
both apostolic narrators they both idolise the heroes of the story. You can see this
in the Great Gatsby when Nick talks about Gatsby being god-like, Aloof ,
unattainable etc. Showing that he holds him in incredibly high regard, despite
the fact of Gatsby doing illegal work.
Moreover this idea of an apostolic narrator can also be seen in Fight Club as the
narrator also holds Tyler in high regard, for example when he says nothing in the
world compared to Tyler, which shows how much faith that he has in this
person, and how he believes that Tyler is one of a kind and how he is the
greatest person to ever live.
Another point we can make about the narrators is how they are both have
incredible difficulty connecting with people, for example in Great Gatsby you can
see this when Fitzgerald writes was hurrying toward gayety and sharing their
intimate excitement as from here we can see that Nick forgets that he has his
own group of friends so he does not really feel emotionally connected to them.
The idea of the narrator of Fight Club has a hard time connecting with people in
Fight Club is when we find out that the unnamed narrator can only connect to
people who have things horribly wrong with them. For the first time... I cried as
he finally felt connected with the people in the group and found it okay to cry.

Joe Howlett
Self invention and self destruction is yet another common theme in both the
novels, for example in the Great Gatsby it is the idea of James Gatz turning
himself into Jay Gatsby, he does this to fit in with the right people, like all the
rich people in order to try to get rid of all ties to his past, which again in a way
shows how weak the society was at the time, you had to be seen with all of the
right people in order to be known. The idea of self invention and self destruction
is also seen in Fight Club with the idea of the narrator becoming Tyler Durden
and with the narrator saying "Every night I died, and every night I was reborn;
resurrected." This also shows the idea of how one has to change themselves in
order to be socially acceptable.
Also between the two novels there is the idea of restlessness versus insomnia. It
starts in the Great Gatsby where Nick talks about how the city is Restless
meaning that there is always something going on in the city at the time so there
is no time for sleep. If there is no time for sleep you end up with getting the idea
of insomnia, something that the narrator suffers from in Fight Club.
Over both of the novels there is a theme of glamour and brutality, in the novel of
the Great Gatsby there is an idea of glamour with lavished mansions and a
small undertone of brutality with the ideas of some of the characters of the novel
dying toward the end. However in Fight Club it is completely the opposite with
the ideas of the brutality with all of the underground fighting and then with an
incredibly small undertone of glamour, hence the ideas of the condos.
The idea of underground work is also apparent in both of the novels, in Fight Club
the idea of Project Mayhem which involves destroying buildings to try to reset
society, also there is underground work in Gatsby, for example how Gatsby
earned all of his money, apparently he was a bootlegger which involves getting
and selling illegal items for money.
Both of the novels give us an idea on how unrealistic that the American dream is,
according to both of the novels it is an impossible goal for anyone, this is
definitely seen in Great Gatsby, you can see this with the idea of Gatsby getting
close to Daisy but then eventually losing her and he dies, this can also be seen
with the idea of George Wilson who loses his American Dream as well as he loses
his life also. According to Fight Club the idea of the American Dream is futile,
nobody can get it, in a way Tyler had his own American Dream with trying to kick
start Project Mayhem but eventually that fails with him dying also.
We can also see that throughout both of the novels the American Dream is
already corrupted thanks to the ideas of capitalism because in order for the
characters in both the novels have to change themselves in order to even try
and think about their dream, for example James Gatz had to become Jay Gatsby
to even try to get close to Daisy and the unnamed narrator had to change
himself into Tyler Durden in order to try and help make their dreams become a
reality despite the fact by the end of both of the novels both of their American
Dreams do not come true because the dreams end with the characters once they
die.

Joe Howlett
In a way the American Dream changes from a dream to a nightmare by the time
of the Great Gatsby to Fight Club as everything that everyone has seemed to
work so hard for has eventually become a ruin like how a dream changes from
being a dream and becomes a nightmare because everything that you wanted
eventually changes and becomes something that you no longer want.
Death is also a common theme throughout the two novels and also there is
always a constant fear of death. Obviously in Fight Club there is a higher fear of
death what with the ideas of the support groups and the idea of project
mayhem and even the idea of fight club itself with all of the underground
fighting as death is a common consequence from fighting. However also in Great
Gatsby there is also the fear of death what with the ideas of the characters dying
at the end.
In my opinion I think that Fight Club is definitely an updated version to the Great
Gatsby because of all of its ideas, ranging from the ideas of the characters to the
thoughts of how society was and still is . Fight Club is also an updated version to
The Great Gatsby as it shows us the harsh reality in which we actually live our
lives and tells us the things that nobody wants to hear about society.