Breaking away from materialism

Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club is definitely a book of controversies regarding contemporary issues. While some of his ideas make sense, I find others very subjective. He seemed to hold a grudge against his parents particularly his father who, just like the narrator’s father left the family when the author was only six year old. His anger towards the circumstances that led him to be raised by a woman appeared in his writings in Fight Club. I personally think that Fight Club; besides dealing with some twenty first century matters, is the story of Palahniuk himself and his personal problems.

No one denies the fact that a good society breeds good citizens. But when a society starts to show failures within its system, we start to wonder about the causes and the roots of those failures. Fight Club is certainly a novel that deals with some of the issues that became apparent and obvious in this twenty first century. As the main character of Fight Club, the unnamed narrator was suffering from a modern syndrome that was tormenting him, a condition related to today’s lifestyle, where everybody is working hard to fulfill certain desires that the narrator rejects and opposes. Consumer culture, one of the contemporary issues in the book, as Dr. Martin described it – built on a cycle of temporary satisfaction, deflation and renewed desire- was the reasons that turned the unnamed narrator in someone lost, but not hopeless. His desires were very different from those who turn to material things to feel rewarded and content. The narrator was desperately searching for a metaphysical and incorporeal fulfillment that would give him a reason to feel that he exists as someone different from any other materialistic human being. The character of Tyler in the book and the narrator’s unusual attachment to him was a way of easing the pain and the agony that were accumulated in the narrator’s spirit over the years. Starting Fight Club with Tyler was the best thing that the narrator started his new life with, after moving in with Tyler. But Fight Club could never be the answer and the final solution to solve the matter of “consumer culture” that made the narrator search for an alternative to an empty life that he could no longer accept.

The author made his points clear to the readers, but some readers would find his views on consumer culture a bit exaggerated. Palahniuk ignored the fact that every human being has desires that don’t necessarily conform to his personal opinions. Feeling satisfied and fulfilled differs from one individual to another. Wanting material things is definitely not sinful, as long as it does not make the consumer trapped in his or her own world of fantasies. Obviously the narrator felt that his life had no meaning so he chose a different path, a path that would make him break away from what the rest of the people think is essential and vital. In Fight Club, the detailed description of his apartment had a great significance to justify his new life with Tyler. It definitely shows how the narrator started to see life from a different angle, an angle that could fulfill his life, and give him a reason to live.

Auntie's mysterious personality

“Auntie” seems like the most mysterious and the most intriguing character in Ceremony. She is a person with a complex personality. Confused, she never accepted Tayo for who he was, at the same time she never denied him as someone who doesn’t belong to their milieu. Auntie was a main element in the developing and the progress of the book, as her character contributed in the problems that Tayo had to deal with since the day his mother left him with her. The anger that auntie felt towards her little sister started to shift towards Tayo, as Tayo was a constant reminder of the shame and the embarrassment caused by her sister when she slept with a white man and got pregnant with Tayo. When Tayo came back home from the war, it was Auntie who took care of him along with the help of Old grandma. However, Auntie never stopped her usual story about how the betrayal of her little sister was the cause of every misery that the family is enduring. But I believe that Auntie herself was confused. Her being Christian further complicated her personality and her behavior towards Tayo and towards life in general. Being involved in her church and listening to preaching about love and forgiveness did not seem to make her change her attitude towards her nephew. The embarrassment of the behavior of her sister was persistently haunting her. Auntie seemed willing to accommodate and please her church more than accommodating her own nephew who was in need for comfort and care. There is a clear conduct of hypocrisy when she was constantly correcting anyone who thought that Rocky and Tayo were brothers. She always seemed repulsed and disgusted of the idea of associating her son with Tayo. The word “half-breed” accompanied every sentence and any subject that concerned Tayo. Obviously Auntie from time to time, let an indication of love and concern slip from her. The author did not want the readers to paint this evil image of Auntie, but rather wanted to link Auntie’s behavior and conduct to Tayo’s, so the readers can understand that both of them are somehow the victims of their traditions and heritage as Native Americans. Auntie was very careful in disassociating herself from what her sister put her family through, but only in public. In her home, she was trying to do her best in treating Tayo, not as nephew but as a mistake of nature that she felt compelled to care for. Auntie seemed very aware of the awkward situation with Tayo, but deep down, she was trying to convince herself that treating Tayo as one of them is the same as denouncing her roots and her Christian beliefs. She had to bring up her little sister every time there is a problem with Tayo, especially at that time when Old Grandma decided to look for an alternative way to heal Tayo by suggesting medicine man instead of white people medicine. Throughout the book, I never suspected for a minute that Auntie was this heartless and insensitive person. I felt that she was carrying a burden for a long time that she could not take it anymore. She was a very vulnerable woman when it comes to gossip. All the gossip was about how Tayo; a half-breed is the main cause that ruined the reputation of Auntie’s family.