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A Psychological Analysis of Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club

Zachary Schuessler, Yahoo! Contributor Network May 3, 2007 "Contribute content like this. Start Here."

More: Chuck Palahniuk Psychoanalysis Fight Club Tyler Durden Movie Club

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Sigmund Freud is a notable psychologist that suggested the existence of the id, ego, and superego. The id is essentially the driving force that demands pleasure constantly [2]. The ego is the checks and balances of the id, as it waits for a safe or healthy moment for pleasure to be obtained. Finally, the superego is the moral standard that suppresses the id. Jack has a very interesting system of morals in Freud's terms. Jack is first satisfied with the common, bland life of having a normal job and condo. His superego is clearly doing a great job. However, it may be functioning all to well- as the id apparently creates Tyler Durden in an attempt to overcome its suppressor. While the id is successful in achieving its purpose, the ego is still operational. While it is hard to see, as Tyler and Jack are exact opposites- the ego acts as a mediator between the two in the end of the conflict. As Jack and Tyler become equally aware of each other, the ego can claim responsibility of bringing a sense of peace to the situation. Also, there is the matter of gender identity confusion to take into effect. Although Jack shouldn't be considered feminine, there is a definite difference between Jack and Tyler in regards to masculinity. For instance, Jack collects furniture for a hobby. This is far from masculine, and far from the gender identity of Tyler. It would seem that the gender identity confusion adds to the correct balance of id and superego [3] - and ultimately helps Jack achieve things he otherwise could not. For instance, Jack gets into his first fight, albeit with himself. He defies his boss, in an

act of rebellion against conformity. He also finds an attractive woman to date off and on, depending on the state of his identity. This lack of masculinity could be attributed to Jack's lack of a father figure in early childhood- but either way, it ends up causing catastrophic consequences in his personality. 12345 Published by Zachary Schuessler - View profile

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anon 12/02/2010 Plus it's not schizophrenia he's suffering from, it's dissassociative personality disorder. Anon 12/02/2010 Though I do appreciate what you have tried to do here it is clear that you have not fully researched your subject. You make quite a few unsubstantiated claims and have not adequately expanded your points. This would only be a 3 (2:2 if you are lucky) if graded in a UK university. There are massively central themes which you have neglected to mention, keep trying.

Togah 10/16/2010 I'm with Franny as well. I really don't agree with any of your assertions. Good effort though.

bill 08/27/2010 hes obviously skitzofrenic or else he would imagine these hollucinations he may have DID aswelll but that just has to do with how his id is low and then it slowly become overpowered to create tyler durdan

Random Dude 06/15/2010 I'm with Franny; good effort, fails to deliver. This reads like it was taken from a wikipedia article. You do make a couple of interesting points about the exitential nature of the issues brought up in the film/movie but, as has been pointed out already, the main character is most likely not schizophrenic. Rather he seems to suffer from dissociative identity disorder. Also, you make assumptions about other characters in the movie vis a vis all the characters involved in fight club and project mayhem also having grown up without fathers. Nothing of the sort is ever explicitly stated in the film, and it isn't even really implied. In fact, by the end of the film the people in the fight clubs are shown to be all kinds of men, ranging from mechanics to police officers. Even the priest the mechanic picked a fight with is shown in one group in a fight club. To say that ALL of these men didn't know their fathers is too much of a stretch. It also goes against the concept of the movie, that bein

Franny 01/04/2010

This 'article' reads like a nineteen-year-old's term paper for Intro to Psych. I'm a little upset with myself for reading it to the end. Good effort, kid, but this is trite. Hope you do better work now.

student21324 11/17/2009 if he doesn't have schizophrenia, then why does he see tyler if he doesn't exist student 11/01/2009 Simply assuming that "Jack" has schizophrenia is not quite accurate. His symptoms are overlapping of paranoid schizophrenia and dissociative identity disorder. And I have a problem with the way it was stated that "poverty causes schizophrenia"... Poverty is not a "cause" of schizophrenia, but poverty can be a stressor that allows schizophrenic symptoms to become more apparent.

fightclubfan 10/26/2009 First off his name isn't Jack. He doesn't even know his own name, he doesn't know who he is. He just knows what he does and his job. That's the importance of him not knowing who he is. Their trying to say he's so eaten up by the world that he doesn't know anything about it, including himself. And Tyler Durden is the guy he wants to be. Tyler has the good looks, he's strong, he lives a happy life. Whereas the narrators life is quite opposite. This was an interesting review but I don't think its accurate at all.

tyga 08/12/2009 I know this article is over 2 years old but I'll comment anyway. Rather than being schizophrenic, I strongly suggest that Jack is likely to have Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), more commonly known as Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD)or split personality. There is a common misconception that schizophrenia and DID are the same thing, but they are most definitely not the same disorder. While schizophrenics do indeed often experience hallucinations, they do not develop split personalities, as is the case with DID. And by the way, I thought Fight Club was an excellent movie, existentially exploring many different aspects of personality through dissociation.

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