Proponents of the chaos theory hold that despite the randomness of any action, there is an organized pattern behind them. Consequently, Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk gives a story of a narrator who is seemingly trapped in an apparent disordered series of domino effects. As he moves from a corporate robot who describes himself as a “space money” to a sort of social activities and spiritual leader, the narrator’s life is characterized by seemingly unrelated chaos. Chaos narrative that characterizes Fight Club transcends temporal and linear elements as the audience experience the narrator’s transition from a white-collar professional to a nihilistic spiritual leader. However, besides commentary on the chaos of the world seen through the narrator’s eyes, the play is characterized by dark humor and the narrator’s extreme paranoia.
The novel contains many instances of dark humor which appear like the author’s attempt to lessen the ostensibly questionable actions that occur in the play. A scene that captures the dark humor used in the play relates to the narrator’s description of Chloe’s death. Chloe suffered from cancer and was in one of the support groups that the narrator frequented. While describing Chloe’s death, the narrator notes “Chloe was the way Joni Mitchell’s skeleton would look like if you made it smile and walk around a party being extra special nice to everyone” (Palahniuk, 2020, p. 53). In this scene, the author’s dark humor is evident as he references cancer and death and makes a joke out of them.
In Fight Club Tyler Durden experiences extreme paranoia as he confronts what he sees as the wrongs of modernity. Tyler’s deep mistrust and disdain of modern society leads him to commit acts of violence against other people’s property in a bid to sabotage it. His bizarre behavior such as disappearing at odd hours and pointing a gun at himself as is evident in the opening scene of chapter one only points to his extreme paranoia. Therefore, Fight Club contains elements of postmodern literature such as extreme paranoia by one of the characters, dark humor, and commentary on the chaos of the world.
Reference
Palahniuk, C. (2020). Fight club. Dark Horse Books.