discussion questions - fight club by Chuck Palahniuk

1. What is the significance of the narrator’s job?

2. Fight Club members feel as if connecting through a sense of masculinity would allow them to disassociate with the consumerists, why is that?

3. Tyler believes that people cannot live unless they first hit bottom. What does this mean?

4. Which characters in the novel "hit bottom" and how? Does it give them a renewed appreciation for life?

5. The members of Project Mayhem shave their heads and wear identical uniforms. They also have no names or separate identities, closely mirroring military recruits. Have these men found liberation in Tyler's more aggressive philosophy, or have they substituted one form of control for another?

6. What is the narrator really fighting against? What is he fighting for?

7. What does the narrator mean when he tells Raymond K. Hessel “Tomorrow will be the most beautiful day of your life?”

8. If Project Mayhem succeeded, how would a post-Project Mayhem society differ from the pre-Project Mayhem society?

9. Can Project Mayhem be stopped, or has it progressed beyond the point of no return?

10. Why do you think the narrator's name is never mentioned?

11. “Tyler and I just happen to have the same fingerprints, but no one understands.” Why is it so difficult for the narrator to understand that he and Tyler are the same person in everyone’s eyes?

12. What does the fact that Tyler and the narrator didn’t spend time with their fathers while growing up mean?

13. There are only two female characters in the novel. How do they contribute to the novel's themes?

14. What does the deserted and empty Paper Street house symbolize?

15. What did you think of the author’s style of writing?

16. If you've seen the movie, compare the two endings. Why do you think the film changed the ending? Which is more effective?