The main characters in Fight Club provide evidence that hitting bottom is achieved through different forms of violence and corresponding pain, which, depending on the character, include psychological, physical, or a combination of both. I define the bottom as the place where you cannot emotionally or physically be any worse off, the place where you give up. Hitting bottom does not have to be achieved consciously and it is a relative term. In the case of Joe, for example, Tyler is part of his consciousness and Tyler is the one pushing Joe towards bottom. Joe is purposely and consciously trying to hit bottom. This consciousness and drive to hit bottom is distinctive: the other characters in the book, minus the fighters in Fight Club, achieve bottom accidentally. The variety of ways each character reaches or comes close to hitting bottom requires detailed analysis of each character’s relation with violence, pain, and whether or not they have a desire to hit bottom.
The relationship between Tyler, Joe, and hitting bottom, is mentioned multiple times throughout the book. Tyler claims that unless Joe hits bottom he cannot be saved (70). Joe starts with a psychological fall when he is introduced to the pain and suffering in the support groups. After a night where he cries at “Remaining Men Together,” the testicular cancer support group, Joe says, “I felt more alive than I’d ever felt” (22). The group provokes a physical reaction in Joe, he is now able to sleep better and able to cry. The other group members experience the actual pain from the disease and knowledge of their prognosis, for them the pull towards bottom is both psychological and physical. It is not until after this introduction to the suffering of others, that Joe creates Tyler to physically break him away from his commodities and his work. Because of Joe’s unhappiness, he creates a second persona to achieve the physical aspect of pain required to hit bottom. Tyler begins to expose him to pain and take him closer to death and the bottom.
Tyler has almost hit bottom by the nature of his personality and his existence in Joe’s psyche. Being a creation of Joe’s mind, his form of hitting bottom is psychological. Tyler is confident and “cool,” which clashes with Joe who is an adamant consumer and spends the majority of his time working for a large corporation. The doorman at Joe’s old apartment comments on Joe’s consumer fixation, "A lot of young people try to impress the world and buy too many things" (45). Tyler abhors this consumerism. Unable to stand Joe’s life, during the day when he is not in control, he decides to try to get Joe to reach bottom. If Tyler can get Joe to reach bottom, Joe will be able to fully live in the moment. “Tyler says I'm nowhere near hitting the bottom, yet. And if I don't fall all the way, I can't be saved” (70). For Joe being saved can only happen when he gives up. Tyler brings Joe closer to the bottom through physical violence. From the first punches when Tyler asked Joe to hit him, through destruction of his body at the fights, rejecting Marla (even though he likes her), the physical pain from the lye, and then, finally, with a gun pointed at himself, Tyler leads Joe to utter self-destruction. One of the strongest examples of the role violence has in hitting bottom is when Tyler kisses Joe’s hand and pours lye on it. The pain becomes unbearable. "We can use vinegar," Tyler says, "to neutralize the burning, but first you have to give up" (76). Tyler gives Joe a choice. The choice is to give up and live in the moment, nearing bottom and ending the current pain. By living in the moment, Joe will stop focusing on his Job and past. ‘Congratulations,’ Tyler says. ‘You're a step closer to hitting bottom” (78). Through the intense physical pain, and making the choice, Joe has been brought into the moment and towards the point where nothing matters anymore.
Marla provides a clear example that in order to hit bottom a form of violence is necessary. Her fight with cancer is not going well. Marla is forced to let go of hope as the book progresses. Marla is in many ways one of the most human characters in the book and thus it was easier for me to understand her progression towards bottom. Hitting bottom, as previously described, requires giving up and pain or violence. The pain Marla experiences is cancer. It is also the way in which she hits bottom. The cancer causes a physical and psychological form of pain. The lumps in her chest are physical and the pain that comes from knowing of her cancer and her prognosis remains. I do not know if the lumps were painful for her, as it is not covered in the book and I am not knowledgeable about breast cancer. However, I have lost my grandparents to cancer and the pain they felt was severe and violent. Marla knows she will die because of the cancerous lumps and this creates a reality and a choice. The reality is the closeness to death, which certainly brings her towards bottom. Her choice is whether or not she will live in the moment. Marla decides to give up and live in the moment. Through her relationship with Joe and her experience with the support group, which she starts going to the after she finds the first lump, Marla reaches bottom. “Now that she knows where we’re all going, Marla feels every moment of her life” (38). Feeling every moment requires hitting bottom and hitting bottom happens when Marla gives up, after finding the lump.
A great example of showing that Marla has given up and is at bottom is when she hops into the kitchen after a sad discovery by Joe; there are more lumps within her breasts. “The morning after we found her second lump, Marla hopped into the kitchen with both legs in one leg of her pantyhose and said, ‘Look, I'm a mermaid’” (107). This playfulness seems out of place, as Marla’s prognosis has just worsened, the key is that she already hit bottom knowing she has cancer, so this news does not affect her in the same way as it did when she found the first lump. The first time Marla searched for help and support, this time she played with Joe and made the most of the moment.
Big Bob’s cancer is the final straw that leads him to hit bottom. Unlike Marla’s cancer, his has already been removed. He is not hitting bottom from fear of death but rather from rejection, loss of masculinity and from emotionally violent relationships with his past wives. These relationships existed before his surgery between his body and steroids, his marriage deteriorating, and because of his testicular cancer. His “bitch tits,” as Joe calls them, have led to rejection from his friends and his bitter divorce left him without a partner. Bob’s loss of masculinity causes deep pain, because it is not only important for him as a man, but is also required for his profession. He changes from a body builder to “bitch tits,” and hits bottom when he feels he has nothing left in the world for him. In search of his new identity, Big Bob begins fighting. I see this as a way for him to prove his masculinity and to connect with others who are also trying to get away from their daily lives and come closer to bottom.
When the police commissioner cracks down on fight clubs, Tyler decides to have the “Assault Committee” come up with a way to stop the commissioner’s plan. The committee devises a plan to go after his balls. They stop him in a park and begin preparation needed to cut off his balls. He is in physical pain and psychologically attacked as well. The committee warns him that next time he will not be so lucky. The theme of the loss of masculinity and its ability to generate pain appears again. Tyler whispers to the commissioner, "How far do you think you'll get, your honor?" "How far do you think you'll get in politics if the voters know you have no nuts" (165)? This is an example of a combination of physical and psychological violence that led the commissioner to hit bottom and give up hope. He has nothing to look forward to if he loses his career, wife friends and knows he has everything to lose. Just like Marla and Big Bob, the police commissioner is forced to hit bottom.
After analyzing the characters a pattern emerges. Violence and pain, whether physical or mental, are necessary for reaching bottom. All of the characters hit or come near to bottom from exposure to or feelings of violence. According to the Oxford American Dictionaries, violence is a “Behavior involving physical force intended to hurt, damage or kill someone or something, “ or, the “strength of emotion or an unpleasant or destructive natural force.” All the characters experienced pain and violence that was either a natural force, like cancer, or physical force intended to hurt, like the lye or the fight club.
There is also a relationship between the idea of hitting bottom and living in the moment, another central theme in Fight Club. When Joe was asleep on a nude beach he met Tyler who introduced the concept of a minute of perfection. “A moment was the most you could ever expect from perfection,” Tyler explained (30). Tyler urges Jack to live in the moment and forget who he has been told he is by society, by his job and capitalism. His tactics and strategy to this end challenge Joe’s lifestyle, and force him to either accept his dull, monotonous life – or live in the moment. "‘Because everything up to now is a story,’ Tyler says, ‘and everything after now is a story.’ This is the greatest moment of our life” (75). Reaching bottom leads to that perfection. Thus living in the moment in Fight Club is contingent upon hitting bottom.
While reflecting on the characters and the experiences that led them to hit bottom and live in the moment, I realized Fight Club made me think about my own role in society, as if I was brought near bottom. Palahniuk’s writing compelled me to look at my own life. How I am also a consumer and I put a lot of importance on finding a job. I thought more about what would allow me to be happiest in my life and I thought about living in the moment and what that means. I am sure I have not reached bottom and I do not want to reach the bottom that is depicted by Palahniuk. However, the book has made me think. Not only is Fight Club one of the most gruesome, graphically scaring novels I have read, it was also one of the most thought provoking. The violence and suffering led me to a place that is nearer to the bottom than my life normally takes me. The book, to some extent, made me reconsider my role in society and gives other readers a chance to do the same.
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My immediate response to the essay was positive. I think that it offers an idea that is reasonably well proven and strikes true; however my first question was where is Huizinga? I think there may be portions of Huizinga’s theories interlaced with your own commentary/analysis, but the absence of any direct acknowledgement misses an important part of the assignment.
The essay brings up multiple interesting points/interpretations, but I felt that they could have been further explored or perhaps merely worded better. The emasculation concept resonates exceptionally well between the examples of Big Bob and the commissioner. However the inclusion and interpretation of the generation raised by women quotation could have thoroughly strengthened this discussion. Further I think looking at the defeminization (if that’s a word) of Marla with breast cancer could have supplemented this argument. I admit, though, that maybe the weakness of breast cancer versus cervical limits this example.
Next, I thought that the idea of really living in the moment after hitting rock bottom was well presented with the Marla-mermaid scene, but with the narrator there is no real textual evidence of the change that takes place after hitting rock bottom. As fellow students we understand, and the change is alluded to, but it is not clearly presented.
Finally, I think the essay could seriously benefit from making it more concise. (I realize we have to write a certain number of words which can be difficult.) The points are strong and clear but issues with redundancy dilute the essay as a whole.
Overall, I thought it was an incredibly promising draft that could benefit from some skillful editing. I was particularly compelled by the final paragraph in which you close the essay with a personal yet still analytical commentary. Normally, I would fear something like this could teeter on trite, but it comes across as genuine and hits home well.
Good job.
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