EXISTENTIALISM AS SEEN IN CHUCK PALAHNIUK’S
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EXISTENTIALISM AS SEEN IN CHUCK PALAHNIUK’S
FIGHT CLUB
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
SANDRA RESKITA
Student Number: 024214047
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2010
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EXISTENTIALISM AS SEEN IN CHUCK PALAHNIUK’S
FIGHT CLUB
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
SANDRA RESKITA
Student Number: 024214047
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2010
i
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D ifficult ies exist t o be sur mount ed
-Emer son-
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This under gr aduat e t hesis is dedicat ed t o
My beloved par ent s
My dear est br ot her
My dear est lover
My wonder ful fr iends
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I thank Jesus Christ for the guidance, miracles, and difficulties.
Thank you Jesus for Your guidance and lessons in my life. My highest gratitude goes
to my beloved parents for their greatest love, patience, and support during my years
in university. I thank my mother and father for their struggle and lessons of love they
have given. I apologize for making them wait so long. I thank my brother and his
family for the support. I also thank my lovely Suharthowo for making my life
complete with his love, support, advice, courage, and sacrifices. Thank you for your
computer until the finishing of my thesis.
I would like to thank my advisor, Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M. Hum. for
being patient as I prepared this thesis. I thank him for valuable suggestions, and for
his time guiding me in the order to finish this thesis. I would like to thank my coadvisor, Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S.S, M.Hum for the support and suggestions she
has given. Thank you for your encouragement during the making of my thesis. I
would also like to thank Romo In for his time and for the discussions we have done.
Thank you for my wonderful friends, Rere and Teres for their love and true
friendship. I would like to thank Garry, Galang, Andika, Jati, Imbik, Ian, Budi obel,
Leo, Sigit, and David, for their friendships, the discussions, information, and
suggestions. I would also like to thank everyone who helps me during the making of
this thesis. I am sorry if I forgot to mention their names.
Sandra Reskita
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE………………………………………………………………………… i
APPROVAL PAGE…………………………………………………………………..ii
ACCEPTANCE PAGE……………………………………………………………... iii
MOTTO PAGE……………………………………………………………………....iv
DEDICATION PAGE………………………………………………………………...v
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK
KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS…………………………………………… …………..vi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS………………………………………………………….. vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………………………………...viii
ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………......x
ABSTRAK……………………………………………………………………………..xi
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study………………………………………………….1
B. Problem Formulation……………………………………………………...4
C. Objective of the Study…………………………………………………….4
D. Definition of Term………………………………………………………...5
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies………………………………………………...6
B. Review of Related Theories……………………………………………...10
1. Theory on Character and Characterization………………………………10
2. The Principles of Existentialism…………………………………………15
3. The Relation between Literature and Philosophy………………………..20
C. Theoretical Framework…………………………………………………..22
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study………………………………………………………23
B. Approach of the Study…………………………………………………...24
C. Method of the Study……………………………………………………..25
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS
A. The Characteristics of the Narrator………………………………………27
B. The Character Development of the Narrator…………………………….38
C. Sartrean Existentialism Revealed by the Narrator……………………….48
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION……………………………………………………54
BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………….59
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APPENDIX…………………………………………………………………………60
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ABSTRACT
SANDRA RESKITA. Existentialism as Seen in Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club.
Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma
University, 2010.
Fight Club is a novel written by Chuck Palahniuk. The novel tells about the
narrator of the novel, a nameless character whose personality splits into two different
characters. The narrator has a meaningless life and he struggles to obtain his own
freedom as an individual. With Durden as his second personality and as his friends,
the narrator involves into anarchism movement. However, after he knows on the truth
of his identity and personality, that he is Durden, he is able to be responsible for his
own acts and Durden’s acts at the same time. The writer tries to examine the concept
of freedom and responsibility since they are the major principles in Sartrean
existentialism.
There are two objectives of this thesis. The first is to discuss the character
development by comparing the narrator’s characteristics before he meets Durden and
the changing of his characteristics after he meets Durden. The second objective of the
study is to discuss the principles of the existentialism during his adventures with
Durden.
Library research is used in analyzing the novel. The writer uses the theory on
character and characterization in order to examine development of the narrator.
Sartrean existentialism is also used in order to analyze the concept of ‘being’,
subjectivity, freedom and responsibility.
The narrator hates his life, his possessions, his job, his boss, and his own self.
However, he is a coward who is unable to free himself from his own possessions, his
job, and his boss. Durden helps the narrator to be free by sharing together and gives
his valuable viewpoints on many things. The narrator involves in many new
experiences with Durden, including fighting. From a coward, the narrator evolves and
changes into a brave man as he dares to speak and against Durden and Project
Mayhem. It is because of Big Bob’s death while doing his mission on Project
Mayhem that the narrator becomes fully aware of his own freedom and he accepts
that the responsibility is on his shoulder.
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ABSTRAK
SANDRA RESKITA. Existentialism as Seen in Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club.
Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma,
2010.
Fight Club adalah sebuah novel yang ditulis oleh Chuck Palahniuk. Novel ini
menceritakan tentang pencerita novel tersebut, sebuah karakter tanpa nama yang
kepribadiannya terpisah menjadi dua karakter berbeda. Sang pencerita tidak memiliki
makna hidup dan ia berjuang untuk memperoleh kebebasannya sebagai seorang
individu. Bersama dengan kepribadiannya yang kedua yang sekaligus menjadi
temannya, Durden, sang pencerita terlibat dalam gerakan anarki. Namun, setelah ia
mengetahui identitas dan kepribadiannya yang sebenarnya, bahwa ia adalah Durden,
ia dapat segera bertanggungjawab atas tindakan anarki yang dilakukan baik oleh
dirinya, maupun Durden. Penulis mencoba untuk meneliti tentang konsep kebebasan
dan tanggung jawab dimana kedua hal tersebut adalah prinsip utama dalam
eksistensialisme milik Sartre.
Tesis ini bermaksud untuk mejawab dua permasalahan. Permasalahan pertama
ditujukan untuk mendiskusikan perkembangan karakter sang pencerita sebelum dan
setelah is bertemu dengan Durden. Permasalahan kedua adalah untuk mendiskusikan
prinsip eksistensialism yang muncul dalam petualangan Durden dan sang pencerita.
Penelitian dalam perpustakaan dilakukan untuk menganalisa novel ini. Penulis
menggunakan teori karakter dan karakterisasi untuk meneliti perkembangan karakter
sang pencerita. Eksistensialisme milik Sartre juga digunakan untuk menganalisa
konsep ‘ada’, subjektivitas, kebebasan dan tanggung jawab.
Sang pencerita sangat membenci hidupnya sendiri, barang-barang miliknya,
pekerjaannya, bos di tempat ia bekerja, dan ia bahkan membenci dirinya sendiri.
Akan tetapi, karakteristiknya sebagai seorang pengecut membuat ia tidak mampu
membebaskan dirinya dari hal-hal tersebut di atas. Durden membantu sang pencerita
untuk menjadi seseorang yang bebas dengan bertukar pikiran dan memberikan
pandangannya tentang banyak hal. Sang pencerita memiliki banyak pengalaman yang
baru bersama Durden, termasuk pengalaman berkelahi. Dari seorang pengecut,
karakteristik sang pencerita pun akhirnya berkembang dan berubah menjadi
seseorang yang berani dimana ia akhirnya berani untuk berbicara dan melawan
Durden serta Proyek Rusaknya. Pada akhirnya, adalah kematian Big Bob saat sedang
melakukan misinya untuk Proyek Rusak yang membuat sang pencerita sadar tentang
kebebasan dirinya, ia pun menjadi sepenuhnya sadar bahwa dirinya adalah orang
yang bertanggung jawab atas semuanya.
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Philosophy has an important role for human beings. Philosophy as the
pursuit of wisdom helps human being by its efforts to answer the important and
mysterious questions on things in life. Philosophers maintain their theories and
assumptions to fulfill human’s passion of logical thinking. Existentialism as one
of the philosophical movement which focuses on human’s essence as an
individual often called as philosophy of man. Existentialism was born in the 19th
century and grew wider in the 20th century. By existentialism, philosophers are
challenged to contribute some ideas on human’s existence in the world. Human’s
existence in this world is too complex to be explained and therefore it is also
difficult to define the word ‘existentialism’.
Heidegger, Kierkegaard, Camus, Dostoevsky, Jaspers, de Beauvior,
Fanon, Marcel, Merleau-Ponty and Sartre are some philosophers who contribute
ideas and share their thinking on existentialism who often called as existentialists.
Among the existentialists, Sartre is the most interesting existentialist with his
ideas and theories on existentialism. As a confusing term, the precise definition of
existentialism is impossible, therefore Sartre differentiates existentialism in the
perspective of atheism and theism. Sartre states that all existentialists have one
idea in common, that ‘existence precedes essence’. By ‘existence precedes
essence’, human being is first created, and without any essence. Human is nothing
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and full emptiness until he or she chooses his or her decision, and acts upon it. By
making his or her own decision, human being is free, and therefore he or she has
the responsibility of their acts. According to Sartre, a writer therefore has his or
her own freedom to act in a form of literature. William Barret in Irrational Man
gives Sartre’s view on literature:
“…literature is a mode of action, an act of the writer’s freedom that seeks
to appeal to the freedom of other individuals and eventually to the total
free collective mankind” (Barret, 1962: 250).
Human being tends to seek for meaning of life through salvation and
happiness. The happiness is often defined by the material things that he or she
owns. For the salvation, it is often seen through moral judgments and even
religious values that exist in his or her family. When it comes to the meaning of
life, one may perceives the meaning through the major properties, money, cars, or
the actual happiness which comes from the life itself as a persona or family. One
may also perceive his or her meaning of life through some certain beliefs,
religions, medical point of view, or certain ideologies formed by the society.
Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club is about a human being who exists without
essence and tries to look for his meaning of life and happiness through salvation
from his illness, material things and his boring activities at work. In this novel,
Palahniuk tells about cult, urban life, and white-collar middle-class working
society. The main character is the Narrator, a thirty years old nameless character
who identifies himself by material possessions that he owns. He is an
individualistic character with no family and friends and becomes an isolated man.
The narrator has a fine carrier as a Product Recall Service in an unnamed famous
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car company and he travels a lot during his work. Behind his properties, he
actually suffers from a severe insomnia which forces him to go to a doctor. His
doctor suggests him to go to support groups that exist in town in order to see the
real pain. He pursues his freedom by following the doctor’s suggestion and goes
to all of the support groups. He feels that he already finds his freedom and
happiness with this new activity, pretending that he is ill in each support group.
During his work travels, he meets a man named Tyler Durden who works as a
soap-maker. They both become friends after the Narrator loses his apartment and
all his possessions because of an explosion that happens on his apartment. Durden
seems happy with the accident and starts to give his different point of view, how
human being must see his or her life based on meaning and not on material
possessions. Their friendship gives result to the birth of fight club which finally
ends up with anarchism. As the story goes, the Narrator comes to understand his
existence once he finds his friend, Big Bob is killed because of the anarchism of
Project Mayhem. Once he realizes the truth that Tyler is his other personality, he
tries to stop the anarchism of Durden’s Project Mayhem because it is dangerous
for other people.
The writer finds it interesting to discuss about the character of the
Narrator, his existence, his point of view, his essence, and how he finally finds his
own freedom as the value of existentialism, particularly of Sartrean existentialism.
Subjectivism as a personal value, freedom of choice, and responsibility are some
principles of Sartrean existentialism which are found in the novel. This thesis uses
Fight Club as the primary data because it reveals the principles of existentialism.
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In this case, existence becomes an issue pointed out by the author, Chuck
Palahniuk, because nowadays in the modern era there are many people who
struggle for their freedom and existence. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the
major character’s characteristics and his existence as a human being. By
understanding the Narrator’s characteristics, the writer is able to see the
existentialism values that are found in the novel.
B. Problem Formulation
In order to see the existentialism in Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club, this
thesis focus on the major character and his freedom also the principles of
existentialism, particularly Sartrean existentialism as formed by the problem
formulations below:
1. How do the Narrator’s characteristics develop in Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight
Club?
2. What principles of Sartrean existentialism are revealed by the Narrator?
C. Objectives of the Study
This thesis attempts to discuss about the major character’s development,
the major character’s freedom and other principles of Sartrean existentialism in
Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club. Below are the objectives of the study.
First, the writer tries to find out the nature and the type of the major
character as presented in the personality of the narrator. In this discussion, the
writer will identify the characterization and the development of the Narrator’s
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character from the beginning until the end after he finds his freedom and his
existence.
Second, the writer tries to find out the principles of Sartrean existentialism
which are revealed by the Narrator. The writer will analyze the principles of
Sartrean existentialism such as being, subjectivity, human’s freedom, and
responsibility.
D. Definition of Term
Existentialism
The term itself actually remains undefined, although there are many
attempted definitions. It is undefined because many philosophers focus on certain
perspective differently since human’s existence in this world is too complex to be
explained and may relates with many aspects, such as culture or even the human
identity itself. The major theme of existentialism according to Jean Paul Sartre is
“existence precedes essence” (Sartre, 1987: 13). Sartre’s existentialism which is
known as Sartrean existentialism or Sartrian existentialism proposes human’s
action as a fundamental role of human’s freedom. Human being is free, therefore
the essence is defined by his individual actions because by “existence precedes
essence”, Sartre beliefs that human beings are first exist and it is his actions which
defines himself. Sartre in his book Existentialism and Human Emotions says a
man is nothing else but what he makes of himself (Sartre, 1987: 15).
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CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
Louis Maistros in SFReader (Speculative Fiction Book Reviews and
More) starts his review by emphasizes that Fight Club the movie is actually based
on a novel with the same title, and that there are some differences between both
the movie and Fight Club novel itself. He states that the narration of the narrator
in Fight Club is the only matters because it is a study of narcissism but full of
wisdom at the same time.
“But unlike most counterculture rants there is no sense of self-pity, no
barely concealed tone of self-importance. There are no answers offered
other than simple
self-annihilation; “the first step to eternal life is you
have to die”. “Fight Club” is full of twitchy little pearls of wisdom like
that. And full of recipes for bombs. The heavy-duty satire element in
“Fight Club” is not directed at the narrator’s perceived enemies. It is
directed at the author himself. And at any poor schmuck
who
plops
down
the
thirteen
bucks
for
this
book”
(http://sfreader.com/read_review.asp?book=190&t=Fight-Club-ChuckPalahniuk).
Maistros senses that an individual is nothing and unimportant in the novel,
and therefore he states that self destruction is the answer by showing Tyler
Durden’s line. Therefore he also states that Fight Club novel is full of wisdom
because Durden can be categorized as a nihilist as there are many of Durden’s
lines contain self destruction as its theme.
Destruction is also stated as Fight Club’s theme in John Trimble’s essay
entitled Discovery the Meaning of Life through Fight Club and Siddharta in
which he compares both novels. He considers Palahniuk’s Fight Club as a nihilist
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masterpiece which focuses on human and culture’s destruction. Trimble agrees on
St. Clair Carr’s comment that Fight Club is apparently a story of two young men
who try to overcome their feminized lives as they are raised by women but end up
with violence of Project Mayhem with destruction as its purpose.
On psychological view, Trimble also states his idea by saying that Fight
Club is a story of a man who leaves the society and involves in a journey in which
he learns from it and finds it peaceful. Trapped in his job and loneliness, the
Narrator comes into a schizophrenic double as he has multiple personality
disorder, shown by the second personality named Tyler Durden.
Trimble also states that letting go of something is the only way to gain
freedom, peace, and happiness for a human who lives in a world full of sin and
distraction.
“Though vastly different, Fight Club and Siddhartha both essentially tell
the same story of man’s search for personal meaning”
(http://chuckpalahniuk.net/files/papers/discovering-the-meaningjohntrimble.pdf).
He believes that Fight Club is a novel which shares a story of an unnamed
character who is searching for personal meaning. The personal meaning such as
exploration, acceptance, brotherhood, and peace in Fight Club novel lies
underneath the pain, blood, and sacrifice. In the end of Trimble’s review, he
concludes that pain, sorrow and fighting are considered only as steps in a journey
of one’s life which leads him or her, a free human being, into a better life.
Eka Adi Nugraha in The Feeling of Meaninglessness of the 1990’s Young
Urban Americans in Chuck Palahiniuk’s Fight Club analyzes on both the Narrator
and Durden characteristics and the socio-cultural context of Fight Club. He finds
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that both characters are contrastively presented in the novel. The nameless
Narrator means to represent human beings, in which Nugraha believes that many
people in the Narrator’s world have also similar way of life with the Narrator’s
life (Nugraha, 2007: 83). The character of Tyler Durden is depicted differently
with the Narrator as a hero and an inspirational man who teaches and able to
stimulate the feeling of confidence to other people around him in order to gain
enlightenment. Tyler is a revolutionist man who appears with his ability to change
a feeling of suffering becomes a glorious experience.
“…the feeling of meaninglessness that overcomes the Americans urban
young people during the nineties is reflected in the novel through three
symptoms;
depression, addiction, and aggression that clearly
preoccupies some people
describes in the novel to cope with it”
(Nugraha, 2007: 85).
Related with the socio-cultural context, Nugraha states that the feeling of
meaninglessness that appears though the character of the Narrator comes from the
socio-economical and cultural background during the 1990’s. The economic
change in U.S as in socio-economical context and cultural background give inner
frustration toward the psychology of young people in that era. The inner
frustration in Fight Club is shown through three symptoms; depression, addiction,
and aggression which are experienced by both the Narrator and Tyler Durden. The
Narrator responds his inner frustration by his efforts to escape from his feeling of
meaninglessness, while Tyler Durden responds with his courage to face the inner
frustration and shows people that even in a difficult situation, one can gain his or
her meaningful life.
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Characteristics of the Narrator is also stated in Kristi Hapsari’s The Effects
of The Main Character’s Life Pressures as Seen in Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club.
Hapsari analyzes the characteristics of the Narrator, his life pressures and the
effects of the life pressures itself. She concludes that there are nine characteristics
that shape the Narrator’s personality and give influence toward his life pressures.
Those characteristics which contribute to his life pressures are; the financial
difficulty, daily fatigue, his habit of forcing himself to do something, his stupidity
and weakness, his dreams and desires, easily influenced by his environment, bad
treatments in office and too many assignments at work, and his loneliness
(Hapsari, 2007: 49-50).
On the character’s life pressures, Hapsari states that insomnia and affective
symptoms are clearly the effects of the life pressures. The Narrator suffers from
insomnia and indicates Multiple Personality Disorder as Hapsari gives evidences
on anxiety, hysterical, and affective symptoms through the character’s inability to
concentrates causes by fear and the loss of his memory whenever his personality
changes into Durden.
“Symptoms of mania are shown through the main character’s aggressive
behavior, bad attitudes that endanger the other people and engage in sexual
activity” (Hapsari, 2007: 51).
According to Hapsari, symptoms of mania can be seen through the
character of ‘I’ and Durden by their aggressive fighting and the sex activity with
Mqrla which happens many times. Therefore, the affective symptoms is also one
of the effects of the character’s life pressures in which there are two types of
affective symptoms. Symptoms of mania and symptoms of depression are both
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two types of affective symptoms. Hapsari then continues that self-depreciation,
pessimism, bad appearance, and his wish to commit suicide are the symptoms of
depression.
From the criticisms above, we have not seen the theme which the writer
uses in this study. Therefore, the writer will analyze the effects of the main
character’s freedom and responsibility as part of Existentialism seen in Chuck
Palahniuk’s Fight Club.
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory on Character and Characterization
Abrams in The Glossary of Literary Terms states that character is “the
person in a dramatic or narrative work who are interpreted by the reader as being
endowed with moral and dispositional qualities that are expressed in what they
say –the dialogues- and what they do-the action-.”
He also divides characters into major and minor characters. A major
character is the most important character in the story. A major character always
becomes the center of the story. His or her attitude, behavior, and action will be
the focus of the readers’ attention from the beginning to the end of the story
(1981:20).
Another theory on character comes from Ian Milligan. According to
Milligan, (1983: 155) there are two classifications of fictional characters. There
are major and minor characters.
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a. Major Character
Major character is a character who should exists in order to develop the
story. He appears more often than another character. His experience from
the beginning till the end of the story composes the whole story. The
theme is conveyed by the action of the major character. He also becomes
the main of the story because he endures problems, conflict, happiness,
sorrow, etc. Based on these, the messages from the author inside the story
can be discovered by the readers.
b. Minor Character
Minor character is contradictory with major character. Minor character is a
character that supports the main character to develop the story so that they
appear in certain setting. He plays less important and does not have the
experience like major character.
Holman and Harmon (1986: 83) states in their book, A Handbook of Literature
state that character in literary work can be static or dynamic.
a. Static Characters
The static characters are characters that do not develop or make any
changes in their behavior, appearance, disposition, and their way of
thinking. From the beginning until the end of the story, their characters do
not develop even though they were influenced by any actions or any
problems.
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b. Dynamic Characters
The dynamic characters are the opposite of static characters. The dynamic
characters are developing in their manner, form, and the way of thinking.
They can change in every aspect of the characters but it may also only
change in one aspect.
The writer also agrees with Murphy in his book Understanding Unseen
(1972: 161-173) that characters must be understandable and come live for his
readers. There are nine points stated in this book.
a. Personal description
The author describes a character’s appearance and his attire. It is important
for the author because each character has different characteristic and this
description will help the readers to have a better imagination.
b. Character as seen by another readers
The author tries to describe a character’s personality by letting go the other
characters tell what they see from the characters they run into. The author
hopes that the readers will get some clues to understand a character’s
personality.
c. Speech
A character’s own words will help the readers to achieve some clues about
him. His speech describes his behavior toward other characters and life in
the story.
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d. Past life
The author helps the readers to understand a character’s personality by
learning about the past experience or important moment that influenced
the character’s personality.
e. Conversation of others
The readers will achieve some clues about a character’s personality from
the other characters conversation.
f. Reactions
A character’s personality can be described through his reaction on
different situation or moments. The readers will know a character’s quality
in dealing with the problem or situation that happens in the story.
g. Direct comment
The author gives his opinion or comment about a character personality
explicitly.
h. Thought
The author describes the character’s personality by stating explicitly about
the character’s mind. The author has the ability to tell the readers what are
other characters thinking of.
i. Mannerism
The readers can understand the character’s personality based on his
behavior and his habit either the good or the bad ones. From the
description of his behavior and his habit, the readers can conclude the
character’s personality.
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Perrine (1974: 54) in his book also mentions that character development is
the transformation that differentiates the characteristic of a character from the
beginning of the story until the end of the story. A character developed if he
becomes a different character because he has been influenced by the actions or the
problems in the story. There are three conditions that lead to the changing of the
characters (1974: 71).
a. The changing of the characters must be slowly or step by step. The
characters must begin from the smallest changes first.
b. There is a motivation that comes from the characters because of his
circumstances. Usually a character is aware that he must have strong
reason that lead him into changes
c. A character needs a sufficient time to change. A character can not
change suddenly; it needs a sufficient time in order to accomplish it.
Mary Rohrberger and Samuel H. Woods in Reading and Writing about
Literature said that “characterization is the process by which an author creates
character; the devices by which he makes us believe a character is the particular
type of person he is” (1971: 80). From the statement the writer can conclude that
characterization has a strong relationship with the author, because the author itself
creates characterization. Those theories are needed in order to help the writer
draws the characteristics and characterization of the main character.
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2. The Principles of Existentialism
Jean-Paul Sartre is the only philosopher who claims and declares himself
both as an existentialist and atheist. He is one of the famous philosophers who
contribute ideas in existential movement in the twentieth century. Sartre proposes
many major principles from subjectivity, freedom, desire to be God, and even
existentialist psychoanalysis. From those principles, some principles are used by
the writer in order to analyze the Fight Club novel. The principles are: being,
‘existence precedes essence’, freedom, and responsibility. Those Sartre’s
principles are parallel and related with each other.
a. Being
Sartre gives his thought of being in his Being and Nothingness: An Essay
on Phenomenology Ontology in which he divides being in two modes; being-initself (etre-en-soi) and being-for-itself (etre-pour-soi). According to Sartre, beingin-itself and being-for-itself are absolutely different though both of them are
related with consciousness. Consciousness can only be found in being-for-itself.
Being-for-itself is the consciousness of self, the self of human being. Being-foritself is the being of human being, the conscious being.
Being-in-itself is the opposite of being-for-itself. Being-in-itself has no
consciousness in which Sartre proposes his idea within the concept of things like
chair, pen, books, and many other things that have no consciousness inside.
Therefore, being-in-itself can be also understood as unconscious being because
being-in-itself is what it is. Being-in-itself is attached to itself, and identical only
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to itself. It has no future, past, possibility, purpose, hope, or wish. Being-in-itself
just exists without fundamental and without being created. Being-it-itself is just
what it is, and there is nothing more than that.
Being-for-itself is the consciousness of something, or in relation with
human being, the consciousness of self. Therefore, being-for-itself is active and it
has purpose. It means that the form of consciousness can be found in human being
whenever he or she thinks or feels a certain emotion. When a human being is
thinking, he or she is actually conscious of something and this consciousness
makes him or her realize something. For example, one thinks of ice cream. There
is a distance between the ice cream and the self. Related to being-for-itself, Mary
Warnock gives Sartre’s viewpoint on consciousness:
“Consciousness said to be a gap or space between the conscious being and
the world. I think it is possible to see what Sartre means by this. By
thinking about something, or barely being aware of it, one distinguishes
between this something and one’s self” (1967: 20).
After one realizes or being aware on the distance, he or she is able to
negate (what it is not) by saying “I am not an ice cream”. Being-for-itself has a
capability to negate, to say what is not, which makes it different with being-initself as opposed by Sartre:
“…the being of ‘for itself’ is defined, on the contrary, as being what it is
not and not being what it is. The question here then is of a regional
principle and is such synthetical. Furthermore it is necessary to oppose this
formula – Being-in-Itself is what it is – to that which designates the being
of consciousness” (Sartre, 1976: 515).
By proposes the negation of something as in being-for-itself, Sartre is able
to give the answer on the origin of nothingness. Nothingness comes together with
human being, with being-for-itself. Sartre gives an example; he has an
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17
appointment with Pierre in a café at 4 pm. Sartre comes late and he looks in the
café to find the presence of Pierre, but finds no Pierre. Sartre concludes that
nothingness comes after the activity of negating the world. Nothingness always
haunts being, and it can never be separated with the being. Therefore, it can be
said that being-for-itself presents nothingness.
b. Existence precedes essence
According to Sartre, existence precedes essence is the basic principle
because it can be found in every existentialist’s perspective. He divides
existentialism into two kinds, they are:
i. Christian existentialists (Jaspers and Gabriel Marcel)
ii. Atheistic existentialists (Heidegger, French existentialist, Sartre)
Existence precedes essence is the starting point of existentialism, or in
other word, subjectivity. Sartre gives his explanation on existence precedes
essence, first, man exists, turn up, and only afterwards he can define himself. If
man is indefinable, it is because at first human being is nothing. Human being is
“thrown” into the world, as a living creature who thinks, chooses, makes a
decision, and acts upon the decision. Therefore, essence can only be obtained by
the act of thinking, making plan, choosing and deciding something, and acts upon
the choice and decision that has been made. Before he or she chooses, makes a
decision, and acts upon it, one is full of nothingness and emptiness.
“Man is nothing else than his plans; he exists only to the extent that he
fulfills himself; he is therefore nothing else than the ensemble of his acts,
nothing else than his life.” (Sartre, 1987: 32)
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Because human being is nothing, subjectivity is the primary and basic key to fill
the emptiness and gives essence toward nothingness. Subjectivity has two
meanings:
a. Human being as an individual chooses and makes himself. It means
that it is human being itself that gives essence to his or her existence
by making choices. Subjectivity of the individual is when one makes a
choice based on the personal perspective. Subjective truth occurs
whenever one makes his or her choice based on subjective perspective.
No one can make my own choice. The choice can only be made by me,
myself, as an individual without any interfere from other people, even
a member of the family. There is no one can decides for my own
choice. This subjective truth is what makes my life authentic, because
authenticity defines the self-making decision, committing my own
choice. No matter it is a good or bad decision.
b. It is impossible for a human being to transcend human subjectivity. It
means that when one chooses something, he or she also chooses for all
human beings. When one decides to marry a woman, he is choosing to
involve in a relationship with a woman and to have children from the
marriage. He involves with all humanity through monogamy. There is
also an image of self when he chooses to marry a woman and becomes
a part of monogamy with others around the world.
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c. Freedom
Sartre’s concept of freedom is obviously seen as he states that man is
condemned to be free. Being-in-itself is thrown into the world and being-for-itself
has a power to affirm or negate the world. In order to fill the emptiness or
nothingness and gives essence to one self, human is actually a free being. The
emptiness is filled by choices, and the choices are based on subjective truth in
which he or she decides his or her own choices. Again, Warnock also states
Sartre’s concept of freedom by saying, “If we are conscious beings, in his sense,
then we are also free” (1967: 29).
Consciousness can be only found in a human being, and it occurs as in
being-for-itself. Each human being can not avoid making choices. Once he or she
is conscious, he or she will think and make a choice. Be it good or bad, one can
only choose for his own self, because it is based on the subjective truth of the
individual self.
Sartrean existentialism also emphasizes on the action of human being. In
making choices, one must also act upon it. Therefore, he declares that there is no
reality except in action. It means that human has the freedom to plan, to fulfill one
self, and therefore nothing else matter than one’s actions, nothing else than one’s
life.
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d. Responsibility
Being free does not mean to be able to do what one wants, but to be able to
choose on what he wishes. Sartre explains that man is also responsible for
everything that he chooses or decides or even acts. Existentialism’s first move is
to make every man aware of what he is and to make the full responsibility of his
existence rest on him (Sartre, 1987: 16). Responsibility also related to other
people as well. This happens because the existence of other people in undeniable.
Although the person is free to choose anything, he cannot choose without
considering other people because everything that he does will affect others
(Sartre, 1976: 196). Therefore, it can be said that one individual freedom is
limited by the freedom of others, because there are other people in the world who
also have the same value of freedom. Sartre also explains that man’s responsibility
is not just for himself, but also for other people.
“And when we say that a man is responsible for himself, we do not only
mean that he is responsible for his own individuality, but that he is
responsible for all men.” (Sartre, 1987: 16)
3. The Relation between Literature and Philosophy.
According to Rudolf Unger as pointed by Rene Wellek (1956:119),
literature in not philosophical knowledge translated as poetry. It is more than an
expression of the general attitude toward life. Unger classifies the problems of life
into five parts. The first problem is problem of fate which means the relation
between freedom and necessity, the spirit of human nature. The second is the
religious world, including the interpretation of Christ, the attitude toward sin and
salvation. The third part is the problem of nature, including some questions as the
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feeling for nature, and questions of myth and magic. The fourth problem is the
concept of men and the concept of death and love. The last problem is the
problem on society, family, and country.
Rene Wellek (1956: 112) also states that literature can be used as a
document in the history of philosophy, because history of literature relates and
expresses the history of philosophy. Knight in Literature Considered as
Philosophy states:
“Philosophy and literature have acted upon another in the past, but they
never lost their identity in one another. Writers who were not philosophers
wrote about philosophy, what they wrote was not in itself philosophy in
the strict sense of the word (Knight, 1962: 175).”
The relation between philosophy and literature is can be clearly seen from
the quotation above. A writer or an author often brings the idea and concept of
philosophy in his or her work of literatures although he or she might not a strict
philosophical-based person.
Sartre in his work What is Literature? (Barret, 1962: 250) develops a
fundamental view on literature. He states that “literature is a mode of action, an
act of the writer’s freedom that seeks to appeal to the freedom of other individuals
and eventually to the total free collective of mankind”. It means that a literature is
a tool to express the writer’s experiences or ideas that invites others to share
together in thought.
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C. Theoretical Framework
In order to understand and solve the problem of study, review of related
studies and theories are needed. It gives some basic understanding about the
problems and gives a lot of point of views in order to analyze the novel.
Character is an important element in a novel and it makes dynamic
movements in the story. Thus, it is significant to apply the theories on character to
examine the novel and understand the characteristics of the character. The theory
of existentialism is also informed and applied as an important element to study the
novel. It gives some basic understanding about existential movement that has been
applied in the novel. The principles of existentialism in the novel are shared
through the representations of human’s freedom, acts, and responsibility.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club was published on 17 August 1996 in New
York, United States. It was published by the W.W. Norton Company. In 1999,
director David Fincher adapted the 208 pages of Fight Club novel into a movie
with the same title which had been not only criticized by people, but also received
positive responses from the readers, media, and the fans of Palahniuk’s literary
works. 208 pages which divided into 30 chapters by Palahniuk has brought him to
some prestigious achievements since Fight Club novel had won the Pacific
Northwest Booksellers Association Award in 1997, and the Oregon Book Award
for Best Novel in 1997.
Fight Club began when the nameless major character, the Narrator, was
having sleeping disorder, called insomnia. He went to his doctor after suffering
from his insomnia, and went to many support groups as the doctor suggested in
order seeing the real pain. In the support groups, he met a girl named Marla who
was also a faker, just like himself, as they both pretended as sick people who
needed more attention. One day, the Narrator met a man named Tyler Durden
during his travel works to several countries and they become friends. Tyler gave
him his various viewpoints on meaning of life, material possessions,
consumerism, God, and equality in society. Durden finally ended up in his Project
Mayhem, his project of anarchism after fight club was built. The Narrator found
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24
out about Durden’s plan and he was disagreeing on his Project Mayhem. He
finally found his truth of his own freedom and existence as soon as he realized
that the project has killed his friend, Big Bob, and that it was danger for many
other people. He faced Durden and tried to stop the Project Mayhem where he
also realized at the same time that he and Durden are the same person. Bravely, he
took the responsibility of Durden’s Project Mayhem and ended up in an asylum.
B. Approach of the Study
Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club tells a story about philosophy and the
journey of the character to understand his existence. In analyzing the story, the
writer uses moral philosophical approach and takes existentialism as the focus.
Moral philosophical approach is an approach that is used to analyze the moral
teaching or the philosophical issues as the moral messages that are delivered
within a literary work (Guerin, 1999: 29). Literature and philosophy have similar
problems through the society as presented by Knight in his book Literature
Considered as Philosophy. He writes that it has some things in common. It
criticizes the issue that occur in society to find the truth and the good (1962: 14).
For the writer, this approach means finding the basic interpretation about the truth,
the good and the reality through the text.
The Narrator as the main character in the novel understands his existence
as soon as he knows the truth about his own personality. Because of that, the
writer uses philosophical approach to reveal the idea of existentialism and explain
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25
the aspects of it. This theory used to analyze the Narrator’s freedom and existence
as a free human being.
C. Method of the Study
Library and internet research were used to analyze the story. From the
library and internet the writer could find some references and reviews about the
story. The novel of Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club became the primary source of
this study. The secondary sources were taken from the books and references
related to the story and theories, and also from internet. The books and review of
character and characterization, existentialism, and philosophy were needed and
could be found in the library and internet.
There were four steps that the writer did in doing the research. The first
step was read and reread the story until the writer understands and got the
impression from the story. Next, the writer formed some problems to be analyzed
in the analyzing step as the third step of research.
The second step was searching and gathering some books and papers about
existentialism which could explain its theory and its principles. The books such as
Being and Nothingness by Sartre, Human and Emotions by Jean-Paul Sartre,
Existentialism is Humanism by Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialist Ethics by Mary
Warnock, and Irrational Man written by William Barret were used in this study.
Some internet research could also help the writer to find some important data such
as some reviews about the book and the study.
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The third step was analyzing the study based on the problem formulations
that have been made before. Here, the writer was examining about the values of
existentialism such as freedom and responsibility as the main problem beside the
study of character and characterization, and also character development. The
discussions were about how the main character, the Narrator, finds his own
existence through his many experiences with Tyler Durden.
The fourth step was rereading again the analysis and giving conclusion. In
the conclusion, the writer gave the idea about what he had concluded from the
analysis. As the last part of discussion, the conclusion part explained the
connection between consciousness, subjectivity, freedom of choice, action, and
the existence of human being found in Fight Club novel.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
It is the crucial part of the thesis in which the writer gives the answers on
the problem formulations as stated in the first chapter. This part is divided into
three sections; the first part discu
EXISTENTIALISM AS SEEN IN CHUCK PALAHNIUK’S
FIGHT CLUB
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
SANDRA RESKITA
Student Number: 024214047
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2010
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
EXISTENTIALISM AS SEEN IN CHUCK PALAHNIUK’S
FIGHT CLUB
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
SANDRA RESKITA
Student Number: 024214047
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2010
i
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
D ifficult ies exist t o be sur mount ed
-Emer son-
iv
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
This under gr aduat e t hesis is dedicat ed t o
My beloved par ent s
My dear est br ot her
My dear est lover
My wonder ful fr iends
v
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I thank Jesus Christ for the guidance, miracles, and difficulties.
Thank you Jesus for Your guidance and lessons in my life. My highest gratitude goes
to my beloved parents for their greatest love, patience, and support during my years
in university. I thank my mother and father for their struggle and lessons of love they
have given. I apologize for making them wait so long. I thank my brother and his
family for the support. I also thank my lovely Suharthowo for making my life
complete with his love, support, advice, courage, and sacrifices. Thank you for your
computer until the finishing of my thesis.
I would like to thank my advisor, Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M. Hum. for
being patient as I prepared this thesis. I thank him for valuable suggestions, and for
his time guiding me in the order to finish this thesis. I would like to thank my coadvisor, Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S.S, M.Hum for the support and suggestions she
has given. Thank you for your encouragement during the making of my thesis. I
would also like to thank Romo In for his time and for the discussions we have done.
Thank you for my wonderful friends, Rere and Teres for their love and true
friendship. I would like to thank Garry, Galang, Andika, Jati, Imbik, Ian, Budi obel,
Leo, Sigit, and David, for their friendships, the discussions, information, and
suggestions. I would also like to thank everyone who helps me during the making of
this thesis. I am sorry if I forgot to mention their names.
Sandra Reskita
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE………………………………………………………………………… i
APPROVAL PAGE…………………………………………………………………..ii
ACCEPTANCE PAGE……………………………………………………………... iii
MOTTO PAGE……………………………………………………………………....iv
DEDICATION PAGE………………………………………………………………...v
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK
KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS…………………………………………… …………..vi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS………………………………………………………….. vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………………………………...viii
ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………......x
ABSTRAK……………………………………………………………………………..xi
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study………………………………………………….1
B. Problem Formulation……………………………………………………...4
C. Objective of the Study…………………………………………………….4
D. Definition of Term………………………………………………………...5
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies………………………………………………...6
B. Review of Related Theories……………………………………………...10
1. Theory on Character and Characterization………………………………10
2. The Principles of Existentialism…………………………………………15
3. The Relation between Literature and Philosophy………………………..20
C. Theoretical Framework…………………………………………………..22
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study………………………………………………………23
B. Approach of the Study…………………………………………………...24
C. Method of the Study……………………………………………………..25
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS
A. The Characteristics of the Narrator………………………………………27
B. The Character Development of the Narrator…………………………….38
C. Sartrean Existentialism Revealed by the Narrator……………………….48
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION……………………………………………………54
BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………….59
viii
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APPENDIX…………………………………………………………………………60
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ABSTRACT
SANDRA RESKITA. Existentialism as Seen in Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club.
Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma
University, 2010.
Fight Club is a novel written by Chuck Palahniuk. The novel tells about the
narrator of the novel, a nameless character whose personality splits into two different
characters. The narrator has a meaningless life and he struggles to obtain his own
freedom as an individual. With Durden as his second personality and as his friends,
the narrator involves into anarchism movement. However, after he knows on the truth
of his identity and personality, that he is Durden, he is able to be responsible for his
own acts and Durden’s acts at the same time. The writer tries to examine the concept
of freedom and responsibility since they are the major principles in Sartrean
existentialism.
There are two objectives of this thesis. The first is to discuss the character
development by comparing the narrator’s characteristics before he meets Durden and
the changing of his characteristics after he meets Durden. The second objective of the
study is to discuss the principles of the existentialism during his adventures with
Durden.
Library research is used in analyzing the novel. The writer uses the theory on
character and characterization in order to examine development of the narrator.
Sartrean existentialism is also used in order to analyze the concept of ‘being’,
subjectivity, freedom and responsibility.
The narrator hates his life, his possessions, his job, his boss, and his own self.
However, he is a coward who is unable to free himself from his own possessions, his
job, and his boss. Durden helps the narrator to be free by sharing together and gives
his valuable viewpoints on many things. The narrator involves in many new
experiences with Durden, including fighting. From a coward, the narrator evolves and
changes into a brave man as he dares to speak and against Durden and Project
Mayhem. It is because of Big Bob’s death while doing his mission on Project
Mayhem that the narrator becomes fully aware of his own freedom and he accepts
that the responsibility is on his shoulder.
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ABSTRAK
SANDRA RESKITA. Existentialism as Seen in Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club.
Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma,
2010.
Fight Club adalah sebuah novel yang ditulis oleh Chuck Palahniuk. Novel ini
menceritakan tentang pencerita novel tersebut, sebuah karakter tanpa nama yang
kepribadiannya terpisah menjadi dua karakter berbeda. Sang pencerita tidak memiliki
makna hidup dan ia berjuang untuk memperoleh kebebasannya sebagai seorang
individu. Bersama dengan kepribadiannya yang kedua yang sekaligus menjadi
temannya, Durden, sang pencerita terlibat dalam gerakan anarki. Namun, setelah ia
mengetahui identitas dan kepribadiannya yang sebenarnya, bahwa ia adalah Durden,
ia dapat segera bertanggungjawab atas tindakan anarki yang dilakukan baik oleh
dirinya, maupun Durden. Penulis mencoba untuk meneliti tentang konsep kebebasan
dan tanggung jawab dimana kedua hal tersebut adalah prinsip utama dalam
eksistensialisme milik Sartre.
Tesis ini bermaksud untuk mejawab dua permasalahan. Permasalahan pertama
ditujukan untuk mendiskusikan perkembangan karakter sang pencerita sebelum dan
setelah is bertemu dengan Durden. Permasalahan kedua adalah untuk mendiskusikan
prinsip eksistensialism yang muncul dalam petualangan Durden dan sang pencerita.
Penelitian dalam perpustakaan dilakukan untuk menganalisa novel ini. Penulis
menggunakan teori karakter dan karakterisasi untuk meneliti perkembangan karakter
sang pencerita. Eksistensialisme milik Sartre juga digunakan untuk menganalisa
konsep ‘ada’, subjektivitas, kebebasan dan tanggung jawab.
Sang pencerita sangat membenci hidupnya sendiri, barang-barang miliknya,
pekerjaannya, bos di tempat ia bekerja, dan ia bahkan membenci dirinya sendiri.
Akan tetapi, karakteristiknya sebagai seorang pengecut membuat ia tidak mampu
membebaskan dirinya dari hal-hal tersebut di atas. Durden membantu sang pencerita
untuk menjadi seseorang yang bebas dengan bertukar pikiran dan memberikan
pandangannya tentang banyak hal. Sang pencerita memiliki banyak pengalaman yang
baru bersama Durden, termasuk pengalaman berkelahi. Dari seorang pengecut,
karakteristik sang pencerita pun akhirnya berkembang dan berubah menjadi
seseorang yang berani dimana ia akhirnya berani untuk berbicara dan melawan
Durden serta Proyek Rusaknya. Pada akhirnya, adalah kematian Big Bob saat sedang
melakukan misinya untuk Proyek Rusak yang membuat sang pencerita sadar tentang
kebebasan dirinya, ia pun menjadi sepenuhnya sadar bahwa dirinya adalah orang
yang bertanggung jawab atas semuanya.
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Philosophy has an important role for human beings. Philosophy as the
pursuit of wisdom helps human being by its efforts to answer the important and
mysterious questions on things in life. Philosophers maintain their theories and
assumptions to fulfill human’s passion of logical thinking. Existentialism as one
of the philosophical movement which focuses on human’s essence as an
individual often called as philosophy of man. Existentialism was born in the 19th
century and grew wider in the 20th century. By existentialism, philosophers are
challenged to contribute some ideas on human’s existence in the world. Human’s
existence in this world is too complex to be explained and therefore it is also
difficult to define the word ‘existentialism’.
Heidegger, Kierkegaard, Camus, Dostoevsky, Jaspers, de Beauvior,
Fanon, Marcel, Merleau-Ponty and Sartre are some philosophers who contribute
ideas and share their thinking on existentialism who often called as existentialists.
Among the existentialists, Sartre is the most interesting existentialist with his
ideas and theories on existentialism. As a confusing term, the precise definition of
existentialism is impossible, therefore Sartre differentiates existentialism in the
perspective of atheism and theism. Sartre states that all existentialists have one
idea in common, that ‘existence precedes essence’. By ‘existence precedes
essence’, human being is first created, and without any essence. Human is nothing
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and full emptiness until he or she chooses his or her decision, and acts upon it. By
making his or her own decision, human being is free, and therefore he or she has
the responsibility of their acts. According to Sartre, a writer therefore has his or
her own freedom to act in a form of literature. William Barret in Irrational Man
gives Sartre’s view on literature:
“…literature is a mode of action, an act of the writer’s freedom that seeks
to appeal to the freedom of other individuals and eventually to the total
free collective mankind” (Barret, 1962: 250).
Human being tends to seek for meaning of life through salvation and
happiness. The happiness is often defined by the material things that he or she
owns. For the salvation, it is often seen through moral judgments and even
religious values that exist in his or her family. When it comes to the meaning of
life, one may perceives the meaning through the major properties, money, cars, or
the actual happiness which comes from the life itself as a persona or family. One
may also perceive his or her meaning of life through some certain beliefs,
religions, medical point of view, or certain ideologies formed by the society.
Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club is about a human being who exists without
essence and tries to look for his meaning of life and happiness through salvation
from his illness, material things and his boring activities at work. In this novel,
Palahniuk tells about cult, urban life, and white-collar middle-class working
society. The main character is the Narrator, a thirty years old nameless character
who identifies himself by material possessions that he owns. He is an
individualistic character with no family and friends and becomes an isolated man.
The narrator has a fine carrier as a Product Recall Service in an unnamed famous
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car company and he travels a lot during his work. Behind his properties, he
actually suffers from a severe insomnia which forces him to go to a doctor. His
doctor suggests him to go to support groups that exist in town in order to see the
real pain. He pursues his freedom by following the doctor’s suggestion and goes
to all of the support groups. He feels that he already finds his freedom and
happiness with this new activity, pretending that he is ill in each support group.
During his work travels, he meets a man named Tyler Durden who works as a
soap-maker. They both become friends after the Narrator loses his apartment and
all his possessions because of an explosion that happens on his apartment. Durden
seems happy with the accident and starts to give his different point of view, how
human being must see his or her life based on meaning and not on material
possessions. Their friendship gives result to the birth of fight club which finally
ends up with anarchism. As the story goes, the Narrator comes to understand his
existence once he finds his friend, Big Bob is killed because of the anarchism of
Project Mayhem. Once he realizes the truth that Tyler is his other personality, he
tries to stop the anarchism of Durden’s Project Mayhem because it is dangerous
for other people.
The writer finds it interesting to discuss about the character of the
Narrator, his existence, his point of view, his essence, and how he finally finds his
own freedom as the value of existentialism, particularly of Sartrean existentialism.
Subjectivism as a personal value, freedom of choice, and responsibility are some
principles of Sartrean existentialism which are found in the novel. This thesis uses
Fight Club as the primary data because it reveals the principles of existentialism.
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In this case, existence becomes an issue pointed out by the author, Chuck
Palahniuk, because nowadays in the modern era there are many people who
struggle for their freedom and existence. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the
major character’s characteristics and his existence as a human being. By
understanding the Narrator’s characteristics, the writer is able to see the
existentialism values that are found in the novel.
B. Problem Formulation
In order to see the existentialism in Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club, this
thesis focus on the major character and his freedom also the principles of
existentialism, particularly Sartrean existentialism as formed by the problem
formulations below:
1. How do the Narrator’s characteristics develop in Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight
Club?
2. What principles of Sartrean existentialism are revealed by the Narrator?
C. Objectives of the Study
This thesis attempts to discuss about the major character’s development,
the major character’s freedom and other principles of Sartrean existentialism in
Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club. Below are the objectives of the study.
First, the writer tries to find out the nature and the type of the major
character as presented in the personality of the narrator. In this discussion, the
writer will identify the characterization and the development of the Narrator’s
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character from the beginning until the end after he finds his freedom and his
existence.
Second, the writer tries to find out the principles of Sartrean existentialism
which are revealed by the Narrator. The writer will analyze the principles of
Sartrean existentialism such as being, subjectivity, human’s freedom, and
responsibility.
D. Definition of Term
Existentialism
The term itself actually remains undefined, although there are many
attempted definitions. It is undefined because many philosophers focus on certain
perspective differently since human’s existence in this world is too complex to be
explained and may relates with many aspects, such as culture or even the human
identity itself. The major theme of existentialism according to Jean Paul Sartre is
“existence precedes essence” (Sartre, 1987: 13). Sartre’s existentialism which is
known as Sartrean existentialism or Sartrian existentialism proposes human’s
action as a fundamental role of human’s freedom. Human being is free, therefore
the essence is defined by his individual actions because by “existence precedes
essence”, Sartre beliefs that human beings are first exist and it is his actions which
defines himself. Sartre in his book Existentialism and Human Emotions says a
man is nothing else but what he makes of himself (Sartre, 1987: 15).
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CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
Louis Maistros in SFReader (Speculative Fiction Book Reviews and
More) starts his review by emphasizes that Fight Club the movie is actually based
on a novel with the same title, and that there are some differences between both
the movie and Fight Club novel itself. He states that the narration of the narrator
in Fight Club is the only matters because it is a study of narcissism but full of
wisdom at the same time.
“But unlike most counterculture rants there is no sense of self-pity, no
barely concealed tone of self-importance. There are no answers offered
other than simple
self-annihilation; “the first step to eternal life is you
have to die”. “Fight Club” is full of twitchy little pearls of wisdom like
that. And full of recipes for bombs. The heavy-duty satire element in
“Fight Club” is not directed at the narrator’s perceived enemies. It is
directed at the author himself. And at any poor schmuck
who
plops
down
the
thirteen
bucks
for
this
book”
(http://sfreader.com/read_review.asp?book=190&t=Fight-Club-ChuckPalahniuk).
Maistros senses that an individual is nothing and unimportant in the novel,
and therefore he states that self destruction is the answer by showing Tyler
Durden’s line. Therefore he also states that Fight Club novel is full of wisdom
because Durden can be categorized as a nihilist as there are many of Durden’s
lines contain self destruction as its theme.
Destruction is also stated as Fight Club’s theme in John Trimble’s essay
entitled Discovery the Meaning of Life through Fight Club and Siddharta in
which he compares both novels. He considers Palahniuk’s Fight Club as a nihilist
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masterpiece which focuses on human and culture’s destruction. Trimble agrees on
St. Clair Carr’s comment that Fight Club is apparently a story of two young men
who try to overcome their feminized lives as they are raised by women but end up
with violence of Project Mayhem with destruction as its purpose.
On psychological view, Trimble also states his idea by saying that Fight
Club is a story of a man who leaves the society and involves in a journey in which
he learns from it and finds it peaceful. Trapped in his job and loneliness, the
Narrator comes into a schizophrenic double as he has multiple personality
disorder, shown by the second personality named Tyler Durden.
Trimble also states that letting go of something is the only way to gain
freedom, peace, and happiness for a human who lives in a world full of sin and
distraction.
“Though vastly different, Fight Club and Siddhartha both essentially tell
the same story of man’s search for personal meaning”
(http://chuckpalahniuk.net/files/papers/discovering-the-meaningjohntrimble.pdf).
He believes that Fight Club is a novel which shares a story of an unnamed
character who is searching for personal meaning. The personal meaning such as
exploration, acceptance, brotherhood, and peace in Fight Club novel lies
underneath the pain, blood, and sacrifice. In the end of Trimble’s review, he
concludes that pain, sorrow and fighting are considered only as steps in a journey
of one’s life which leads him or her, a free human being, into a better life.
Eka Adi Nugraha in The Feeling of Meaninglessness of the 1990’s Young
Urban Americans in Chuck Palahiniuk’s Fight Club analyzes on both the Narrator
and Durden characteristics and the socio-cultural context of Fight Club. He finds
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that both characters are contrastively presented in the novel. The nameless
Narrator means to represent human beings, in which Nugraha believes that many
people in the Narrator’s world have also similar way of life with the Narrator’s
life (Nugraha, 2007: 83). The character of Tyler Durden is depicted differently
with the Narrator as a hero and an inspirational man who teaches and able to
stimulate the feeling of confidence to other people around him in order to gain
enlightenment. Tyler is a revolutionist man who appears with his ability to change
a feeling of suffering becomes a glorious experience.
“…the feeling of meaninglessness that overcomes the Americans urban
young people during the nineties is reflected in the novel through three
symptoms;
depression, addiction, and aggression that clearly
preoccupies some people
describes in the novel to cope with it”
(Nugraha, 2007: 85).
Related with the socio-cultural context, Nugraha states that the feeling of
meaninglessness that appears though the character of the Narrator comes from the
socio-economical and cultural background during the 1990’s. The economic
change in U.S as in socio-economical context and cultural background give inner
frustration toward the psychology of young people in that era. The inner
frustration in Fight Club is shown through three symptoms; depression, addiction,
and aggression which are experienced by both the Narrator and Tyler Durden. The
Narrator responds his inner frustration by his efforts to escape from his feeling of
meaninglessness, while Tyler Durden responds with his courage to face the inner
frustration and shows people that even in a difficult situation, one can gain his or
her meaningful life.
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Characteristics of the Narrator is also stated in Kristi Hapsari’s The Effects
of The Main Character’s Life Pressures as Seen in Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club.
Hapsari analyzes the characteristics of the Narrator, his life pressures and the
effects of the life pressures itself. She concludes that there are nine characteristics
that shape the Narrator’s personality and give influence toward his life pressures.
Those characteristics which contribute to his life pressures are; the financial
difficulty, daily fatigue, his habit of forcing himself to do something, his stupidity
and weakness, his dreams and desires, easily influenced by his environment, bad
treatments in office and too many assignments at work, and his loneliness
(Hapsari, 2007: 49-50).
On the character’s life pressures, Hapsari states that insomnia and affective
symptoms are clearly the effects of the life pressures. The Narrator suffers from
insomnia and indicates Multiple Personality Disorder as Hapsari gives evidences
on anxiety, hysterical, and affective symptoms through the character’s inability to
concentrates causes by fear and the loss of his memory whenever his personality
changes into Durden.
“Symptoms of mania are shown through the main character’s aggressive
behavior, bad attitudes that endanger the other people and engage in sexual
activity” (Hapsari, 2007: 51).
According to Hapsari, symptoms of mania can be seen through the
character of ‘I’ and Durden by their aggressive fighting and the sex activity with
Mqrla which happens many times. Therefore, the affective symptoms is also one
of the effects of the character’s life pressures in which there are two types of
affective symptoms. Symptoms of mania and symptoms of depression are both
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two types of affective symptoms. Hapsari then continues that self-depreciation,
pessimism, bad appearance, and his wish to commit suicide are the symptoms of
depression.
From the criticisms above, we have not seen the theme which the writer
uses in this study. Therefore, the writer will analyze the effects of the main
character’s freedom and responsibility as part of Existentialism seen in Chuck
Palahniuk’s Fight Club.
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory on Character and Characterization
Abrams in The Glossary of Literary Terms states that character is “the
person in a dramatic or narrative work who are interpreted by the reader as being
endowed with moral and dispositional qualities that are expressed in what they
say –the dialogues- and what they do-the action-.”
He also divides characters into major and minor characters. A major
character is the most important character in the story. A major character always
becomes the center of the story. His or her attitude, behavior, and action will be
the focus of the readers’ attention from the beginning to the end of the story
(1981:20).
Another theory on character comes from Ian Milligan. According to
Milligan, (1983: 155) there are two classifications of fictional characters. There
are major and minor characters.
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a. Major Character
Major character is a character who should exists in order to develop the
story. He appears more often than another character. His experience from
the beginning till the end of the story composes the whole story. The
theme is conveyed by the action of the major character. He also becomes
the main of the story because he endures problems, conflict, happiness,
sorrow, etc. Based on these, the messages from the author inside the story
can be discovered by the readers.
b. Minor Character
Minor character is contradictory with major character. Minor character is a
character that supports the main character to develop the story so that they
appear in certain setting. He plays less important and does not have the
experience like major character.
Holman and Harmon (1986: 83) states in their book, A Handbook of Literature
state that character in literary work can be static or dynamic.
a. Static Characters
The static characters are characters that do not develop or make any
changes in their behavior, appearance, disposition, and their way of
thinking. From the beginning until the end of the story, their characters do
not develop even though they were influenced by any actions or any
problems.
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b. Dynamic Characters
The dynamic characters are the opposite of static characters. The dynamic
characters are developing in their manner, form, and the way of thinking.
They can change in every aspect of the characters but it may also only
change in one aspect.
The writer also agrees with Murphy in his book Understanding Unseen
(1972: 161-173) that characters must be understandable and come live for his
readers. There are nine points stated in this book.
a. Personal description
The author describes a character’s appearance and his attire. It is important
for the author because each character has different characteristic and this
description will help the readers to have a better imagination.
b. Character as seen by another readers
The author tries to describe a character’s personality by letting go the other
characters tell what they see from the characters they run into. The author
hopes that the readers will get some clues to understand a character’s
personality.
c. Speech
A character’s own words will help the readers to achieve some clues about
him. His speech describes his behavior toward other characters and life in
the story.
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d. Past life
The author helps the readers to understand a character’s personality by
learning about the past experience or important moment that influenced
the character’s personality.
e. Conversation of others
The readers will achieve some clues about a character’s personality from
the other characters conversation.
f. Reactions
A character’s personality can be described through his reaction on
different situation or moments. The readers will know a character’s quality
in dealing with the problem or situation that happens in the story.
g. Direct comment
The author gives his opinion or comment about a character personality
explicitly.
h. Thought
The author describes the character’s personality by stating explicitly about
the character’s mind. The author has the ability to tell the readers what are
other characters thinking of.
i. Mannerism
The readers can understand the character’s personality based on his
behavior and his habit either the good or the bad ones. From the
description of his behavior and his habit, the readers can conclude the
character’s personality.
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Perrine (1974: 54) in his book also mentions that character development is
the transformation that differentiates the characteristic of a character from the
beginning of the story until the end of the story. A character developed if he
becomes a different character because he has been influenced by the actions or the
problems in the story. There are three conditions that lead to the changing of the
characters (1974: 71).
a. The changing of the characters must be slowly or step by step. The
characters must begin from the smallest changes first.
b. There is a motivation that comes from the characters because of his
circumstances. Usually a character is aware that he must have strong
reason that lead him into changes
c. A character needs a sufficient time to change. A character can not
change suddenly; it needs a sufficient time in order to accomplish it.
Mary Rohrberger and Samuel H. Woods in Reading and Writing about
Literature said that “characterization is the process by which an author creates
character; the devices by which he makes us believe a character is the particular
type of person he is” (1971: 80). From the statement the writer can conclude that
characterization has a strong relationship with the author, because the author itself
creates characterization. Those theories are needed in order to help the writer
draws the characteristics and characterization of the main character.
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2. The Principles of Existentialism
Jean-Paul Sartre is the only philosopher who claims and declares himself
both as an existentialist and atheist. He is one of the famous philosophers who
contribute ideas in existential movement in the twentieth century. Sartre proposes
many major principles from subjectivity, freedom, desire to be God, and even
existentialist psychoanalysis. From those principles, some principles are used by
the writer in order to analyze the Fight Club novel. The principles are: being,
‘existence precedes essence’, freedom, and responsibility. Those Sartre’s
principles are parallel and related with each other.
a. Being
Sartre gives his thought of being in his Being and Nothingness: An Essay
on Phenomenology Ontology in which he divides being in two modes; being-initself (etre-en-soi) and being-for-itself (etre-pour-soi). According to Sartre, beingin-itself and being-for-itself are absolutely different though both of them are
related with consciousness. Consciousness can only be found in being-for-itself.
Being-for-itself is the consciousness of self, the self of human being. Being-foritself is the being of human being, the conscious being.
Being-in-itself is the opposite of being-for-itself. Being-in-itself has no
consciousness in which Sartre proposes his idea within the concept of things like
chair, pen, books, and many other things that have no consciousness inside.
Therefore, being-in-itself can be also understood as unconscious being because
being-in-itself is what it is. Being-in-itself is attached to itself, and identical only
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to itself. It has no future, past, possibility, purpose, hope, or wish. Being-in-itself
just exists without fundamental and without being created. Being-it-itself is just
what it is, and there is nothing more than that.
Being-for-itself is the consciousness of something, or in relation with
human being, the consciousness of self. Therefore, being-for-itself is active and it
has purpose. It means that the form of consciousness can be found in human being
whenever he or she thinks or feels a certain emotion. When a human being is
thinking, he or she is actually conscious of something and this consciousness
makes him or her realize something. For example, one thinks of ice cream. There
is a distance between the ice cream and the self. Related to being-for-itself, Mary
Warnock gives Sartre’s viewpoint on consciousness:
“Consciousness said to be a gap or space between the conscious being and
the world. I think it is possible to see what Sartre means by this. By
thinking about something, or barely being aware of it, one distinguishes
between this something and one’s self” (1967: 20).
After one realizes or being aware on the distance, he or she is able to
negate (what it is not) by saying “I am not an ice cream”. Being-for-itself has a
capability to negate, to say what is not, which makes it different with being-initself as opposed by Sartre:
“…the being of ‘for itself’ is defined, on the contrary, as being what it is
not and not being what it is. The question here then is of a regional
principle and is such synthetical. Furthermore it is necessary to oppose this
formula – Being-in-Itself is what it is – to that which designates the being
of consciousness” (Sartre, 1976: 515).
By proposes the negation of something as in being-for-itself, Sartre is able
to give the answer on the origin of nothingness. Nothingness comes together with
human being, with being-for-itself. Sartre gives an example; he has an
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appointment with Pierre in a café at 4 pm. Sartre comes late and he looks in the
café to find the presence of Pierre, but finds no Pierre. Sartre concludes that
nothingness comes after the activity of negating the world. Nothingness always
haunts being, and it can never be separated with the being. Therefore, it can be
said that being-for-itself presents nothingness.
b. Existence precedes essence
According to Sartre, existence precedes essence is the basic principle
because it can be found in every existentialist’s perspective. He divides
existentialism into two kinds, they are:
i. Christian existentialists (Jaspers and Gabriel Marcel)
ii. Atheistic existentialists (Heidegger, French existentialist, Sartre)
Existence precedes essence is the starting point of existentialism, or in
other word, subjectivity. Sartre gives his explanation on existence precedes
essence, first, man exists, turn up, and only afterwards he can define himself. If
man is indefinable, it is because at first human being is nothing. Human being is
“thrown” into the world, as a living creature who thinks, chooses, makes a
decision, and acts upon the decision. Therefore, essence can only be obtained by
the act of thinking, making plan, choosing and deciding something, and acts upon
the choice and decision that has been made. Before he or she chooses, makes a
decision, and acts upon it, one is full of nothingness and emptiness.
“Man is nothing else than his plans; he exists only to the extent that he
fulfills himself; he is therefore nothing else than the ensemble of his acts,
nothing else than his life.” (Sartre, 1987: 32)
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Because human being is nothing, subjectivity is the primary and basic key to fill
the emptiness and gives essence toward nothingness. Subjectivity has two
meanings:
a. Human being as an individual chooses and makes himself. It means
that it is human being itself that gives essence to his or her existence
by making choices. Subjectivity of the individual is when one makes a
choice based on the personal perspective. Subjective truth occurs
whenever one makes his or her choice based on subjective perspective.
No one can make my own choice. The choice can only be made by me,
myself, as an individual without any interfere from other people, even
a member of the family. There is no one can decides for my own
choice. This subjective truth is what makes my life authentic, because
authenticity defines the self-making decision, committing my own
choice. No matter it is a good or bad decision.
b. It is impossible for a human being to transcend human subjectivity. It
means that when one chooses something, he or she also chooses for all
human beings. When one decides to marry a woman, he is choosing to
involve in a relationship with a woman and to have children from the
marriage. He involves with all humanity through monogamy. There is
also an image of self when he chooses to marry a woman and becomes
a part of monogamy with others around the world.
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c. Freedom
Sartre’s concept of freedom is obviously seen as he states that man is
condemned to be free. Being-in-itself is thrown into the world and being-for-itself
has a power to affirm or negate the world. In order to fill the emptiness or
nothingness and gives essence to one self, human is actually a free being. The
emptiness is filled by choices, and the choices are based on subjective truth in
which he or she decides his or her own choices. Again, Warnock also states
Sartre’s concept of freedom by saying, “If we are conscious beings, in his sense,
then we are also free” (1967: 29).
Consciousness can be only found in a human being, and it occurs as in
being-for-itself. Each human being can not avoid making choices. Once he or she
is conscious, he or she will think and make a choice. Be it good or bad, one can
only choose for his own self, because it is based on the subjective truth of the
individual self.
Sartrean existentialism also emphasizes on the action of human being. In
making choices, one must also act upon it. Therefore, he declares that there is no
reality except in action. It means that human has the freedom to plan, to fulfill one
self, and therefore nothing else matter than one’s actions, nothing else than one’s
life.
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d. Responsibility
Being free does not mean to be able to do what one wants, but to be able to
choose on what he wishes. Sartre explains that man is also responsible for
everything that he chooses or decides or even acts. Existentialism’s first move is
to make every man aware of what he is and to make the full responsibility of his
existence rest on him (Sartre, 1987: 16). Responsibility also related to other
people as well. This happens because the existence of other people in undeniable.
Although the person is free to choose anything, he cannot choose without
considering other people because everything that he does will affect others
(Sartre, 1976: 196). Therefore, it can be said that one individual freedom is
limited by the freedom of others, because there are other people in the world who
also have the same value of freedom. Sartre also explains that man’s responsibility
is not just for himself, but also for other people.
“And when we say that a man is responsible for himself, we do not only
mean that he is responsible for his own individuality, but that he is
responsible for all men.” (Sartre, 1987: 16)
3. The Relation between Literature and Philosophy.
According to Rudolf Unger as pointed by Rene Wellek (1956:119),
literature in not philosophical knowledge translated as poetry. It is more than an
expression of the general attitude toward life. Unger classifies the problems of life
into five parts. The first problem is problem of fate which means the relation
between freedom and necessity, the spirit of human nature. The second is the
religious world, including the interpretation of Christ, the attitude toward sin and
salvation. The third part is the problem of nature, including some questions as the
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feeling for nature, and questions of myth and magic. The fourth problem is the
concept of men and the concept of death and love. The last problem is the
problem on society, family, and country.
Rene Wellek (1956: 112) also states that literature can be used as a
document in the history of philosophy, because history of literature relates and
expresses the history of philosophy. Knight in Literature Considered as
Philosophy states:
“Philosophy and literature have acted upon another in the past, but they
never lost their identity in one another. Writers who were not philosophers
wrote about philosophy, what they wrote was not in itself philosophy in
the strict sense of the word (Knight, 1962: 175).”
The relation between philosophy and literature is can be clearly seen from
the quotation above. A writer or an author often brings the idea and concept of
philosophy in his or her work of literatures although he or she might not a strict
philosophical-based person.
Sartre in his work What is Literature? (Barret, 1962: 250) develops a
fundamental view on literature. He states that “literature is a mode of action, an
act of the writer’s freedom that seeks to appeal to the freedom of other individuals
and eventually to the total free collective of mankind”. It means that a literature is
a tool to express the writer’s experiences or ideas that invites others to share
together in thought.
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C. Theoretical Framework
In order to understand and solve the problem of study, review of related
studies and theories are needed. It gives some basic understanding about the
problems and gives a lot of point of views in order to analyze the novel.
Character is an important element in a novel and it makes dynamic
movements in the story. Thus, it is significant to apply the theories on character to
examine the novel and understand the characteristics of the character. The theory
of existentialism is also informed and applied as an important element to study the
novel. It gives some basic understanding about existential movement that has been
applied in the novel. The principles of existentialism in the novel are shared
through the representations of human’s freedom, acts, and responsibility.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club was published on 17 August 1996 in New
York, United States. It was published by the W.W. Norton Company. In 1999,
director David Fincher adapted the 208 pages of Fight Club novel into a movie
with the same title which had been not only criticized by people, but also received
positive responses from the readers, media, and the fans of Palahniuk’s literary
works. 208 pages which divided into 30 chapters by Palahniuk has brought him to
some prestigious achievements since Fight Club novel had won the Pacific
Northwest Booksellers Association Award in 1997, and the Oregon Book Award
for Best Novel in 1997.
Fight Club began when the nameless major character, the Narrator, was
having sleeping disorder, called insomnia. He went to his doctor after suffering
from his insomnia, and went to many support groups as the doctor suggested in
order seeing the real pain. In the support groups, he met a girl named Marla who
was also a faker, just like himself, as they both pretended as sick people who
needed more attention. One day, the Narrator met a man named Tyler Durden
during his travel works to several countries and they become friends. Tyler gave
him his various viewpoints on meaning of life, material possessions,
consumerism, God, and equality in society. Durden finally ended up in his Project
Mayhem, his project of anarchism after fight club was built. The Narrator found
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out about Durden’s plan and he was disagreeing on his Project Mayhem. He
finally found his truth of his own freedom and existence as soon as he realized
that the project has killed his friend, Big Bob, and that it was danger for many
other people. He faced Durden and tried to stop the Project Mayhem where he
also realized at the same time that he and Durden are the same person. Bravely, he
took the responsibility of Durden’s Project Mayhem and ended up in an asylum.
B. Approach of the Study
Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club tells a story about philosophy and the
journey of the character to understand his existence. In analyzing the story, the
writer uses moral philosophical approach and takes existentialism as the focus.
Moral philosophical approach is an approach that is used to analyze the moral
teaching or the philosophical issues as the moral messages that are delivered
within a literary work (Guerin, 1999: 29). Literature and philosophy have similar
problems through the society as presented by Knight in his book Literature
Considered as Philosophy. He writes that it has some things in common. It
criticizes the issue that occur in society to find the truth and the good (1962: 14).
For the writer, this approach means finding the basic interpretation about the truth,
the good and the reality through the text.
The Narrator as the main character in the novel understands his existence
as soon as he knows the truth about his own personality. Because of that, the
writer uses philosophical approach to reveal the idea of existentialism and explain
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the aspects of it. This theory used to analyze the Narrator’s freedom and existence
as a free human being.
C. Method of the Study
Library and internet research were used to analyze the story. From the
library and internet the writer could find some references and reviews about the
story. The novel of Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club became the primary source of
this study. The secondary sources were taken from the books and references
related to the story and theories, and also from internet. The books and review of
character and characterization, existentialism, and philosophy were needed and
could be found in the library and internet.
There were four steps that the writer did in doing the research. The first
step was read and reread the story until the writer understands and got the
impression from the story. Next, the writer formed some problems to be analyzed
in the analyzing step as the third step of research.
The second step was searching and gathering some books and papers about
existentialism which could explain its theory and its principles. The books such as
Being and Nothingness by Sartre, Human and Emotions by Jean-Paul Sartre,
Existentialism is Humanism by Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialist Ethics by Mary
Warnock, and Irrational Man written by William Barret were used in this study.
Some internet research could also help the writer to find some important data such
as some reviews about the book and the study.
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The third step was analyzing the study based on the problem formulations
that have been made before. Here, the writer was examining about the values of
existentialism such as freedom and responsibility as the main problem beside the
study of character and characterization, and also character development. The
discussions were about how the main character, the Narrator, finds his own
existence through his many experiences with Tyler Durden.
The fourth step was rereading again the analysis and giving conclusion. In
the conclusion, the writer gave the idea about what he had concluded from the
analysis. As the last part of discussion, the conclusion part explained the
connection between consciousness, subjectivity, freedom of choice, action, and
the existence of human being found in Fight Club novel.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
It is the crucial part of the thesis in which the writer gives the answers on
the problem formulations as stated in the first chapter. This part is divided into
three sections; the first part discu