THE HOUSE AS A PROP OF DOUBLE IDENTITY

FÝGHT CLUB & THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE

Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club, like The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, features two central characters who prove to be the same man. Palahniuk just like Stevenson shows the transformation from one double to another. Palahniuk portrays this transformation through the residences of the narrator, Jack and his double, Tyler Durden; like the transformation of Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde the house portrayed by Stevenson is similar to the house used by Palahniuk. The structure Palahniuk uses changes with their owners. In the course of this essay I’m going to be examining these similarities, although in class we only saw the movie based on the novel by Palahniuk, the quotations in the rest of this essay are form the novel because it makes the points more obvious.

Firstly, in The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the house is used as a powerful prop, which it is possible for Dr. Jekyll to use, even when he is in the form of Mr. Hyde. The front of the house mirrors an elite, upper class, and respectable home. However, the rest of the house is quite the opposite due to the darkness Mr. Hyde represents as he lives there too.

Palahniuk in Invisible Monsters states “Jack begins searching for Tyler. They cross paths again in a hotel room in Seattle, where Tyler reveals the true nature of their relationship: “We're not two separate men. Long story short, when you're awake, you have the control, and you can call yourself anything you want, but the second you fall asleep, I take over, and you become Tyler Durden” (Palahniuk 167). It is only in the neutral setting of the hotel room that Jack can confront his double for what he is. Jack was in control in the condo, which mirrored him, while Tyler was in control of the run down house, which reflected him. The hotel room, however, is a symbol of neither, and each can be seen as separate identities.

In Keeping the Faith: an Interview with Ed Norton the house as a prop is discussed by Merle Ginsberg. Here Edward Norton states “ Jack's reaction to the changes in the house is panic. He says, “Everyone except me seems to know what to do, and Tyler is never home. I hug the walls, being a mouse trapped in this clockwork of silent men with the energy of trained monkeys, cooking and working and sleeping in teams. Pull a lever. Push a button.” The house's new self-sufficiency also adds to the supernatural elements beginning to form in the novel. It seems to become a living being of its own, fuelled by the human assembly lines that keep it running.

In Faludi’s book titled Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man she discusses how Tyler's house, into which Jack moves, is decadent and in ruins. It has three stories, it leaks in the rain, and the front door has been kicked in. It serves as a sharp contrast to Jack’s highly valued possessions, reflecting the initial differences between himself and Tyler who sees possessions as needless things. The house is also a product of neglect, which is how Tyler views himself: “We are God's middle children, according to Tyler Durden, with no special place in history and no special attention” (Palahniuk 141). However, the run-down house undergoes a change when Jack loses control of Tyler and their relationship ends. Both the changes in the house and in Tyler begin with the creation of Project Mayhem, an extension of Fight Club in which the members, instead of simply fighting each other, perform criminal, de

Some topics in this essay:
Chuck Palahniuk, Durden” Palahniuk, Jekyll Hyde, Project Mayhem, Dr Jekyll, Faludi Palahniuk, Furthermore Jack’s, Edward Norton, Betrayal American, Fight Club, dr jekyll, dr jekyll hyde, jekyll hyde, strange dr, strange dr jekyll, project mayhem, fight club, hyde house, jekyll hyde house, house prop, changes house, invisible monsters, tyler durden, house jack moves, jekyll hyde houses,