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Irony
Definition of Metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor can be stated explicitly, as... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other... read full definition
Chapter 6
Explanation and Analysis—Football as Pornography:
The Narrator uses metaphor to illustrate how fight club makes him feel in touch with the raw, thrilling elements of reality:
Fight club is not football on television. You aren’t watching a bunch of men you don’t know halfway around the world beating on each other live by satellite with a two-minute delay, commercials pitching beer every ten minutes, and a pause now for station identification. After you’ve been to fight club, watching football on television is watching pornography when you could be having great sex.
In this layered metaphor, the Narrator first contrasts fight club with watching football on television. He views watching football as a safe, detached way of engaging in excitement and physical exertion, as opposed to fight club, which offers a more direct, visceral experience of life, violence, and the real.
The narrator expands further on this comparison. He claims watching football instead of participating in Fight Club is like watching pornography instead of having sex. In other words, both televised football and porn are secondhand, detached versions of what could be real, firsthand experiences.
This metaphor illuminates the Narrator’s values; it’s important to him to be an active participant in his own life (which is somewhat ironic considering he’s unaware of his own actions half the time). It also ties into the novel’s motif of linking sex to violence and death. Fight Club treats sex and violence as important, transformative bodily experiences that can make people feel truly alive.
Related Themes:
Chapter 9
Explanation and Analysis—Space Monkeys:
Over the course of the novel, “space monkeys” become a metaphor for the members of Project Mayhem, so much so that eventually the Narrator exclusively refers to these men as space monkeys, as in this passage from Chapter 17:
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. A team of space monkeys cooks meals all day, and all day, teams of space monkeys are eating out of the plastic bowls they brought with them.
The term “space monkeys” refers to the various primates that were launched into outer space during the early stages of space exploration. Space monkeys allowed scientists to learn more about the biological effects of spaceflight before sending human astronauts into space. The comparison of Project Mayhem’s members to space monkeys highlights their dehumanization. Through their work with the organization, they lose all sense of agency and individual identity.
The term “space monkeys” also calls back to Chapter 9, when Tyler relays his theory of the importance of sacrifice:
Think about the animals used in product testing.
Think about the monkeys shot into space.
"Without their death, their pain, without their sacrifice,” Tyler says, "we would have nothing.”
Tyler’s logic is somewhat flawed—the monkeys didn’t consent to go into space, nor did the animals consent to their use in product testing. For this reason, their suffering can’t really be considered a “sacrifice,” or at least not a willing one. This flawed logic is reflected in Tyler’s treatment of his followers, which grows increasingly exploitative and manipulative. He treats the members of Project Mayhem not as individual heroes, but as expendable cogs in a machine.
Related Themes:
Chapter 17
Explanation and Analysis—Space Monkeys:
Over the course of the novel, “space monkeys” become a metaphor for the members of Project Mayhem, so much so that eventually the Narrator exclusively refers to these men as space monkeys, as in this passage from Chapter 17:
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. A team of space monkeys cooks meals all day, and all day, teams of space monkeys are eating out of the plastic bowls they brought with them.
The term “space monkeys” refers to the various primates that were launched into outer space during the early stages of space exploration. Space monkeys allowed scientists to learn more about the biological effects of spaceflight before sending human astronauts into space. The comparison of Project Mayhem’s members to space monkeys highlights their dehumanization. Through their work with the organization, they lose all sense of agency and individual identity.
The term “space monkeys” also calls back to Chapter 9, when Tyler relays his theory of the importance of sacrifice:
Think about the animals used in product testing.
Think about the monkeys shot into space.
"Without their death, their pain, without their sacrifice,” Tyler says, "we would have nothing.”
Tyler’s logic is somewhat flawed—the monkeys didn’t consent to go into space, nor did the animals consent to their use in product testing. For this reason, their suffering can’t really be considered a “sacrifice,” or at least not a willing one. This flawed logic is reflected in Tyler’s treatment of his followers, which grows increasingly exploitative and manipulative. He treats the members of Project Mayhem not as individual heroes, but as expendable cogs in a machine.
Related Themes:
