In the dark novel Fight Club, an unnamed protagonist who suffers from insomnia meets a man named Tyler Durden. After the protagonists' condo explodes, he moves in with Durden. The two form a "fight club," which allows them to let off steam through violence. The fight club catches on and turns into an anti-consumerist group that commits terrorist acts. The protagonist grows uncomfortable with the group's actions. He learns that he and Tyler are the same person and finally makes a decision that will separate himself from Tyler forever.
A modern-day everyman figure as well as an employee specializing in recalls for an unnamed car company, the Narrator - who remains unnamed throughout the novel - is extremely depressed and suffers from insomnia. Some readers call him "Joe", because of his constant use of the name in such statements as, "I am Joe's boiling point". The quotes, "I am Joe's [blank]", refer to the Narrator's reading old Reader's Digest articles in which human organs write about themselves in the first person, with titles such as "I Am Joe's Liver". The film adaptation replaces "Joe" with "Jack", inspiring some fans to call the Narrator "Jack". In the novel and film, the Narrator uses various aliases in the support groups. His subconscious is in need of a sense of freedom, he inevitably feels trapped within his own body, and when introduced to Tyler Durden, he begins to see all of the qualities he lacks in himself: "I love everything about Tyler Durden, his courage, his smarts, and his nerve. Tyler is funny and forceful and independent, and men look up to him and expect him to change their world. Tyler is capable and free, and I am not." In the official sequel comic book series also penned by Palahniuk (with art by Cameron Stewart), Fight Club 2 , it is revealed that the Narrator's name is Sebastian.
"Because of his nature", Tyler works night jobs where he sabotages companies and harms clients. He also steals left-over drained human fat from liposuction clinics to supplement his income through soap making and to create the ingredients for bomb manufacturing, which will be put to work later with his fight club. He is the co-founder of Fight Club, as it was his idea to instigate the fight that led to it. He later launches Project Mayhem, from which he and the members commit various attacks on consumerism. Tyler is blond, according to the Narrator's comment "in his everything-blond way". The unhinged but magnetic Tyler becomes the antagonist of the novel later in the story. The Narrator refers to Tyler as a free spirit who says, "Let that which does not matter truly slide."
A woman whom the Narrator meets during a support group. The Narrator no longer receives the same release from the groups when he realizes Marla is faking her problems just as he is. After he leaves the groups, he meets her again when she becomes Tyler's lover. Marla is shown to be extremely unkempt, uncaring, and sometimes even suicidal. At times, she shows a softer, more caring side.
The Narrator meets Bob at a support group for testicular cancer. A former bodybuilder, Bob lost his testicles to cancer caused by the steroids he used to bulk up his muscles. He had to undergo testosterone injections, resulting in increased estrogen. The increased estrogen levels caused him to grow large breasts and to develop a softer voice. Because of his "bitch tits", Bob is the only known member who is allowed to wear a shirt. The Narrator befriends Bob and, after leaving the groups, meets him again in fight club. Bob's death later in the story, while carrying out an assignment for Project Mayhem, causes the Narrator to turn against Tyler because the members of Project Mayhem treat it as a trivial matter instead of a tragedy.
A man who joins fight club. He is very loyal to Project Mayhem, laughing at the vandalism he and a group of "space monkeys" have caused as their crimes appear on the evening news. Angel Face is considered very beautiful, hence his name. The blond-haired beauty suffers a savage beating at the Narrator's hands during a fight club session; the Narrator states that he "wanted to destroy something beautiful." The next time Angel Face is heard of in the novel, he is described as not being quite as beautiful anymore.
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