Marla vs. Narrator Essay

461 Words2 Pages
In the novel Fight Club, Marla Singer’s character role is shown through a relationship triangle between the narrator, Tyler Durden, and Marla Singer. Through this relationship triangle, the three friends all inevitably discover what it means to hit “rock bottom.” In a way, the character of Marla Singer acts as a role of desire and destruction to the narrator and Tyler Durden. At the beginning of the novel, the narrator does not like Marla because she reminds him too much of himself by her emotional needs and tendencies. In chapter 2, we learn that the narrator uses support groups in which patients of sever diseases and conditions attend for support. He attends these support meetings so that he can release emotional energy and feel better about himself. The narrator at this point in the novel is frustrated with working for a job he does not enjoy, and is also frustrated with how much he has given into the consumer culture around him. When he initially sees Marla at the support group meetings, his body tells him to not get emotional in front of her, and in result not cry and release the emotions inside of him. It is not until chapter eleven in Fight Club, that the narrator shows some positive emotion towards Marla. After using Marla’s mother into the homemade soap him and Tyler are creating without her permission, the narrator starts feeling an amount of guilt and regret. This is shown when the narrator says, “The miles of night between Marla and me offer insects and melanomas and flesh-eating viruses. Where I’m at isn’t so bad” (pg 94). In chapter 14 of the novel, the narrator describes to the readers that when he is with Marla, he wants to “make her laugh, to warm her up. To make her forgive me for the collagen . . .” (pg 106). When Marla tells the narrator that she has found two lumps on her breasts, he attempts to cheer Marla up by telling personal
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