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In Fight Club (1996, Palahniuk, 1999, Fincher), the narrator, after losing “a lot of versatile solutions for modern living” when he comes home from a business trip to find his apartment has been blown up, calls and meets with new, single-serving friend Tyler Durden at a nearby bar.
The two share some alcohol and some revelations, and after Tyler agrees to letting the narrator stay at his place overnight, this exchange follows:
Tyler Durden: I want you to do me a favour.
Narrator: Yeah, sure…
Tyler Durden: I want you to hit me as hard as you can.
Narrator: What?… in the face?
Tyler Durden: Surprise me.
Narrator: This is so fucking stupid. Well, what do you want me to do? You just want me to hit you?
Tyler Durden: C’mon, do me this one favour.
Narrator: Why?
Tyler Durden: Why? I don’t know why; I don’t know. Never been in a fight. You?
Narrator: No, but that’s a good thing.
Tyler Durden: No, it is not. How much can you know about yourself, you’ve never been in a fight? I don’t wanna die without any scars.
Read that last part again - I don’t want to die without any scars. (In the book: “I don’t want to die without a few scars.”) That is the single most-important part of this scene, and ultimately one of the main points of the entire story. And while in this immediate context it was predominately meant to be taken quite literally - i.e., the physical - it can (and should) equally apply to your mental wellbeing (and that of Tyler’s).
Continue reading ‘How Much Can You Know About Yourself If You’ve Never Been In A Fight?’
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