Gender Roles in Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club

In my thesis, I will investigate the process of resistance which is at first manifested on the level of the individual and then spreads out to become a “gerilla-like rebellion” concerning the whole society. I argue that the means by what the protagonist is trying to reach his aims – to gain back his lost masculinity and to destroy the existing stereotypes by bringing consumer society to the ground – ridicule the very concept he tries to stand for, namely, the concept of masculinity. The irony is that the way in which he is trying to carry out his plans creates the illusion of masculinity while it reproduces the very thing he fights against, namely femininity. First of all, my goal is to take a closer look at the main points of the novel and support my viewpoints by giving examples that serve as the basis of my interpretation. Secondly, I will investigate the historical background of the changes in gender roles and point out to that consumer society has largely contributed to certain kinds of changes in the lives of women and men. Then I will reflect on the irony of the narrator’s masculinity and the hypocrisy of the consumer society in which he is living. Finally, I will examine how the protagonist tries to regain his masculinity and I will make an attempt to prove that he tries to do so in an ultimately feminine way.egyetemiangol nyelv és irodalo