Perspectives

The novel Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk explores a range of issues that are still discussed today, so there are many ways to put it into perspective. 

Gender roles

Fight Club explores the idea of masculinity in various ways. Notably, the novel suggests that modern society leaves little room for traditional masculine ideals (“a generation of men raised by women”), which then leads to many of the men in the story seeking out fight club and Project Mayhem to find an alternative outlet for the impulses that they are asked to suppress in civilized society. 

Today, there is still an ongoing discussion about the role of masculinity, and what it means - or should mean - to be a good man in modern society. For example, the term toxic masculinity has been introduced to describe how many elements of the traditional masculine ideals may be directly harmful both to women, men, and society in general, and have therefore called for a constructive evaluation of the masculine ideal. The debate about masculinity often gets heated as people can have very different views on it - and also about what it means in relation to men’s treatment of women and the issue of misogyny. 

Consumerism

Fight Club presents a strong criticism of consumerist society, which may be said to be even more relevant today where many of the consequences of consumerism have escalated further (with some notable examples being climate change, plastic pollution, and deforestation). 

However, these issues have also caused a growing awareness of the importance of being a responsible consumer who is not just guided by what is popular, ...