The movie starts with the gun on the narrator (Edward Norton) mouth held by Tyler, who is counting minutes as he watches his watch. The gun is withdrawn from Edward's mouth after he fails to say something, and through a flashback, the narrator takes us back to how he met Tyler.
The narrator has been suffering from insomnia for six months, and his position and job at a car company does nothing to improve his condition. He seeks medical attention, and the doctor advises him to visit support groups such as the testicular cancer group to discover the pain. The recommendation helps him as he can know sleep while attending his regular support group he realizes the presence of a woman Marla Singer and after several visits to the groups, he approaches her. His move to contact her destructs his sleeping patterns and he starts suffering insomnia again.
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On his trip from a business duty, he meets a stranger Tyler Durden, who strikes a conversation, and the two engages in the communication throughout the flight. Tyler's job is revealed as a soap sales person. Upon arrival, the narrator discovers that his bags had been sophisticated, and as he waits for a taxi to take him home he learns about the destruction of his apartment. Having nowhere to go to, Edward contacts Tyler, and they meet at a bar where there was a parking lot. Tyler agrees to take him in on one condition that he fights him, Edward agrees to the condition, and they eventually share a drink.
Edward and Tyler engage in several fights that lead to the establishment of a fight club that attacks more men. By chance, the narrator meets Marla, who later participates in sexual acts with Tyler after she overslept on Xanax and Tyler went picking her. In the next morning, Marla gets Edward in the kitchen, and he is surprised to see her. After she leaves, Tyler reveals that he engaged in sex with her. After some time Edwards calls Marla to ask her about her relationship with Tyler and after the call, Tyler appears to Edward and confirms to him that they are one person. The confirmation gives Edward sleepless nights.
Tyler uses his soap making skills to turn the fight club into a laboratory to develop explosives and the projected referred as mayhem. After Edward discovered that Mayhem project had spread country wide and had planned several destructions, he tries to distance himself from the group, but Tyler appears to him and confirms that they are one person existing in two forms. The movie ends where it started with a gun in Edward's mouth, and he realizes that he is the one holding the gun, he triggers it and the bullet lands on Tyler's head. After receiving the news mayhem members pay a visit, and Marla is one of the, they members later go seeking for the medicine and Tyler hold Marla's hand and the building collapse, which marks the end of the movie.
Character analysis
Edward Norton is suffering from depression which is a mental disorder characterized by the individual's loss of appetite, loss of sleep, withdrawal symptoms, anxiety, lack of interest in daily activities, increased anger and irritability, a feeling of emptiness, and finally loss of energy (Barlow & Durand, 2015). Depression is different from a sense of sadness, and a condition is considered as depression when the effects of the disorder affect the subject person’s day to day activities.
At the beginning of the movie, we are introduced to the narrator who has suffered insomnia which is the lack of sleep for six months. In a typical situation, a person suffers from depression when the symptoms persist for two weeks or more (Barlow & Durand, 2015). In this case, Edward has suffered sleeplessness for six months. The behavior is also consistent because after he approaches Marla he suffers another insomnia period and also after Tyler discloses to him that both of them are one person but existing in different forms.
Secondly, Edward is suffering from depression evidenced by high levels of irritability that leads him to aggressive behavior. The first instance when he displays aggressive behavior is when he beats up his boss Zach Grenier for not accepting his working condition. Edward is not in a position to control his anger which is one of the symptoms characterized by a depressed person, and he is overwhelmed and irritated by the fact that the boss does not agree to his demand. The second instance is when he engages in aggressive behavior resulting from uncontrolled anger is when he attacks one of the Mayhem members Jared Leto for no good reason, but claims that he has destroyed something beautiful.
Lastly, an individual suffering from depression suffers from guilt. It is normal to feel guilt under normal circumstances but when the guilt interferes with an individual's wellbeing or poses harm to the person or those around the person the guilt qualifies to be a symptom of depression (Barlow & Durand, 2015). The symptom is evidenced by Edward’s guilt about the mayhem project to the extent that he surrenders to the police, and this would cause the group's arrest. He is also bored with his daily tasks in the car company.
Therapies
Various therapies can be used to treat Edward's condition, and the first one is psychoanalytic. The treatment works to awaken the repressed emotion and experience that an individual acquired while growing. It works by bringing this feelings and experiences from the subconscious to the conscious mind (Barlow & Durand, 2015). On the other hand, behavioral therapy deals with adjusting the behavior of the patient in such a way that it encourages the desired behavior or discourages the occurrence of anti-social behavior (Barlow & Durand, 2015). Lastly is the humanistic approach which focuses on the whole person and the forces behind a particular conduct. Importantly, the three methods are patient-centered in that the patient is the determinant of the behavior and the treatment to undergo (Barlow & Durand, 2015).
Reference
Barlow, D. H., & Durand, V. M. (2015). Abnormal psychology an integrative approach. Belmont: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
