Project Mayhem... May what?

Tyler Durden and the narrator of this novel start this new thing named Fight Club so they can get all their feelings away with something they like. At first there are just the narrator and Tyler, then a whole bunch of people start to get in it. "The first rule about Fight Club is you don't talk about Fight Club. The second rule about Fight Club is you don't talk about Fight Club [...]"
So if no one is supposed to talk about Fight Club, how did the other members knew about it, obviously sombody break the rules. When Tyler realizes this he says there are going to be a limited number of members in Fight Club. If they want to keep doing it they will need to find another place to do it.

After a while, there were Fight Clubs all around the country, Tyler decides to go big. He starts Project Mayhem... May what? Yeah, Mayhem.
Project Mayhem is based on Tyler's anti-consumerism philosophy. He trains the members with a military style, at the same time they help him with the doing of soap; the purpose of this project is to control history, bring down the modern civilization. It has also some rules (just like fight club):

1. You don't ask questions.
2. You don't ask questions.
3. No excuses.
4. No lies. 
5. You have to trust Tyler. 

For me, when Project Mayhem started to appear in the novel, was the best part of all. I kept asking to myself, how can a few people follow a man they have barely met and do this crazy things to bring down the entire society? How did Tyler got so powerful? 

I think this part demonstrates how easy is for someone (when he/she knows how) to manipulate people, a few words and their hooked with your ideas. This kind of remind me of Hitler, a modern Hitler, maybe Tyler didn't killed thousands of people; but they have one very importante thing in common: they controled a group of people, convinced them with their ideas, with the power of talking. 

Mr. Durden

There are three main characters in this novel, the narrator, Tyler Durden and Marla Singer.
I have already talked about Marla; now I'm going to talk about the narrator/ Tyler Durden.
Wait... What? Why did I used a slash instead of an "and"?

Throughout the book the author gives you a lot of hints, but you really get it at the end of it; and if you were wondering, yeah, they are the same person. Our narrator has de dissociative identity disorder, also known as multiple personality disorder.

In one hand the narrator of the story is a normal guy with a normal job in an insurance agency, what a boring life you'll think. He suffers insomnia so he has to go every night to a support group so he can let out all his feelings.
Then Tyler, how can I even start to describe him? He works as a waiter, were he harms indirectly the clients; as a projectionist, were he puts obscene images; and he also does his own soap, he gets the fat from stealing liposuction clinics.  What kind f person does that? I know, he is extremely weird. He's house has the barely sufficient to survive, his philosophy rejects consumerism and he thinks disaster is a natural part of his own evolution.
"We made soap out of her. Her. Marla's mother"

This characters "meet" in an airplane; the narrator was returning home from a bussiness trip, Tyler was just there. When the narrator arrives to the airport he is notified that his suitcase was vibrating so it has to be checked by security, by the time he arrives home he sees that his apartment exploded. So he decides to call Tyler.

During the whole novel the narrator repeats a lot this phrase: "I know this because Tyler knows this", this is one of many hints Palahniuk wrote, although it doesn't makes sense till the last pages.

Vocabulary

Barrel.- the discharging tube of a gun

"With my tongue I can feel the silencer holes we drilled into de barrel of the gun." (Palahniuk, 11)

Topple.- to fall from or as if from being top-heavy

 " You take enough blasting gelatin and wrap the foundation columns of anything, you can topple any building in the world2 (Palahniuk, 13)

Napalm.-a thickener consisting of a mixture of aluminum soaps used in jelling gasoline (as for incendiary bombs)

"The three ways to make napalm: One, you can mix equal parts of gasoline and frozen orange juice concentrate [...]" (Palahniuk, 13)

Heave.-  to rise or become thrown or raised up. 

"Bob slid across the basement floor to heave himself on me" (Palahniuk, 21) 

Clinging.- to have a strong emotional attachment. 
"Everyone clinging and risking to share their worst feel" (Palahniuk, 23)

Tray.- an open receptacle with a flat bottom and a low rim for holding, carrying, or exhibiting articles. 
"On takeoff [...] our seats in their full upright position and our tray tables stowed" (Palahniuk, 26)

Sprocket.- a toothed wheel whose teeth engage the links of a chain.
"The projectionist booth is soundproof because inside is the racket of sprockets snaping film" (Palahniuk, 27)







Clatter.- to make a rattling sound. 
"Clattering Gatling-gun fire." (Palahniuk, 27)








Staccato.- Abrupt, disjointed.
"The staccato of a hundred seatbelt buckles snapping open." (Palahniuk, 31)






Gauge.-  to measure something. 
"How he'd use the line to gauge the shadow cast by each log." (Palahniuk, 33)






Wince.- to shrink back involuntarily (as from pain). 
"Everyone around here when they eince or twilch  and fall down [...]" (Palahniuk, 35)




Grief.- an unfortunate outcome (disaster).
"But now there was dying and death and loss and grief" (Palahniuk, 38)




Halogen.- any of the five elements fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, and astatine that form part of group VIIA of the periodic table and exist in the free state normally as diatomic molecules
"My Audi was still parked in the lot, but a Dakapo halogen torchiere was spread through the wind shell" (Palahniuk, 46)



Torchiere.- an electric floor lamp giving indirect light. 
"My Audi was still parked in the lot, but a Dakapo halogen torchiere was spread through the wind shell" (Palahniuk, 46)

Stitch.-a portion of thread left in the material or suture left in the tissue after one stitch 
"The stitches have come loose, and I can feel them with my tongue against the inside of my cheek" (Palahniuk, 47)

Shingles.- an acute viral inflammation of the sensory ganglia of spinal and cranial nerves that is associated with a vesicular eruption and neuralgic pains and is caused by reactivation of the herpesvirus causing chicken pox
"The shingles on the roof blister, buckle, curl, and the rain comes through." (Palahniuk, 56)




Crummy.-very poor or inferior.
"Watch Marla throw herself around her crummy room" (Palahniuk, 59)




Tallow.- the white nearly tasteless solid rendered fat of cattle and sheep used chiefly in soap, candles, and lubricants. 
"Put the skimmed tallow into the milk cartons with the top opened all the way." (Palahniuk, 71)





Furnace.-an enclosed structure in which heat is produced (as for heating a house or for reducing ore). 
"The color of Marla's brown eyes is like an animals that's been heated in a furnace and dropped into cold water." (Palahniuk, 103)









Pawn.- one of the chessmen of least value having the power to move only forward ordinarily one square at a time, to capture only diagonally forward, and to be promoted to any piece except a king upon reaching the eighth rank. 
"Tyler was the paw of the world, everybody's trash" (Palahniuk, 113)






Heap.- a collection of things thrown one on another. 
"Then the kid fell through my arms in a heap" (Palahniuk, 123)


Tuft.- a small cluster of elongated flexible outgrowths attached or close together at the base and free at the opposite ends;especially : a growing bunch of grasses or close-set plants. 

"Tufts of hair surface beside the dirt clods. Hair and shit." (Palahniuk, 135)


Tug.-  To pull hard. 
"One space monkey tugged down his esteemed pants." (Palahniuk, 164)






Evict.-to force out (expel)
"Prepare to evict the member in three, two, one." (Palahniuk, 179)









Tuck.- to push in the loose end of so as to hold tightly. 
"The barrel of the gun tucked in my surviving cheek." (Palakniuk, 205)

Faker. Faker. Faker.

One of the main characters of this novel is Marla Singer. She's a girl the main character met at the support groups he went everynight. At first he just hated her, he knew she was a faker, she wasn't ill, just like him; but for him she was more than a faker, she was a nightmare. Since she appeard in this groups he started to have  insomnia, again.
As the book keeps going Marla and the main character stablish some sort of distorted relationship, then things get worse when Marla meets Tyler. Tyler wants Marla, but Marla wants the main character. This love triangle (I don't even know if "love" is the correct word to describe this) affects all of this characters, they get to face really awkward and bizarre situations; and at the end no one really gets what they want from each other.

Marla's my favourite character of the whole novel, she's like nothing you have ever heard before. She's crazy, misterious, sexy, awkward, smoker, calm, charismatic, interesting, and most of all Marla's unique.

"Short matte black hair, big eyes the way they are in Japanese animation, skim milk thin, buttermilk sallow in her dress with a wallpaper pattern of dark roses [...]"