This paper addresses one passage in the book, Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. The author draws on various Biblical analogies to make comparisons to the selected passage and others. This three page paper has four sources listed in the bibliography.
Name of Research Paper File: MM12_PGfight.rtf
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
and rammed my face into the concrete floor until my teeth bit open the inside of my cheek and my eye was swollen shut and was bleeding, and after I
said, stop, I could look down and there was a print of half my face in blood on the floor. Tyler stood next to me, both of us looking down
at the big O of my mouth with blood all around it and the little slit of my eye staring up at us from the floor, and Tyler says, "Cool."
There are many interpretations that can be made for this passage in Fight Club. The impression of the narrators face in the blood, like a shadow with only the
outline of his face. But the outline is detailed enough to make out the slit above his eye and the big O that was his mouth. We might liken this
to Veronicas veil, also referred to as the vernicle. This is the cloth that wiped the blood from Christs face. The cloth would have been bloody, just as the imprint
of the narrators face on the floor was outlined in blood. It is said that Saint Veronica was the woman who wiped Christs face and that an imprint of His
face was then left on the cloth. There is also the Turin Shroud, also that is said to have Christs face imprinted on it. The comparison is iffy but
one can make a case for interpreting the impression of Christs face on the Virginia veil and the impression of the narrators face on the floor - both are shadows
with outlines that an observer can make out. The author may be comparing the sacrifice of a man in blood. While the narrator may be representing all males and he