Chuck Palahniuk’s violent novel, Fight Club is full of anti-consumerist ideas, patriarchal values and bloody gore. David Fincher, the director of the movie, thought 1999 would be a perfect time to throw the same values onto the big screen. The violent characters caused controversy and sparked a cult-like following. However by the end of both the film and the book it occurs to the reader that there is much more and yet so much less to it than appears. The original ‘fight club’ started by the main character(s) has become ‘fight clubs’ and the two leaders of the group are actually the same person. In the end the story is less about terrorism and more about psychology, insomnia and schizophrenia. The thought patterns ultimately confuse and enlighten the main character. The main character whom is only referred to as ‘the narrator’ goes through Kohlberg’s stages of moral development during this “very awkward time” in his life. Applied generally and practically Kohlberg’s stages usually take place over a span of 20 plus years, starting at birth. However our narrator and his ‘imaginary friend’ Tyler don’t experience the stages simultaneously and it only takes the span of two years. Agreeing with Kohlberg’s laws, either personality never skips stages, but often slips backwards.
Kohlberg’s first stage of moral development occurs between birth and age nine. It is called the pre-conventional level. Kohlberg observed that at the years of childhood are not filled with complex patterns of reasoning as teenagers and adults. A main motivation in the childs life is to not have ‘Mommy and Daddy’ be mad at you. At this age the child has some memories, experiences and can predict actions and reactions of others he or she interacts with. All of this is on the childs side when he or she unconsciously weighs the risks or benefits of a direct action. A child is quite (unintentionally) egocentric during these years and (following Piaget’s theory of cognitive development) can’t comprehend the world from the perspective of another. Therefore the consequences of the action that do not affect the child are not seen by the child as a punishment. Reward is also a high motivator for children at this age and level of thinking. Children will pretend they have used the ‘big boy toilet’ (when in reality they just sat on in for a few minutes) in order to get a candy or other reward from their parents. (Dogs can also pull this off.) Additionally the child has no concern for the toll the reward may have taken on others; financially, physically, mentally or time-wise. Not because infants, toddlers and grade school children are selfish but because they are not mentally equipped to think on a more complex level.
The narrator in Fight Club is at a point in his life where he is getting older and work is becoming unfulfilling, he is stuck. He is suffering from insomnia, this is his ‘punishment’ that must be avoided on a pre-conventional level. In order to avoid his punishment he regularly attends support groups for various ailments for over a year. This release of emotion allows him to cry and according to him sleep better than a baby. He describes the huge relief he experiences as a loss of all hope and that somehow this equivocates a kind of mental freedom. He returns to this stage later in the movie when he reflects on his ‘old life.’ Marla, the narrator’s girlfriend and the narrator are having a conversation about the support groups that used to be the narrators ‘freedom.’ The narrator casually asks how everyone in the groups are doing to which Marla rudely replies, “Do you care?” The narrator thinks about it quickly then quietly replies “I don’t know, I haven’t thought of it in a while.” This proves that because the narrator is no longer punished by insomnia, he has no use for the support groups and childishly and selfishly forgets about them. He returns to the pre-conventional stage again at the end of the movie while driving with Tyler on a rainy night. Tyler lets go of the wheel and is speeding toward a car in the breakdown lane. The narrator is suddenly afraid and concludes that he has not achieved complete mental freedom because he still values his physical self. In the car scene the punishment is a likely death and in order to avoid this he must answer Tyler’s questions about life and death.
Kohlberg’s second level, named the conventional level is where most pre-teens and teenagers fit. At this level of development, the individual begins to recognize why laws are in place. The conventional level builds on the pre-conventional level in that the child now knows that not does doing something wrong punishable but understands the action is wrong because rules, the society and the governmental laws say it is wrong. The narrator shows his understanding of the conventional level, whether he knows it or not, very early in the film. After the narrator’s apartment exploded he called his new friend Tyler so they could meet up and have a drink. Unconsciously the narrator knew he would eventually ask Tyler if it would be okay to stay at his place for the night. Tyler (who is the narrators other conscious personality already knows this) blatantly asks the narrator if he was going to hurry up and ask Tyler for the favor. The narrator seems taken aback by Tyler’s bluntness and avoids the question. From Kohlberg’s point of view the narrator is shying away from the question because it breaks some social rules. In this same conversation Tyler casually asks the narrator to hit him as hard as he can. The narrator unsurprisingly refuses because it is morally and legally wrong and he has never been in a fight before. After he hits Tyler, the narrator apologizes. Kohlberg’s conventional stage is at its peak in this scene. The narrator at first see’s crazy as a bad thing but Tyler convinces him that sometimes crazy is good.
The narrator reaches the post-conventional level in the end of the film. The narrator up to this point understands that he can be punished for breaking the rules and he learns to avoid the wrong behaviors. He has also realized (in the conventional level) that these rules both within normal society and within Fight club are thought out, preventative measures to keep society happy. At the final level the narrator truly appreciates the rules and laws because he knows now why they exist and agrees with the laws in place for personal reasons. He exhibits the knowledge of this level by recognizing that he is the leader of an undoubtedly powerful gang that aims to hurt the larger society. The narrator rushes to a police station and confesses everything, brining folders of evidence and telling detectives exact details and addresses. The narrator also makes a point to confess that he (has feelings?!) cares deeply about Marla. Over lunch he repeatedly apologizes to her and tries to help her escape major cities where his gang members may find and torture her. When confessing to Marla, the narrator is at the last stage of the post-conventional level. He is now past social morals and government regulations and is following universal ethics by caring about his significant other. During the last scenes of the film when the narrator is in the post-conventional stage he repeats’, “No I can’t let this happen.” As to reinsure himself of what stage he is in. The film closes with the final words, “You met me at a very awkward time in my life” proving that the stages and time frames of Kohlberg’s theory didn’t exactly match up with the narrator’s life (or even his double life under the persona of Tyler) but that each theory can be singly applied to any moment.
