Women in the Center of a Men's World

In the novels of Brokeback Mountain and Fight Club, women play very interesting roles that contribute to the overall plot of each story. The portrayal of women in both of these stories is not typical for a fictional story at all.

In Brokeback Mountain, for example, the wives of both Jack and Ennis are almost considered antagonists, since they are both serving as simple distractions that prevent Jack and Ennis from being together. For instance, Alma is portrayed as a very simple and fairly unattractive woman who Ennis seems to tolerate merely because that is what he was brought up to do, get married and have children. He never shows the audience that he loves her or truly cares for her at all. Furthermore, Lureen is portrayed as an attractive woman who was raised by a very wealthy family. Jack’s involvement with Lureen brings about more conflict since her father always alludes to the fact that Jack is not good enough for his daughter. In both of these relationships, the women are disfavored and unlovable, which is very unusual for a Hollywood story.

In Fight Club, the only woman who plays a substantial role in the plot is Marla Singer. In this story, she is portrayed as a very disheveled, insane, and overall trashy woman. Her character creates the furthest thing from an attractive female, which changes the entire relationship between her, the narrator, and Tyler. In the story, the narrator and Tyler both initially seem to find the idea of dating Marla disgusting and unthinkable. The relationship between Tyler and Marla in the beginning seems to be one of sheer desperation on Tyler’s part. He found a woman in need, and therefore decided to use her for sex. However, towards the end of the story, the narrator begins to fall in love with Marla, even though she is also portayed as unlovable. He realizes that he truly cares for her and wants to protect her from any harm, or especially from Tyler. Marla's role in this story is to further explain the narrator's Schizophrenia to the audience in that she has been there all along, and has seen both of Tyler Durden's personalities. In addition, Marla's character ties the narrator and Tyler together in that they both are involved with her throughout the story.