Why Many Feel Fight Club's Narrator Is Called "Jack" (& Why It's Not That Simple) Not That Simple
Among the most often accepted ideas regarding the Narrator's name is that he is Jack. This derives from the film itself as well as from the character's own speech. He speaks often in a way that would imply they describe aspects of themselves using first-person pronouns. Edward Norton's character has several lines in the film whereby he says things like "I am Jack's raging bile duct." This makes the Narrator seem to be explicitly stating that they are Jack, yet speaking via separate sections of themselves and giving voice to dead body parts.
This is also clear, though, as a nod to the Narrator's great passion in Reader's Digest pieces and other similarly minded publications. This is probably a lighthearted approach of connecting the Narrator's ideas with the surroundings. It does not especially imply that this is their name. Jack is unlikely to be his true name since the Narrator goes a long way to proving his unreliability as a Narrator and uses several names to identify himself to others throughout the film, so it would not make sense to assert that he is being any more honest with the audience.
Comic Sequel for Fight Club names the Narrator "Sebastian".
Following Fight Club's 1999 triumph, Chuck Palahniuk, the author of the book that served as inspiration for the film, finally decided to carry on the tale in graphic novels. The sequel comic book debuted in ten installments over the course of a better half of 2015. Ten years after the events of the movie, the book follows Tyler Durden as the main storyteller, narrating events from a corner of the old Narrator's mind. Fascinatingly, the Narrator decided to refer to himself as Sebastian at this point, but this was a deliberate decision taken following movie events.
Once more, the unreliability of the Narrator implies that Jack's real name is no more Sebastian than it was in the first film even if he used the name constantly. Sebastian is more of a character than a real person; he stays distant and playful in his choices when it comes to self-identifying. Sebastian now repeats the same mistakes, finally calling Tyler Durden to come to the surface and take over the Narrator and produce a more exciting and wild version of his life, even though he had fallen into a monotonous routine that led to his fractured mind in the film.
Real name of the narrator: Tyler Durden?
That brings the research straight to Tyler Durden, the fragment of the Narrator's mind that defies convention and decides to live in an exciting and unbridled manner. This would imply that Tyler Durden is the real character while the Narrator is the man who comes out to subdue and control his life and keep it from spiraling out of hand and into too much trouble, so reversing the roles. This could make sense for several reasons, chief among them Tyler Durden's seeming consistency and endurance as the Narrator's name.
Tyler Durden is a buried part of the Narrator's identity he no longer sees as being himself; the Narrator's mind may be so completely damaged he fails to remember his own name. It's also likely that he knows Tyler Durden is his true name and decides to keep that part of himself hidden from the world in order to guard himself from his past and preserve the thrill of building false identities under which he might hide. Either way, whether the Narrator uses his actual name or a false one, the name is obviously a component of his identity.
Why Fight Club Never Names The Narrator?
Fight Club is fundamentally a narrative meant to offer social commentary on the environment the Narrator lives in. a society meant to trap people in a consumerist cycle motivated by power and riches. For whatever product is being sold to the person reading the catalog, or trying to decorate their house, that consumer is easily categorized into one where they are a predictable target for whatever. The film explores false choice and people's attempt to define themselves based on their possessions.
Though there is some mismatch of the items that are mildly unique from someone else's varied collection, they all wind up in the same box; the things they own mostly come from the same Ikea shelves. The same reason Spider-Man dons a mask and suit covering every inch of his skin—it could be anyone—is one reason the Narrator is never given a name. The faceless, nameless message of Fight Club is that it could be anyone, but don't forget the first rule of Fight Club. The narrative is nihilistic and the Narrator is a criminal who is accountable for several crimes.
