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From the movie Fight Club, in the ending scene we can see the narrator shoot himself in the mouth asking Tyler to "really listen to him"...

The question is How/Why did Tyler got shot in the head when the narrator himself shot in the mouth? It could have been somewhere else and not the head, right?

Is this just because the Narrator "really" wanted Tyler to listen to him and die?

Since Tyler is just a hallucination, we know that Tyler dies when narrator mind accepts his death. The narrator can't do this on his own, since he needs Tyler's permission to do so (otherwise why would he ask Tyler to listen to him?). Now, if he really wanted Tyler to die, he could have shot Tyler directly and imagined his death, which would have lead to the end of Tyler.

Is this shooting scene in the significance of "Fight Club" where the narrator wanted to shoot himself just with the spirit of hurting himself? Does this indicate that Narrator and Tyler became one at the end?

Was that shot really needed to kill Tyler? What would have happened if Tyler also got shot in his mouth and was alive instead of getting shot in his head?

I have attempted the plot-explanation, but I watched the movie only once long back... I would be glad if someone can expand this/ explain this even better. Thanks!

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The narrator does attempt to shoot Tyler and fails in the attempt. Remember the last fight scene between the two, where the narrator tries to defuse the bomb. – KeyBrd Basher Apr 22 at 6:31
You probably didn't read the question. That was not what I was asking for... ;) – Forbidden Overseer May 7 at 11:41
I know thats not what you asked, thats why my post is a comment and not an answer. My comment was directed towards this statement in your question he could have shot Tyler directly....... – KeyBrd Basher May 7 at 12:47
The Narrator realizes many things about his condition and Tyler at the very end of the movie (when he realizes for instance that the gun is in his hand instead). This means that the Narrator is in the control of his brain now, and not Tyler. During the fight scene, it was clearly under Tyler's control, which is why he couldn't kill Tyler. What I meant in the question was: at the end, when Narrator had the control and wanted Tyler to "really listen to him", he could have shot Tyler directly this time - and it might have worked this time, because his body was under his control. ;) – Forbidden Overseer May 8 at 10:22

1 Answer

up vote 12 down vote accepted

The purpose of the end scene of the movie is to have the Narrator finally conquer his 'problems' in the form of killing Tyler.

He cannot simply shoot at him as he is just a hallucination of his own mind and the bullet would just fly off into nothing. While before beating him up would have worked, it was just a physical representation of a mental battle. By bringing in an actual object into the fray, his attempts at Tyler's life are pointless.

We see the Narrator finally realize that he has been in control all along and this is why he is presented able to take the gun from Tyler, because he is the one actually holding the gun.

It is then he realizes that he must follow Tyler's own advice and "hit bottom". Only by doing so, is he able to control his own body and "kill" Tyler. To hit bottom he realizes he must do something life-threatening and plain insane.

Whereas the bullet only blew a hole in his cheek, it was his mental F--- You to Tyler, showing him that he can take care of himself now, which is why the bullet is shown to have gone through the back of Tyler's head, killing him.

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It seems like Narrator can't control what happens to Tyler throughout the movie. If he could do that he could have killed Tyler by shooting him directly, because Tyler is just his imagination and imagining him to be shot would kill Tyler. Now, hurting himself and showing the spirit was what he should do in order to show his spirit to Tyler and seek his confirmation from him to leave the body. contd. in next comment... – Forbidden Overseer Jun 28 '12 at 21:43
This sort of taking confirmation from Tyler was needed to kill him, and the Narrator had to become "someone else" to do this. The cognitive dissonance from which Tyler was born, was beaten back and the death of Tyler came next... Adding this explanation to your answer would make it better TylerDurden... oops! @TylerShads... ;) – Forbidden Overseer Jun 28 '12 at 21:43
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@ForbiddenOverseer - Tyler was more a split personality than an imaginary friend, albeit sometimes visible to the Narrator. Tyler would take control of the Narrator's body when he slept which started happening more and more often throughout the film. Once he realized this, the Narrator decided that going through the motions of suicide was the only way to kill Tyler. He had already fired the gun at Tyler to no effect. Tyler had to believe he was killing himself. I believe that's the significance of the line "Tyler, I want you to really listen to me." – David Harkness Jul 1 '12 at 22:01
@DavidHarkness: +1 for Tyler was more a split personality than imaginary friend. Nice point of view! – Forbidden Overseer Jul 3 '12 at 1:36

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