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Tyler’s Kiss
The Narrator has one telltale feature: a birthmark on his foot. As a younger man, the Narrator learns that the birthmark greatly resembles (but is not) an early-stage tumor, which could have engulfed his entire body, killing him. The birthmark symbolizes the constant presence of death in the Narrator’s life: the birthmark is a reminder that the Narrator could be dying of cancer right now. The Narrator’s most unique feature—the one that allows strangers to identify him to a certainty, and which thus plays a convenient role in the novel’s plot—is his birthmark, an essentially meaningless part of his body, over which he exercises no control. Thus, the birthmark could be said to symbolize the Narrator’s uniqueness (as opposed to Tyler’s kiss, which is shared by of Tyler’s followers), but also the flimsiness of the very concept of individuality.
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Birthmark Symbol Timeline in Fight Club
The timeline below shows where the symbol Birthmark appears in Fight Club. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 13
...have a wart removed from his penis. During his time there, the doctors noticed the birthmark on his ankle—a birthmark that they at first thought was a new, lethal form of...
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...he had sex with her. As he tells the story, The Narrator thinks about the birthmark on his foot—a birthmark that could have been cancer. He also notices that Marla has...
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Chapter 21
...into a fucking legend, man.” He also tells the Narrator that he knows about the birthmark on the Narrator’s foot. The Narrator is stunned—the only people on the planet who know...
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