What Does The Ending Of Fight Club Really Mean?

The Loneliness Of The Modern World

In reaction to the system gradually grinding him down, the Narrator created himself an alter ego, and perhaps not just because said alter ego would free him to finally say and do everything he ever wanted. See, strip away the psychosis, the violence, the cynicism and the anger and you're left with a story about a man looking for a connection; and with Tyler Durden around, the Narrator no longer has to spend every waking minute alone. The Narrator interacts with other characters in Fight Club before he first 'meets' Tyler, sure, but not in any meaningful way. At work he's next-to-invisible, while at the support groups he still appears disconnected, isolated even in company; then he creates Tyler for himself, filling the hole in his life brought on by a society he doesn't care for and that doesn't care about him. Tyler isn't real, but nobody's perfect - he's at least exciting and interesting, offering a close friendship and an idea for a community that brings together men like the Narrator. That the Narrator feels the need to create Tyler is a sign of mental illness for sure, but it's also a damning indictment of how cripplingly lonely contemporary life can be: the Narrator craves companionship so much that he's willing to put up with Tyler right up until the very end, when it's already too late to prevent Tyler's final act of terrorism.