When the narrator meets Bob again after seeing Marla, how come Bob doesn't recognize him?
After seeing Marla, the narrator meets Bob again. Bob still greets him as Cornelius and says "we all thought you were dead", referring to the support groups he used to go to, so it is clear that Bob has not seen the narrator since the support groups. Then Bob reveals that he goes to fight clubs on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The narrator says he goes on Saturdays.
Upon first seeing the film this makes sense. Presumably Tyler runs the club alone on Tuesdays and Thursdays while the narrator either runs the club or just goes along with Tyler on Saturdays. However, given the plot twist, how could Bob go to fight club and not recognize the narrator?
I've thought that perhaps the narrator (either as himself or as Tyler) might have not run the club on Tuesdays and Thursdays but that doesn't really seem to make sense given the whole feel of the club with the ritualistic rule-giving which I doubt would be given by anyone except the leader as well as later on when the narrator talks about how he owned fight club as much as Tyler did in the scene before the car crash.
I've also considered that perhaps he dressed differently when he was acting as Tyler alone but even in his flashbacks when he realizes that he and Tyler are the same person, he never appears as Tyler to others. He always appears looking like himself in Tyler's position.
Am I incorrectly dismissing one of these explanations or have I missed something?
Best Answer
There is a clue to this in the dialogue of the movie itself, where Tyler and the Narrator are discussing their fathers:
Narrator: I don't know my dad. I mean, I know him, but... he left when I was like six years old. Married this other woman, had some other kids. He like did this every six years, he goes to a new city and starts a new family.
Tyler Durden: Fucker's setting up franchises.
There is no need for the Narrator/Tyler to be present at every Fight Club, as evidenced by the fact that after Tyler sets up the 'Franchises' across the country they operate autonomously, without their leader present.
In the conversation between Bob and The Narrator, its clear that Bob hasn't met Tyler himself, as he speaks about him in hushed tones, almost reverently and only in hearsay...
Bob: Have you heard about the guy that invented this thing?
Narrator: Well, uh, yeah, actually. L...
Bob: I hear all kinds of things. Supposedly... he was born in a mental institution. And he sleeps only one hour a night.
It's clear that Bob has never met Tyler, and it's also demonstrated in the film that the Clubs are able to operate without the presence of Tyler. Doing the math, it's just as simple as Tyler has never been in the same club as Bob.
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Fight Club: Deal With Marla (1999) [HD]
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Answer 2
The Club in Newcastle was opened by neither Tyler nor Jack. Since that's where Bob went (according to the script), Bob couldn't have seen them there:
JACK Local 8 just started in Penns Grove. And, Bob said he was at fight club in Newcastle last week. TYLER Newcastle? Did you start that one? JACK I thought you did.
Answer 3
Um, when that Lou guy goes to kick them out of his basement, Bob is there.
Brad Pitt confronts Lou and introduces himself as Tyler Durden, which no one disputes. At this point, Bob should know, and I'd think that he'd have asked "Cornelius" why he never told him.
(unless he learned in his first fight but didn't say much about it besides "thank you for this")
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