It is clear that society has created a sense of alienation for a generation of men who feel like lost boys and unsure of what it truly means to be a man. Most of these men have lacked a parental father figure in their lives. Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club and Pat Barker's Regeneration provide an analysis of men growing up fatherless and the lifelong effects this has on the male, including the effects of their sense of masculinity. Fight Club and Regeneration are a warning of what happens in a society where there is no paternal archetype that men can draw inspiration from. In an interview with the author, Palahniuk, said he intended the story as a warning about what can happen when an entire segment of a culture is disenfranchised. He explains why he was moved to write the book: "I wanted to acknowledge what my friends were complaining about, about being let down by their fathers, and document what's going on in our lives." (Singleton, 143) Regeneration and Fight Club are both about men without a parental father figure and how it affects their lives. From this analysis, it is evident that these men feel alienated, emasculated, and seek guidance by participating in homosexual or homosocial activities. Men are looked down upon by their society for not abiding by the gender norms that society deems right. Men are not allowed to discuss their feelings or emotions without being classified as weak or feminine. Chuck Palahniuk and Pat Barker try to break the stereotype that men must be tough and emotionless and encourage men to express their feelings and, in general, what it's like to grow up without a father. The alienation created by growing up without a father provokes the men in these novels. look for a... medium of paper... their feelings and emotions, which emasculated men in their eyes. For example, Willard is the man who cannot walk. He is so embarrassed and feels so emasculated by his condition that he refuses to believe he has anything other than a physical problem. Rivers assures Willard that "a coward needs his legs." (Barker, 112). Despite the fact that patients feel weakened by the treatment methods, Rivers achieves positive results, which help his patients lead normal lives again. Ultimately, Barker's exploration of emasculation in the novel challenges traditional notions of manhood. Works CitedBarker, Pat. Regeneration. London: Penguin Books, 1991. Palahniuk, Chuck. Fight club. New York: Norton and Company, 1996. Singleton, William. “Pacific Graduate Institute.” The archetype of the father and the myth of the fatherless son 12 (2007): 135-145.