Character Analysis
Dude Looks Like a Lady
Aside from Marla and Chloe, every named character in this movie is a man. Bob is a man, too. A man with boobs. Our narrator explains, "Bob had b****-tits."
The reason Bob is bustier than Jayne Mansfield is because he was "a juicer," a bodybuilder who took steroids. It shrunk his testicles, and his chest grew in response to testosterone treatments. Emasculated, he finds help at the testicular cancer support group.
There he meets our narrator. He hugs him to his chest, and our narrator cries:
NARRATOR: And that was where I fit […] between those huge sweating tits that hung enormous, the way you think of God's as big.
To our narrator, Bob is kind of the perfect human being. He is both man and woman. He is masculine at fight club, and nurturing with the pillowy hugs. Everything a guy needs?
Bob is Dead
Sadly, Bob doesn't survive. He joins Project Mayhem, helped by our narrator, and ends up getting shot doing "homework" for Tyler. In death, though, Bob lives on as a method of inspiration for Project Mayhem. The nameless men, the space monkeys in black, who work for Project Mayhem chant Bob's name for motivation.
THE MECHANIC: In Project Mayhem, we have no names. […] In death, a member of Project Mayhem has a name. His name is Robert Paulson.
"His name is Robert Paulson" becomes their chant. Ironically, by memorializing Bob and giving him a name, they take away his identity. He becomes more of an abstract icon, an icon the members of Project Mayhem practically worship, than an actual human being.