Tyler calls soap "the foundation of civilization" and tells the narrator that "the first soap was made from the ashes of heroes". Tyler tells a story about soap, saying that there used to be pyres where dead bodies were burnt as human sacrifices, the water combined with the wood ashes to become a solution of lye and the bodies provided the fat and a thick white discharge slowly found its way into the river. People soon found out that if they washed their clothes at this spot it would get cleaner. Before this people washed their clothes and hair with urine. This story and the act of stealing fat from Marla’s mother are both symbols which make it clear that something people believe to be good and wholesome can actually be disgusting, and that
