Manipulation is a powerful tool often used in an unfair manner to control the influence of someone or something. Gillian Flynn incorporated the most important theme of manipulation in Gone Girl to occur through Amy, Nick, and the media. Amy manipulates everyone into believing Nick is guilty, Nick manipulates Amy to come home, while the media influence the public opinion. The theme of manipulation is mainly shown through the character Amy Dunne. She manipulates everyone surrounding her into believing what she wants them to. Amy makes a fake journal and fills it with nothing but lies to make Nick look guilty. “I catch him looking at me with those watchful eyes, the eyes of an insect, pure calculation, and I think: This man might kill me. So …show more content…
She tries to manipulate Nick to stay with her and insanely enough he did in the end. Although Amy is evil, she is still very intelligent and incorporates her knowledge of psychology. Throughout the novel, she is often successful with her manipulation as she appears to be this charismatic and beautiful woman in which people believe she really is a good person. Amy has Nick on a string the whole novel and then proves it to him at the end of the treasure hunt when she gives him the Punch and Judy puppets. The puppets symbolize the crime Amy framed Nick for. They also symbolize how each puppet needs a puppet master and this is what Amy is to Nick. She is able to fool everyone into thinking and feeling what she wants them to, without them even knowing. She takes the craziness to the next level when she plots to frame Nick by creating seven years worth of diary entries, a scavenger hunt for their fifth anniversary and making a crime scene in their kitchen. It is still hard to believe she did this all just to get revenge on Nick for having an affair. In the start of the novel, Nick uses a simile talking about Amy’s thoughts, "Her thoughts shuttling through those coils like fast, frantic centipedes" (Gone Girl 3). He uses this simile to explain the way he believes Amy’s brain to work. He uses
At the beginning of the story, Amy is a gangly and awkward pre-teen, not caring what others think, playing in mud, and painting on her skin with the blue clay from the creek. As summer comes to an end, Amy stops dressing in her grungy t-shirts and cut off jean shorts, and more like her popular preppy friends at school, as it is more important to her that she wears what her friends wear, rather than what she likes to wear. At school, all of her friends’ names end with an “i”, so hers changes to
Then there’s Matthew, he is one of the four peer helpers that Amy has her mom hire to help her throughout Senior year. But Matthew also his his own baggage that he carries with him. You see he has a mild case of OCD that makes him feel like terrible things will happen
While a handful of the female characters are considered attractive in the novella, they will never reach the same level of attractiveness as Amy due to the fact that they cling to gender norms too much.
4). Nick’s assessment and criticism toward Jordan, Tom, and Daisy also show his skeptical and logical outlook on others around him. This tone shows Nick’s struggle between being like the emotionless and careless people around him (like Tom) or to be his own hopeful and romantic man (following
Amy states, “I’ll do any or everything to get a baby” (77). Her eagerness leads her to seek solace in another man, Holland Winchester. This adulterous affair results in an ill-conceived child. Billy is not a trouble-making man until trouble finds him shortly after he discovers the affair between his wife and Holland. Billy asks Amy angrily, “Whose child is it?” (116) and he eagerly waits for Amy’s reply. Amy replies Billy, “It’s my child, Billy. But it can be ours if you want” (118). After hearing this, Billy truly doesn’t know what to do and he takes a promise from Amy that she will never be with Holland again. Thus, though Billy is angry at his wife at one moment, he doesn’t want to loose her wife, so he compromises the situation. Moreover, Billy also tries to understand Amy’s situation and remembers how Amy chose him to be her husband regardless of his abnormal leg. Figuring out all situation, Billy forgive his wife and accept her child as his own. Thus, Billy is a good man who understands and loves his wife and becomes a hero for his
Manipulation is a very powerful word. People use this tactic everyday to get what they want in life. By deceiving people or tricking them into seeing a certain point of view, people gain power. To skillfully use the power of manipulation a person must use another person's weaknesses. By using a person's emotions against them, they can be manipulated with ease. In Shakespeare's Othello, the character of Iago uses these tactics almost to perfection to achieve his goals.
To make matter worst, Amy finds out her husband was having a long distance online affair, 2000 miles away for 10 months with a woman named Sharon. After finding out of the affair, Amy, kicks Mike out of the house. Trying to keep the household together, and trying to keep her together. Amy encounters one of her worst, most stressful days and at the verge of her sanity, she still pulls in together. But that was not enough; Amy makes it (late) to the school’s PTA meeting, where she is ‘voluntold’ by Gwendolyn, the PTA president, that she would be in charge of the gluten free, wheat free, sugar free, everything free, baked sales. Amy quits the PTA, she quits everything, and she just feels
In the beginning of the novel, we see her interact with her husband as they are struggling to survive in their middle class social system. It’s easy to dislike Amy Reardon; although she maintains a household, for a while, she cares more about her image than her actual marriage. However, if one considers that during this era image meant everything, Amy’s character becomes more relatable. Amy’s husband ultimately expects too much from his wife. As a writer who refuses to write anything but volumes in a literary changing world, he gives Amy no choice but to leave him. Amy expects little from her husband except the maintenance of a middle class lifestyle, including: a maid, stylish, new clothes, and attendance at societal parties. At the beginning of their marriage, Amy married Edwin Reardon thinking that one day he would be an established, well-off writer. However, due to his stubbornness, he begins declination in wealth quickly. Amy pushes her husband to write something (anything, really) to bring in money. In fact, after he asks her if they can move to a smaller, cheaper place, she urges him “but think what it means, to give up our home and position. That is open confession of failure. It would be horrible” (86). Amy would rather Edwin sacrifices artistic views/ideology in order for her to live comfortably. But in the world the Reardon’s live in, image means everything; therefore, Amy doesn’t
He brought her into his home and at first seemed to truly love her. Not soon after it was obvious that she was trapped in his home with no hope of escape. A small bump in her plan of being reunited with Nick, but she was prepared to stop at nothing. She injured herself to appear as she had been brutally raped. Then when Desi came home presented herself to him in a manner that he would attempt to sleep with her. While they were having sex, Amy took her chance and slit his throat. Sometimes love is strong enough to drive one mad. Mad enough to even commit a
One question I have about this book is why Nick has been cheating on Amy. I think he cheated on her because, work was getting harder and he just wasn’t happy with Amy anymore. Nick also has a drinking problem and
Amy was extremely eager to succeed, no challenge was too daunting for her. I have found Amy to be a diligent student who is more than willing to stand up to any challenge she has to face. Amy has no trouble handling problems outside her comfort
...ad at Amy for being so negative toward him. The fact that he buried their child with his own two hands, and goes on each day like nothing ever happened makes Amy very mad. He also stays mad at
“The scars from mental cruelty can be as deep and long-lasting as the wounds from punches and slaps, but are often not as obvious,” (Bancroft, Why Does He Do That?) shows the poisonous and toxic relationship between Nick Dunne and wife Amy Elliot-Dunne. In the novel, Gone Girl, it soon becomes rather obvious that they both having a pernicious influence on each other, to the point, that they sought each other out no matter the condition. In the modern world, obsession has been an extremely common theme. Gone Girl shows Amy, who prides herself on being preeminent due to being Amazing Amy, and how her self-righteousness reveals more about the man Nick truly is, misogynist and violent. Therefore, though they are like a cat and mouse nipping at each other, they still need each other to live despite Amy’s manipulation and Nick’s abusiveness. They are a beautifully crafted cocktail of venom and deception.
Based on her impulsive actions, and sudden fear of being abandoned by someone, she shows signs of borderline personality disorder. She also experienced unstable relationships with people (spoiler alert) like the man she was friends with and eventually killing him, framing him as a rapist and emotional abuser. Amy Dunne also experienced symptoms of Munchausen Syndrome. This syndrome is a mental disorder where a person repeatedly acts as if he/she is physically/mentally ill. In Gone girl, this is an ongoing issue for Amy Dunne. (spoiler alert) Not only does she paint the image that she is dead to her husband and family, but creating a new identity, and causing harm to herself and others. I rate this film a 4 out of 4 stars. It had me on the edge of my seat the entire time and kept me guessing even after seeing the
Amy, the youngest of the four sisters, only partially realizes this towards the beginning of the novel and does not truly finish this realization until the very end of the novel when she and Laurie become married. In chapter seven, Amy brings a bag of limes to school because many of her classmates make