Gillian Flynn's Yours Truly, Gone Girl

Yours Truly, The Gone Girl

Authored by The New York Times bestselling novelist Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl is an alarming look at the downfall of a fragile and crooked marriage characterized by infidelity, discontent, resentment, and, ultimately, psychopathy. The couple’s toxic relationship culminating in tragedy, Nick Dunn arrives home on his fifth wedding anniversary to find his house ransacked and his wife Amy missing. As the police dive into a high stakes investigation in the presumed kidnapping of Amy, the public, police and even the reader begin to question Nick’s love and devotion to his wife as every piece of evidence uncovered seems to highlight Nick’s flaws. Implementing a new technique in modern literature, Gillian Flynn manipulates

With Amy narrating, she describes how Nick is upset yet he does not cry in the face of family tragedy. Expounding upon this idea, Amy states that she’s never seen her husband cry, which in essence dehumanizes Nick making him seem capable of murdering his wife. As Nick casually reveals to Amy that his father also has an advanced case of Alzheimer’s, Gillian crafts Amy’s diary to demonstrate Nick’s overpowering nature and direct the reader’s attention to the sacrifice’s Amy makes for Nick. When Amy questions Nick’s decision to not tell his own spouse about his father’s decreasing mental state, Nick barks at Amy with a look that Amy describes as, “...that look, like I am being unreasonable, like he is so sure I am being unreasonable that I wonder if I am” (Flynn 99). Employing the use of pathos to persuade the audience, every diary entry is an emotional plea to feel for Amy and, this instance is no exception. As Nick talks to Amy, he adopts a tone that can be described as authoritarian. Cutting Amy off as she speaks, making important decisions without Amy’s honest input, and shooting Amy passive aggressive looks all contribute to the tone chosen for Nick to kindle the desired feeling of hatred towards him. Amy’s tone within her diary, on the other hand, is pleading: pleading for her husband to love her again, pleading for her life to return to its initial serenity,

It’s just so far from what I pictured. When I pictured my life. That’s not to say it’s bad...” (Flynn 100). Once again synthesizing pathos, Amy’s brief self-talk is an effective device Flynn uses to show Amy’s doubt yet longing to trust the man she once loved and his decision making. As the couple packs the moving truck, Flynn uses interesting words to describe the ordeal, more specifically the U-Haul itself, “The U-Haul sits for hours, blocking traffic on our little street, blinking its hazard lights- danger, danger, danger” (Flynn 100). The direct repetition of the word danger is unmistakable foreshadowing that insinuates that moving to Missouri would only jeopardize the safety of their relationship and their physical well-being. As the couple brings furniture to the U-Haul, Nick ignores the hurt Amy feels emotionally and physically as he obstinately drags pieces of their old home down the stairs. Flynn, weaving symbols into the passage, writes that Nick averts his gaze as to not make eye contact with Amy on multiple occasions. This is noteworthy because in modern literature eyes often are a representation of a couple’s love and, by not making eye contact, Nick foreshadows a loss of devotion (Ferber). Another relevant symbol in the passage is the significance of Nick