The Theme Of Cruelty In Nick Dunne's Gone Girl

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“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. Nick and Amy fit together like puzzle pieces, even if those pieces are in disarray. …show more content…

I am a little too much, and he is a little too little. I am a thornbush, bristling from the over attention of my parents and he is a man of a million little fatherly stab wounds, and my thorns fit perfectly into them. I need to get home to him.” (Flynn, Gone Girl, pg 353) Amy and Nick are the perfect balance for each other, Amy gladly makes up for Nick’s lacking features. Due to this fact, Amy and Nick need each other to make up for both of their flawed characteristics. Also, on the topic of Nick’s now prevalent personality that is now extremely similar to his abusive father, Amy mocks Nick with her belittling words to set him

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