The Theme Of Cruelty In Nick Dunne's Gone Girl

“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.

“Nick and I fit together.

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

off.
“I’m the woman that makes you better, Nick.”
He stops talking then. He is using all of his energy to keep his hands at his side. His eyes are wet with tears. He is shaking.
“I’m the woman that makes you a man.”
Then his hands are on my [Amy’s] neck. (Flynn, Gone Girl, pg 395)
Amy and Nick have known each other for 7 years so at this point, Amy knows exactly which buttons to push to make him explode while he knows who the true Amy is. If they were to leave each other, would there be another person who would work so perfectly well with either one of them? Both are demanding and rigid, always fighting for control and to dominate the other. It’s unlikely that there’s anyone else who would work so well with Amy or Nick, the way that they handle each other.
The Dunne’s are forever, always slipping into a never ending black hole. At least in the end, they had each other as they lost themselves to insanity..
“Because she was right: As a man. I had been my most impressive when I loved her —and I was my next best self when I hated her. I had known Amy only 7 years but I couldn’t go back to a life without her. Because she was right: I couldn’t return to an average life.” (Flynn, Gone Girl, pg 396-397) At this point, all Nick knows is Amy. If he moved on, he’d compare everyone to Amy, which is a megalomanic manipulator. She’s all he knows and he’ll cling on to her. Amy is like Nick’s home, he needs someone to piece him back together and the only person around to do it is her. Nick describes their relationship as forever and a never-ending war.
“I am the one to root for in the never-ending story of our marriage. It’s a story I can live with. At this point, I can’t imagine my story without Amy. She is my forever antagonist
We are one long frightening climax.” (Flynn, Gone Girl, pg 413) Nick says that one long turning point but without her, he’s nothing. He’s very much dependent of her, and Amy holds him like a puppet master. Therefore, they cannot live without each other. They’re in the position where there’s no going back to an average life.