Group 4: Character Analysis - Amy Elliot

Dunne
Gone girl is a thriller novel written by Gillian Flynn. Published in
June 2012, it soon made the New York Time best-seller list, and later
adapted into film with the same name in 2014. The mystery about two
main characters, Amy and her husband Nick is the most important factor
that contributes to the novels success. The couple counter difficult
periods in their marriage, as they are respectively made redundant and
end up relocating to Nicks hometown. Conflicts emerge more and more.
On their fifth wedding anniversary, Amy goes missing, allegedly dead.
Nick becomes a suspect for apparently reliable evidence. However, the
truth is that Amy is trying to inflict death penalty on Nick for his affair.
After seeing Nick's emotional pleas for her to return home on TV, Amy
plots to frame Desi for rape, murder him and escape. The novel ends as
Amy gives birth and keeps going to great lengths taking control over her
husband.
Some may be terrified by what Amy Elliot Dunne has done. But it
is undeniable that Amy is an outstanding unique protagonist who both
frightens and captivates readers. The following analysis of this character
will provide more insights into Gillian Flynns great work.
Amy Elliott Dunne is the type of perfect girl that normal girls easily
get jealous of but cannot help admire and wish to be like her. It is hard to
explain her attractiveness in just one word. Perfect, rigid, demanding,
brilliant, creative, fascinating, rapacious, and megalomaniac is what
Nick reluctantly describes his cool girl. Her perfection is even more
adorned by the fact that she was the inspiration for the popular
children's book series - Amazing Amy. Yet far from a flat character, Amy
has many more faces to tell.
She is actually a master manipulator, an expert at mind games,
and always gets her way no matter what. To make Nick fall for her, she
does a pretty good job of sustaining the ideal figment of mens
imaginations the cool girl. Her act is so good that it progresses her
relationship with Nick to the living together level. But living with Nick
winds up showing her who she really is. The marriage built up on the
foundation of lies starts to fall apart. Nicks affair serves as the last touch
bringing the madness to bloom in Amy. Her crave for control over

everything gets worse as the womans mind grows to the stage of

psychological obsession. Amy thinks she possesses Nick. For Amy, once
Nick betrays her, extreme revengeincluding framing her husband for
murder, is completely justified. The noted development of this character
is that Amy has grown into unhesitatingly sacrificing her perfection and
even committing crime to fulfill her controlling desire. The night before
her baby is due, Amy reflects on how "A year ago today, I was undoing
my husband. Now I am almost done reassembling him"
Moreover, it still amazes me that an anti-heroine like Amy can
have such a great influence on other characters. Despite Nicks
resentment towards Amy, he never kills her. Of course we can take into
account the fact that Nick does not want to be a killer or he cannot
outwit Amy. But Nick himself admits Amy was toxic, yet I couldnt
imagine a world without her entirely. Who would I be with Amy just
gone? Amy forms what Nick has become and what he sees in woman.
Without Amy, Nick is not Nick any more. Furthermore, Nicks twin sister,
Tanner Bolt and Rhonda Boney, not to mention Tommy OHara and Desi
Collings all experience more or less difficult life period or changing life
perspective, which is all attributed to Amy Elliot Dunne. It is fair to say
Amy is truly amazing.
The fact that both Amy and Nick are writers does have some
influences on the presentation of characters. First of all, people working
in literary field tend to have a more idealized view of love and marriage
than others do. In the first place, both of them mesmerize each other in
the whirlwind of tempting romance. When Amy falls for Nick, she is
masquerading as a hot, sexy woman who is super intelligent and
hilarious, while Nick acts like a gentleman who is witty, sweet and caring.
However, the reality of marriage starts to unveil their masks. The illusion
of a perfect couple in a classic love story is downright smashed.
The cruel truth seems to take a greater toll on Amy. Being the
real-life version of a beloved fictional character really damages Amy's
sense of adequacy. For her, perfectionism, competition, and love of
attention prove to be a deadly concoction. Nick betrays her; she loses a
part of her perfect life. An idealist as she is, a lost part means the whole
thing lost. A cunning writer as she has always been, she write downs a
plan to punish and conquer the one who imperfections her life.

The story of Amy demonstrates the negative side of perfectionism.

The wild goose chase for perfection in life just distorts our beautiful
selves and drives us to madness. No matter how successful and famous
Nick and Amy are, they end up destroying each other. Especially, Amy is
the typical icon of a generation that is mal-molded by parents who raise
their children with the idea that perfection, success and fame are the
goals of life.