"Sometimes I feel like Nick has decided on a version of me that doesn't exist. Since we've moved here, I've done girls' nights out and charity walks, I've cooked casseroles for his dad and helped sell tickets for raffles. I tapped the last of my money to give to Nick and Go so they could buy the bar they've always wanted. I don't know what to do. I'm trying." -Amy Dunne, Gone Girl It's easy for anti-feminist proponents to argue that Gone Girl is a misogynistic novel. We see Amy lie about being raped, ruin the lives of several people, murder and frame men, and trap her husband into a loveless marriage. It's easy to say that Amy is an insane psychopath, a monster who hates and wants to punish men. We see her strive to imprison her husband Nick and control every aspect of his life. But though Amy may seem a monster on the surface, as we get to know her, we realize that she is also imprisoned, forced into a certain role by society, her parents, her husband, her ex-boyfriend. Because of this, it's hard to see who Amy really is and why she commits the actions she does. It's easier to label her as a monster than to try to figure out why she frames Nick, but if you dig deeper, you can see that by attempting to destroy Nick's life, Amy is taking back power for herself and for women everywhere. Amy's character exemplifies the struggle that many women go through: other people try to dictate how she should live her life and demand her to play a certain role rather than be who she truly is. Her parents want her to be "Amazing Amy", a perfect version of herself, her husband wants her to pretend to be the Cool Girl, her ex-boyfriend Desi wants her to act as another, younger version of herself. Amy's decision to frame Nick isn't solely based on his cheating on her, it's a buildup of Amy's frustrations with him and all these other people. It's not only about giving Nick the punishment he deserves but also about destroying the whole system in which women are expected to play certain roles. In so many novels and movies, we see how a woman's narrative, spirit, and power can be taken away by this system, but Amy refuses to accept this. While her perfect plan to destroy Nick may ultimately fail, she achieves the justice she had hoped for by the end of the novel. She reduces Nick to the role that women are subjugated to so often: the role of the supporting spouse, the one whose life is dictated before him, the one who isn't allowed to be anyone but who Amy tells him to be. |
GONE GIRL
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AuthorI am a sophomore at RHS. This blog is here to display my thoughts on the novels Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Help, Gone Girl, and Emma. Archives
May 2015
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