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Allison Rinehimer
Dr. Fee
Intro to Literature
5 December 2014
Success of Atypical Marriages
In Gillian Flynn’s novel, Gone Girl, the marriage of Nick and Amy suffers from acts of
lies and deceit, overpowering desires for revenge, and manipulation of the corresponding spouse.
The reader questions the union of Nick and Amy throughout the entire novel due to its unfaithful
counterparts and unpassionate nature. The message of Gone Girl suggests that a marriage does
not have to be based on love to last; a marriage can withstand a series of unkind acts, entrapment,
and shrewd efforts intended to gain control and still remain intact. A marriage, the legal union of
a man and a woman, in no way suggests the need for mutual attraction or appreciation of one
another.
Nick and Amy are deceitful to each another. Nick was portrayed as the deceitful husband
roping along an innocent wife at the beginning of the novel, but in actuality, Amy was the phony
one from the start of their relationship. The majority of society would argue that despite a few
white lies, a married couple must be honest for their marriage to succeed; this was not the case
for Nick and Amy. From the start of their relationship, Amy pretended to be someone she was
not. Amy chose to portray the “Cool Girl” approach to attract Nick and continued the deception
until she eventually secured the spot of his wife. “Being the Cool Girl means I am a hot, brilliant,
funny woman who adores football, poker, dirty jokes, and burping, who plays video games,
drinks cheap beer… and never gets angry; Cool Girls only smile in a chagrined, loving manner
and let their men do whatever they want” (Flynn 222). Upon the disappearance of Amy, Nick
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chose to lie to the detectives and officers handling the case, declaring “that was the 5th lie I told
to the police. I was just starting” (32). To the readers, Nick’s instinct to lie comes across as a
cover for his responsibility in the disappearance of Amy, but in actuality, Nick is guilty of
infidelity. As Amy started to show her true colors and less “Cool Girl” characteristics, Nick fell
into the arms of another woman. Unbeknownst to Nick, Amy knew about the year-long affair
from the start and used all the days following to carefully plan her ultimate revenge.
The dishonesty continues during the main conflict of Gone Girl: Amy’s revenge. Amy’s
desire for revenge stems from the childhood stories written about her entitled Amazing Amy.
However, instead of inscribing Amy’s strengths, the authors, her psychologist parents, used the
Amazing Amy series to spotlight Amy’s weaknesses and blunders throughout her life while
subtlety advising what she should have done. As a consequence, Amy spent her whole life trying
