Gone Girl

Gone Girl

by

Gillian Flynn

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Gone Girl: 48. Amy Elliott Dunne, Eleven Days Gone Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
Amy settles in to watch Nick’s Sharon Schieber interview. She wishes she could watch it alone, but Desi will not leave her side. Though Desi brings Amy fine groceries and delicious wine, she feels like his captive, subject to his total control.
Desi is lavishing Amy with attention, good food, and fine things, but it doesn’t change the fact that she’s effectively his prisoner.
Themes
Misogyny Theme Icon
Amy watches the interview, rapt and focused. She realizes that Nick is wearing a tie she bought him, and hangs on his every word as he describes what a bad husband he was, and how much he wants Amy back. Desi offers snarky remarks at everything Nick says, but Amy is totally sucked in by Nick’s honey-sweet words of devotion and promises that if Amy were to return he’d do anything it took to win her love back. Desi clicks the interview off, warning Amy that Nick is lying—but all Amy can focus on is that Nick is finally saying the things she’s wanted to hear for years.
Even though just a couple of weeks ago Amy was hell-bent on punishing her husband for everything he’d done to her, watching him gush about his devotion to her—watching him transform into the man she first fell in love with—is enough to convince her that she needs to backtrack.
Themes
Secrets and Lies Theme Icon
Marriage Theme Icon
Writing, Storytelling, and Narrative Theme Icon
After the interview is over, Amy admits to herself that she wants to go back to her old life. She begins dreaming of what could be in store for her if she returns to Nick—they could move back to New York with the money gained from the “skyrocket[ing]” Amazing Amy sales in the last ten days, and resume their normal lives. Amy misses Nick, and how the two of them just “fit together.” She becomes determined to get home to him any way she can.
Amy sees the old Nick and is pretty much immediately convinced of the fact that if she returns to him, things will go back to the way they used to be at the beginning of their relationship. Amy is certain that she can still achieve perfection in her marriage—but knows she’ll have to escape her present circumstances in order to get that second chance.
Themes
Secrets and Lies Theme Icon
Marriage Theme Icon
Writing, Storytelling, and Narrative Theme Icon