Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Gone Girl, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Secrets and Lies
Marriage
Misogyny
Writing, Storytelling, and Narrative
Summary
Analysis
Amy is realizing that she needs to be more careful about her husband—Nick is not as “tame” as he used to be. She needs to put one more “spectacular precaution” in place to ensure that he’ll stay in line and meet all of her demands.
Amy wants to ensure she has total control over her husband. She knows how much is at stake if he slips and needs to guarantee his total loyalty.
Themes
Each day since her return, Amy has entertained visits from her parents. They lavish her with careful attention, treating her like a breakable doll, and Nick follows suit, playing along. Amy senses that Nick is about to “burst” with the truth about her—she knows she needs to keep him on her side to keep her story intact. She knows that Boney is itching to arrest her, but is also aware that the cops have earned themselves a reputation for having botched things so badly the first time around that they’ll need something concrete to nail her. Amy has made allowances in her story for the possibility that Jeff and Greta might come nosing around, telling police that Desi kept her tied up in some sort of motel for days. She’s done all she can to discredit anyone who might speak out against her—including Nick.
Amy is safe at home, but can’t stop her brain from turning over all the possible ways in which the truth could still come to light. She is always one step ahead of everybody, and prepared for the worst. The one person she can’t entirely control or evade, however, is her own husband, Nick. The two of them are closer than anyone—and yet know each other less and less, it seems, each day.
Themes
As the investigation winds down, Amazing Amy sales pick up—Rand and Marybeth have secured a book deal for a new entry in the series, and though Amy is angry that they are once again “squatting on [her] psyche” to earn money, she doesn’t care as much as she used to. Her own phone is ringing off the hook with writers, reporters, and journalists desperate to have Amy tell them her story.
Though Amy is forced to watch her parents once again take up a pen and write the story of her life, for once she revels in the idea that she might have a chance to tell her version of things as well.
Themes
Amy knows that Nick hasn’t fallen back in love with her yet—but has faith that he will. They’re both acting like their old selves, but neither seems to truly believe the other’s charade. In time, Amy thinks, she’ll wear him down—she’ll get him to sleep with her again, hold her again, and she’ll slowly “invade every part of him” like a creeping vine.
Amy makes her intentions clear in this passage: she wants to break Nick down and break down the walls between them until he is completely under her spell—and control.
Themes
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