Book 5 Gone Girl "Spoilers"

The Stages of Amy Dunne in Gone Girl

Stage 1. Amy and Nick have a great relationship, they feel really close and alike. It is hard for either of them to get angry at each other, no matter what the situation. Even when Nick doesn’t show up at the get together with her friends, they say they don’t like “Dancing monkeys” which they call husbands who have to do many tasks for their wife to make them happy. While Amy and Nick are just happy to be together.

Stage 2. After they both lose their jobs, they begin getting more irritated with each other. Nick seems to always get his way and convinces Amy that marriage is about compromise. When Nick convinces Amy to move to a small town in Missouri, he doesn’t even let her bring her bed.

Stage 3.Amy starts to resent Nick for not being the perfect husband. Like never remembering their past experiences when Amy created a treasure hunt leading Nick to all the great moments they had. Also Nick and Amy’s tensions were never higher, constantly fighting and slowly falling apart from each other. Unlike at the beginning of their marriage when they thought everything was perfect and easy because they loved each other so much and their scenario was perfect, each had their jobs as writer’s still, now Amy is stuck in the house and Nick working in a bar.

Stage 4. Amy’s bad experiences with Nick all build up, she starts devising her plan a year in advance, blind from her hatred for Nick for not being a good spouse. She wants to make him suffer, she creates a fake diary trying to convince anyone who reads it that she believes Nick actually wanted to kill her saying he had become violent and possessive, even making her try to buy a gun. She planned to create a scene to look like someone was murdered. Covering every small detail to make sure there was no chance of being caught. She made clues to lead Nick to start to love her again, just another attempt to control Nick, even though he thinks it is too late since she already talked about their marriage deteriorating.

Stage 5. Amy at this point has become completely psycho, only wanting Nick to suffer, even if it cost her life. She was willing to drown herself when she ran out of money, making it harder for Nick to get out of his current situation. She starts manipulating her first boyfriend, which is easy since he is so obsessed with her. She hates him and doesn’t care about his feelings or life. He holds her hostage for a while, not feeding her much because she had gained weight. Amy is so emotionally unstable at this point that when she sees Nick on the TV, describing his failures as a husband and their love becoming more and more distant. She falls in love with him once again, despite the chance that he might be lying, her captor won’t let her leave, he loves her too much to let her go again. Even after she framed his mother of attacking her many years ago, he was still obsessed with Amy, only wanting her in the world. Amy at this point only wants what she gets, which is what she always got growing up being the daughter of two successful parents who wrote a book about her. She kills him with no regard for his life.

Stage 6. Amy gets back home and manipulates everyone except for Nick. He knows she framed him and is a cold blooded murder, he can’t just say it, no one will believe him. He also realizes he can’t just leave her, doing that would cause him to be alone for the rest of his life, he gets angry and violent, threatening Amy. She also reveals she is pregnant to Nick, knowing he won’t leave, he won’t be like his dad. She finally did it, she controlled Nick and can have him do whatever she wants, Nick had finally become her dancing monkey.