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think. But Amy finds out – how, I still don’t know, for all I know, she was staking out my apartment. But …shit …’
Flynn, 2012: 311 The quotation above is based on telephone conversation between Tommy O’
Hara and Nick. It can be indicated in the quotation above that Amy found out Tommy O’ Hara seeing other girls than her. It triggers Amy’s anger so she framed Tommy O’
Hara for raping her. That is why peers become the only reason that causes Amy’s antisocial personality disorder.
Amy also cannot accept the fact that her friend, Hillary Handy, is more popular than her. Handy is invited by their friend a dinner and called by a boy from
other schools while Amy is not. Besides, Handy also knows that the real Amy is not that perfect. It causes Amy to be upset so she wants to punish Handy. It can be clearly
seen through Handy’s statement below. ‘I feel like Amy wanted people to believe she really was perfect. And as we
got to be friends, I got to know her. And she wasn’t perfect. You know? She was brilliant and charming and all that, but she was also controlling and OCD
and a drama queen and a bit of a liar. Which was fine by me. It just wasn’t fine by her. She got rid of me because I knew she wasn’t perfect. It made me
wonder about you.’
Flynn, 2012: 326
Even after her missing, Amy’s parents do not seem to understand that they pressure Amy. They even accept an offer from the publisher to write another series of
Amazing Amy Flynn, 2012: 447. Because her parents keep exploiting her through the character in the book, it is impossible for Amy to be her own self.
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Peer is one of things that cause personality disorder. In Amy case, Amy’s peers keep doing actions that trigger her to strive for perfection, consciously or
unconsciously. Hence, it can be concluded that Amy’s cause of antisocial personality disorder is her peers, i.e. parents, husband, high school boyfriend, and friend.
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CHAPTER V CONCLUSION
After analyzing Flynn’s Gone Girl, the researcher draws some conclusions based on discussion in the previous chapters.
A. Actions and Behaviors of Amy Dunne that Reflect Her Personality
Disorder
In this research, Amy Dunne becomes the main object of the research. Amy is indicated as having antisocial personality disorder if she shows more than three
characteristic of this disorder. In the novel, Amy shows six out of seven characteristics of antisocial personality disorder.
The first characteristic of antisocial personality disorder that Amy shows is failure to conform social norms. She does not really care whether her actions are
appropriate according to social norms or not. She shows it through several actions such as stealing money, spitting on food, and even killing people.
The second characteristic of antisocial personality disorder shown by Amy is deceitfulness. Amy keeps deceiving people around her in various ways. She
manipulates her neighbor, using alias, and also conning other people. Therefore, Amy can be categorized suffering antisocial personality disorder.
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Amy also often acts impulsively which is the third characteristic of antisocial personality disorder. She fails to plan ahead and act without thinking. It causes her to
harm herself or other people. She just wants to achieve her goal without considering the impact of her actions.
Besides the three characteristics above, Amy also shows that she is easily irritated and aggressive. This is the fourth characteristic of antisocial personality
disorder that she shows. It can be indicated by her reactions toward simple things that annoy her. For example, she frames her best friend because she is not invited to the
dinner. It is actually a simple cause but she breaks her ribs because she is irritated. The fifth characteristic of antisocial personality disorder shown by Amy is
reckless disregard for safety of self or others. It is related to her impulsivity. She just acts without thinking about the effect of her actions. Meanwhile, what she did is
actually harmful to other people, and even her own self. Several actions that shows how she is being reckless disregard for safety of self or others are breaking her own
ribs, cutting her arms, poisoning herself, and killing Desi. The last characteristic of antisocial personality disorder which also indicates
Amy’s personality disorder is lack of remorse. Amy smiles when she thinks about her plan in framing Nick. Instead of regretting it, Amy is proud of herself for planning
such brilliant frame to her husband. Besides, she also threatens Nick when he is going to publish his version of the story. She also does not apologize to Nick after framing
him. Those actions indicate that Amy is lack of remorse.
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In order to be diagnosed as having antisocial personality disorder, one should be indicated with three or more characteristics of antisocial personality disorder. At
this point, Amy shows six characteristics of antisocial personality disorder which make her indicated as suffering it.
B. The Cause of Amy’s Personality Disorder
Personality disorder can be caused by several things which are genetics, childhood trauma, verbal abuse, high reactivity, and peers. For Amy, her personality
disorder is caused by her peers. Her parents, for example, unconsciously treat her as a product by creating a perfect character in their book, Amazing Amy. The ‘Amy’
character in Amazing Amy is known to be a perfect role model for children in America. It makes the real Amy strives for perfection in everything she does in order
to fulfill people’s expectation. She does anything in order to reach perfection. That is the reason why she shows actions which are indicated as the characteristics of
antisocial personality disorder. Besides her parents, her husband, boyfriend, and friend also affect her
behaviors. When Amy tries to show her real personality, instead of accepting, they show rejections. It causes her to feel irritated and strives more for perfection. In order
to achieve perfection, Amy dares to do many malicious things which can be categorized to the characteristics of antisocial personality disorder. Therefore, Amy
can be diagnosed as having antisocial personality disorder.
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