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which can be used as evidences to the police. The quotation below will explain what she does in order to achieve her goal to frame Desi.
‘I took a wine bottle, and I abused myself with it every day, so the inside of my vagina looked…right. Right for a rape victim. Then today I let him have
sex with me so I had his semen, and then I slipped pills into his martini.’
Flynn, 2012: 435 Wine bottle is obviously not a kind of stuff which can be put inside vital
organ. Even so, Amy still does it to her vagina in order to get the evidence of her being raped. It is certain that her act is very reckless disregard for her own safety. She
does not think that it will destroy her vital organ. Besides abusing herself with wine bottle, Amy also tries to poison herself so she could get enough evidence to frame
Nick. She admits it with a proud, as stated in the quotation below. ‘But I decided attempted murder wasn’t good enough for you. It had to be
bigger than that. Still, I couldn’t get the poisoning idea out of my head. I liked the idea of you working up to the murder. Trying the cowardly way first. So I
went through with it. ‘You expect me to believe that?’
‘All that vomit, so shocking. An innocent, frightened wife might have some of that vomit, just in case. You can’t blame her, being a little paranoid.’ She gave
a satisfied smile. ‘Always have a backup plan to the backup plan.’ ‘You actually poisoned yourself.’
‘Nick, please, you’re shocked? I killed myself.’
Flynn, 2012: 436 The quotation above is a conversation between Nick and Amy when she
confesses to Nick about her plan. She actually poisons herself and keeps the vomit so she can have backup plan when her real plan does not work. Self poisoning is
obviously dangerous since Amy might kill herself. However, she already puts her all
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in order to finish her plan. There is no doubt that Amy is reckless disregard for safety of herself.
Amy is also reckless of other people’s safety. Desi is the victim of Amy’s reckless behavior. Since she already decides to frame Desi as her kidnapper, she kills
him. The line ‘…The knife I used on him, and on my bonds, will be nearly on the floor where I dropped it…’ Flynn, 2012: 417 shows that she dares to use knife to
kill Desi and even hurt herself. It is not a normal thing to hurt oneself or others. However, people with
antisocial personality disorder do not really care about it. They do not mind to hurt their selves or other people as long as they get what they want. They are reckless
disregard for safety of their selves or other people. Amy is one of the examples of people with antisocial personality disorder. From some points above, it can be
concluded that Amy is a kind of person who is reckless disregard for safety of self or others because of some aspects, i.e. cracking her own ribs, cut herself, poisoning
herself, and killing Desi.
6. Lack of Remorse
People with antisocial personality do not really understand the meaning of remorse or empathy. Normal people will feel guilty when they did something wrong
or hurt other people. It is the opposite of the people with antisocial personality disorder. They do not care if other people are hurt because of them, think that having
hurt is natural, and steal without guilt American Psychiatric Association, 2000: 650.
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For them, it is normal for other people to suffer. Most people with antisocial personality disorder are callous so empathy is not one of their characteristics.
Amy has no remorse in every action she did. She does not even feel guilty even after she frames her husband. Her lack of remorse towards her husband can be
seen in the quotation below. So it had to stop. Committing to Nick, feeling safe with Nick, being happy
with Nick, made me realize that there was a Real Amy in there, and she was so much better, more interesting and complicated and challenging, than Cool
Amy. Nick wanted Cool Amy anyway. Can you imagine, finally showing your true self to your spouse, your soul mate, and having him not like
you? So that’s how the hating first began. I’ve thought about this a lot, and that’s where it started, I think.
Flynn, 2012: 254 In the quotation above, it can be seen how everything starts. By saying ‘..I’ve
thought about this a lot..’ shows that actually Amy thinks about what she did many times, yet she does not have a willing to cancel the plan or stop it right away. It
means she actually does not regret what she did. She even blames Nick as the cause of what she did. Yet, she seems to be proud of what she did towards Nick. It can be
seen clearly in the quotation below. I’ve always thought I could commit the perfect murder. People who get
caught get caught because they don’t have any patience; they refuse to plan. I smile again as I shift my crappy getaway car into fifth gear Carthage is
now seventy-eight miles in the dust and brace myself for a speeding truck – the car seems ready to take flight every time a semi passes.
Flynn, 2012: 264 The line ‘I smile again as I shift my crappy getaway car into fifth gear…’
shows that Amy does not feel guilty or having remorse in what she did. Smiling is an act that humans will do when they are happy. Amy’s situation is not supposed to
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allow her to smile. Girls in run are usually scared or nervous. However, Amy does not seem to feel that kind of emotion. Instead, she smiles while thinking about the
plan she prepared for Nick framing. At this point, it can be clearly seen that Amy has no remorse at all.
Besides smiling when thinking of what she does Amy also praises herself. She tells Nick in the line ‘You have to admit it, it’s pretty brilliant.’ Flynn, 2012: 435.
The word ‘pretty brilliant’ she uses on the line shows that she thinks of what she does as something worth a praising. She does not apologize to Nick but demands a
praising from him. It is surely not common for other people who do the same mistakes. Amy even has a thought to repeat what she does to Nick if he tries to
divorce her. It can be seen in the quotation below.
‘I won’t divorce you, Nick. I won’t. And I swear to you, if you try to leave, I will devote my life to making your life as awful as I can. And you know I
can make it awful.’ Flynn, 2012: 440
In the quotation above, Amy says that she will devote her life to make Nick’s life awful if he will divorce her. Amy’s statement shows that she does not mind to
repeat what she did in order to make Nick’s life awful. Her declaration in making Nick’s life awful shows that she has no regret because of what she did to her husband
before. It is evidence that Amy lacks of remorse. Even though she frames Nick, Amy does not try to apologize or reconcile
with him. Instead of doing that, Amy tells Nick to forget everything because she
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already uses Desi as the bad guy. The quotation below shows how Amy tells Nick to forget everything.
‘Nick, I think you’ve gotten some bad information,’ she said. ‘It doesn’t surprise me, all the rumors that are going about. But we need to forget all
that. If we are to go forward. And we will go forward. All of America wants us to go forward. It’s the story the world needs right now. Us. Desi’s
the bad guy. No one wants two bad guys. They want to like you, Nick. The only way you can be loved again is to stay with me. It’s the only way.’
Flynn, 2012: 433 The line ‘The only way you can be loved again is to stay with me..’ spoken by
Amy above shows that she has no remorse of what she did to Nick. She does not even think of the possibility that Nick might want to leave her as soon as possible. Amy
forces Nick to stay with her so they could stay as happy couple again. The fact that Amy lacks of remorse is also strengthened by Nick’s comment.
Nick who knows Amy’s characteristics tell his lawyer that Amy does the treasure hunt so he knows that Amy knows his fidelity. It can be seen in the quotation below.
‘Because she’s done it perfectly. She always needed that validation, the praise, all the time. She wants me to know I’m being fucked. She can’t resist.
It wouldn’t be fun for her otherwise.’ Flynn, 2012: 256-257
Lacking of remorse is one of the criteria of people with antisocial personality disorder. They are callous so that they do not have any empathy or feeling of regret
when they disadvantaged other people. From some points above, it can be concluded that Amy is indicated with antisocial personality disorder because some of her actions
i.e. smiling when thinking about her framing, threatening Nick to make his life awful, and also telling Nick to forget everything instead of apologizing.
