PSYCHOLOGICAL OPPRESSION TOWARDS AMY ELLIOT DUNNE IN GILLIAN FLYNN'S GONE GIRL.

i

PSYCHOLOGICAL OPPRESSION TOWARDS AMY ELLIOT DUNNE IN
GILLIAN FLYNN’S GONE GIRL
THESIS
Submitted as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Sarjana Degree of English
Department Faculty of Letters and Humanities UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya

By

Ayu Hudzaifah
NIM: A33212074

ENGLISH LETTERS DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LETTERS AND HUMANITIES
STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY OF SUNAN AMPEL SURABAYA
2016

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ABSTRACT
Hudzaifah, Ayu. 2015. Psychological Oppression towards Amy Elliot Dunne in

Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl . Thesis. English Department. Faculty of Letters and
Humanities. State Islamic University of Sunan Ampel Surabaya.
This thesis entitled Psychological Oppression towards Amy Elliot Dunne in Gillian
Flynn’s Gone Girl is chosen by the researcher because Gone Girl is one of the new and
popular novels, and the researcher has difficulties to find previous studies which have
analyzed this novel. This novel is interesting because the main woman character, Amy Elliot
Dunne, becomes a psycopath due to the oppression from her parents and husband. This study
which the researcher conducts is using descriptive method. Firstly, the researcher chooses the
topic of this study. Secondly, collecting the data on Amy Elliot Dunne which is related to this
study. Thirdly, analyzing the data by using New Criticism to examine the character and
characterization, and continue with Psychoanalytic Feminism as the grand theory to analyze
the oppression of Amy, and the last is concluding and getting the result of the study. After
analyzing the data, it is clear that Amy Elliot Dunne becomes a psycopath. Therefore, she
undergoes an extraordinary life because of her actions. The complicated situation and
condition of her life is caused by the oppression from her parents in childhood and continue
with her husband in her marital life.
Key Words:
Psycopath, Oppression, Childhood, Marital Life

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ABSTRAK
Hudzaifah, Ayu. 2015. Psychological Oppression towards Amy Elliot Dunne in
Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl. Skripsi. Sastra Inggris. Fakultas Adab dan Humaniora.
Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Ampel Surabaya
Skripsi yang berjudul Psychological Oppression towards Amy Elliot Dunne in Gillian
Flynn’s Gone Girl di buat oleh peneliti karena Gone Girl adalah novel yang baru dan
terknenal, dan peneliti mengalami kesulitan untuk menemukan penelitian sebelumnya yang
membahas novel Gone Girl. Novel ini sangat menarik karena karakter utama wanita yang
menjadi psikopat karena tekanan dari orang tua dan suaminya. Skripsi yang di susun oleh
peneliti menggunakan metode deskriptif. Langkah pertama, menentukan topik penelitian ini.
Langkah kedua adalah dengan mengumpulkan data Amy Elliot Dunne yang berhubungan
dengan topik penelitian. Langkah ketiga adalah menganalisis data menggunakan teori New
Criticism untuk menganalisa karakter dan karakterisasi Amy, di lanjutkan dengan teori utama
di penelitian ini yaitu Psychoanalytic Feminism yang di gunakan untuk menganalisa
penekanan Amy, dan terakhir kalinya menyimpulkan dan mendapatkan hasil dari penelitian
ini. Setelah menganalisis data, terbukti dengan jelas bahwa Amy Elliot Dunne menjadi
seorang psikopat oleh sebab itu dia menjalani kehidupan yang luar biasa karena
perbuatannya. Situasi dan kondisi yang sangat kompleks tersebut terjadi karena dia

mendapatkan tekanan dari kedua orang tuanya sejak masa anak-anak dan dilanjutkan dari
suaminya di kehidupan pernikahannya.
Kata Kunci:
Psikopat, Tekanan, Masa Anak-anak, Kehidupan Pernikahan

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Table of Contents
Inside cover ....................................................................................................................i
Inside tittle .....................................................................................................................ii
Declaration ...................................................................................................................iii
Advisor‟s Approval......................................................................................................iv
Examiner‟s Approval ...................................................................................................v
Dedication....................................................................................................................vi
Acknowledgment ........................................................................................................vii
Motto...........................................................................................................................viii
Table of Contents .........................................................................................................ix
Abstract .........................................................................................................................x
Abstrak .........................................................................................................................xi

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................1
1.1 Background of The Study .....................................................................................1
1.2 Statement of the Problem .......................................................................................4
1.3 Objective of the Study ...........................................................................................5

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1.4 Scope and Limitation .............................................................................................5
1.5 Significance of the Study .......................................................................................6
1.6 Method of the Study ............................................................................................6
1.7 Definition of Key .................................................................................................8
CHAPTER II LITERARY REVIEW ........................................................................9
2.1 Literary Framework .............................................................................................9
2.1.1. New Criticism .................................................................................................9
2.1.1.1 Character ......................................................................................................10
2.1.1.2 Characterization ...........................................................................................11
2.1.1.3 Psychoanalytic Feminism..............................................................................13
2.2 Review of Related Studies ................................................................................17
CHAPTER III ANALYSIS .....................................................................................19
3.1 The Oppression in Amy’s Childhood.................................................................19

3.2 The Oppression in Amy Elliot Dunne’s Marital Life ........................................35
3.3 Islamic View on Woman’s Oppression..............................................................49
CHAPTER IV CONCLUSION ...............................................................................53
WORKS CITED .....................................................................................................55
APPENDIX............................................................................................................58
SYNOPSIS.............................................................................................................58

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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
C.S Lewis states that literature is the expression of reality; it enriches the necessary
competencies that daily life requires and provides, and it irrigates the deserts that our lives
have already come (2). Beside that, literature also expresses our idea, motivation, suggestion,
review, and comparison in written text as the response of people’s feeling, society, and era at
that time. The previous statement means that most of important realities and phenomenon in
human life expressed in literature are the capture of the situation and condition that comes

from the author’s feeling and attitude, educational background, belief and so on (Sutarjo 24).
The statement corresponds to what Wellek and Warren state that literary works are taken from
social and reality life. Most of social realities in literary work are about human life found from
society. Therefore, the character and phenomena in literary work are similar to the reality life
(20).
Literary works are grouped into categories, such as: poetry, prose, and drama. Those
categories are called literary genres. A genre is a vague term with no fixed boundaries in that
while literary works within genres hold characteristics in common such as style, structure and
use of literary devices. They may also differ considerably or even cross over into multiple
genres (Lewis, Pon, and Rebecca 1).
The first genre is drama, drama is literary work designed to be performed by actors
(Robert 2). Mary F.Cliffs states that drama is made up of dialogue and set direction, and then
Scholes, Phelan, and Kellog say that drama is a story without a story-teller; in it characters act

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out directly what Aristotle called an "imitation" of such action as we find in life(4). The
second genre is poetry. Mark Flanagan states that poetry is an imaginative awareness of

experience expressed through meaning, sound, and rhythmic language choices so as to evoke
an emotional response. The third genre is prose, Dian Fadhilawati says that prose is the
ordinary form of written language and imitates the spoken language. There are two kinds of
prose, fiction and non fiction. Fiction includes: myths, fables, novels, short stories, while
nonfiction includes news, reports, journals, articles, and essays.
One of real life problems that is captured in literary works is women’s oppression.
Women’s oppression may happen in politics and economy that may affect their
psychological aspect. One of Gillian Flynn’s work is Dark Places which published on 2009.
Dark Places explains about a woman who investigates whether or not her incarcerated
brother was truly responsible for the murder of their family in the 1980, which happened
when she was a child during the era of panic about Satanic ritual abuse. Dark Places was
adapted into a 2015 feature film, written and directed by Gilles Paquet-Brenner and Flynn
made a cameo appearance in the film.

Psychological problem faced by women due to her surrounding oppression is one of the
concerns of French feminism. The focus of French feminism has taken two different forms:
materialist feminism and psychoanalytic feminism. The first form is interested in the social
and economic oppression of women while the second form, as you might expect, concentrates
on women’s psychological experience (Tyson 96). Although, these two approaches to analyze
women’s experience in patriarchal culture often contrast significantly, French feminists are

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also concerned with the ways in which women’s social, economic and psychological
experience are connected.

This study aims to analyze the oppression happen in Amy Dunne’s life in Gillian Flynn’s
Gone Girl. The researcher chooses the novel because of interesting character of Amy Elliot
Dunne with her psycopath and complex life. The oppression from Amy’s parents expecially
her mother and from her husband gives a big influence to her psychology.
Gone Girl is a thriller mysterious novel which was published on June 2012. Gone Girl is
an example of mystery, suspense, and crime genres. It soon made the New York Times Best
Seller list (Wikipedia.org ). In 2012, Gone Girl got the best seller novel because this novel
has interesting mystery and thriller story with unique characters and narrators. David Fincher,
a famous film director, made a film from this novel in 2014. The researcher interested in this
novel because how Gillian Flynn’s style explain the story is very interesting such as the story
runs between two narrators with the best diction.
Gone Girl novel is the best seller novel, these are comments from some author such as

the first, Laura Lippman, New York Times bestselling author of The Most Dangerous Thing
and I’d Know You Anywhere said that Gone Girl builds on the extraordinary achievements
of Gillian Flynn's first two books and delivers the reader into the claustrophobic world of a
failing marriage. Beautiful wife disappears; husband doesn't seem as distraught as he should
be under the circumstances. But Flynn takes this sturdy trope of the 24-hour news cycle and
turns it inside out, providing a devastating portrait of a marriage and a timely, cautionary tale
about an age in which everyone's dreams seem to be imploding.

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The second, Tana French, New York Times bestselling author of Faithful Place and Into
the Woods said that Gone Girl is one of the best and most frightening portraits of psychopathy
I've ever read. Nick and Amy manipulate each other with savage, merciless and often darkly
witty dexterity. This is a wonderful and terrifying book about how the happy surface normality
and the underlying darkness can become too closely interwoven to separate. The third, Kate
Atkinson, New York Times bestselling author of Started Early, Took My Dog and Case Histories
The plot has it all. I have no doubt that in a year’s time I’m going to be saying that this is my
favorite novel of 2012. Brilliant.

By giving the literary background, the researcher is really interested in the novel Gillian
Flynn’s Gone Girl and intends to analyze more deeply through psychoanalytic feminism about
the character of Amy Elliot Dunne who becomes such a psychopath after getting oppressed by
both her mother since she was a child and her husband Nick Dunne in her marital life. The
researcher will employ new criticism theory in the concept of explaining character and
characterization of Amy Elliot Dunne.
1.2 Statement of Problems
Based on the background of the study previously stated, the researcher formulates two
questions about the woman’s oppression story that Amy Elliot Dunne in Gone Girl novel as
follows:
1. How does the oppression in Amy’s childhood affect her adult life psychologically?

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2. How does the oppression in Amy’s marital life affect her psychological state?

1.3 Objectives of the Study
Dealing with the statement of problems, this study has two objectives gained by the

researcher as follows:
1. To describe the oppression in Amy’s childhood that affects her adult life psychologically,
and
2. To depict the oppression in Amy’s marital life that affects her psychological state
1.4 Scope and Limitation
In conducting this study, the researcher analyzes, only one character in the novel
which is Amy Elliot Dunne, who is described by Gillian Flynn as having a difficult and
complicated life with her family because the circumstance does not give her the
opportunities to become what she wants. Dealing with the employed theories, the
researcher uses new criticism concept on character and characterization to explain Amy
Elliot Dunne’s physic and personality that are related to the oppression she undergoes.
Beside that, the researcher employs psychoanalytic feminism as the grand theory of this
study to find out the oppressions from Marybeth Elliot as Amy Elliot Dunne’s mother
and Nick Dunne as Amy Elliot Dunne’s husband which influence Amy’s psychology by
turning her into psycopath.

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1.5 Significance of the Study
In the study, the researcher hopes that analyzing what influence woman’s psychology
from childhood to marital life may give a benefit to the student who want to learn Flynn’s
works. The important thing from a study or an analysis is the study has to contain a
knowledge that is useful to the student who want to write a thesis.
The researcher hopes that this study may give more information about Amy Elliot
Dunne’s character that is represented throughout her action because of the oppression
from her parents and husband since it comes an important aspect in this study. Moreover,
the researcher wants the result of this thesis to be useful as reference and alternative
information for others especially English literature students who conduct the similar
research.
1.6 Method of the Study
The method of this study is qualitative library research. It means that the important
part of this research uses the resources and materials from the libraries. Komidar states
that the ability to do library research begins with an understanding of the ways in which

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libraries organize their collections and with a knowledge of basic bibliographic and
reference materials (104). Therefore, the researcher makes good use of some books
including the novel itself as the primary source, articles, and online book resources.
In presenting the analysis, the researcher uses descriptive method. Descriptive
method is used to obtain information concerning the current status of the phenomena to
describe "what exists" with respect to variables or conditions in a situation (James P.Key
2). It means that by using descriptive method, I obtain the phenomena or problem I
concern to discuss and describe it.
The researcher uses Gone Girl novel as the source of primary data. Primary data is
information that collect specifically for the purpose of the research project (Grimsley 11).
The primary data includes the citate from the novel that correspond to the statement of
the problem. Meanwhile, the secondary data comes from the thesis, disertation, online
articles, books references, blogs, and other sources that give information about the novel,
author, and theory with this thesis. According to M. M. Blair, secondary data is already in
existence and which have been collected for some other purposes. Secondary data may be
abstracted from existing records, published sources or unpublished sources.
The researcher collects the data with some steps. The first, the researcher reads
and highlights the sentences which relate to the effects from childhood and marital life
of Amy Elliot Dunne that turn her into psycopath. The second, the researcher take the
data from the first step and write again to make clear. The third, the researcher searches
some secondary data to support the analysis of Amy Elliot Dunne’s character. The last,
collecting the data dealing with the oppression of Amy Elliot Dunne from her parents

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and the reason she decides to run from home and frame her husband as the murderer in
the story and then, the researcher classifies the data to answer the two research problems
that previously stated.
The outline of the analysis follows the following steps bellow:
1. Analyze the character of Amy Elliot Dunne starting from her physical appearance,
then her personality or internal traits that are supported by any related citations or
quotations from the novel.
2. Quote the words, paragraphs, narratives, and conversations from the novel that are
related to Amy’s characterization.
3. Analyze Amy’s childhood and marital life that trigger her to be such a psycopath.
4. Quote the words, paragraphs, narratives, and conversations that are related to
Amy’s background
1.7 Definition of Key Term
Extraordinary: Very unusual, very different from what is normal or ordinary
extremely good or impressive. (Merriam-Webster, An
Encyclopedia Britannica Company)
Psycopath:

A person with an antisocial personality disorder, manifested in
aggressive, perverted, criminal, or amoral behavior without empathy
or remorse. (Urban Dictionary)
A person with a lack of empathy, agressive, behavioral problems in
childhood, offense the rules, do not have sense of remorse and guilt.
(Rachmat Darmawan)

Oppression:

When individuals are systematically subjected to political, economic,
cultural, or social degradation because they belong to a social group
results from structures of domination and subordination and,
correspondingly, ideologies of superiority and inferiority (Charlton
8)

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CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Theoritical Framework
In conducting this research, the researcher uses some theories below:
2.1.1. New Criticism
New Criticism, incorporating formalism, examines the relationships between a text ideas
and its form. Therefore, New Criticism is the best way to begin study a work of literature,
because it emphasizes the work as an independent creation, a self-contained unit, something to be
studied in itself, not as part of some larger context, such as the author’s life or a historical period
(Tyson 137). Tyson also states that New Criticism connected with close reading, careful analysis
of the text with paying attention to its structure, syntax, figure of speech and so on. For the only
way we can know if a given author’s intention or a given reader’s interpretation actually
represents the text’s meaning is to carefully examine, or “closely read,” all the evidence provided
by the language of the text itself: its images, symbols, metaphors, rhyme, meter, point of view,
setting, character, characterization, plot, and so forth, which, because they form, or shape, the
literary work are called its formal elements (137).
In analyzing Amy Elliot Dunne, the researcher uses two intrinsic elements from New
Criticism theory, these are character and characterization. The character and characterization are
used by the researcher to find out Amy Elliot Dunne’s portrait as a psycopath because of the
oppression from her childhood until marital life which make her undergo complicated life.

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2.1.1.1 Character
When we speak about character, we can imagine the person in the story and we refer to
the people which action in fantasy fictions, such as: drama, novel, short story, tale, and others.
Character is a person who plays in the story through the action and utterance, their action and
utterance described by the author to make a good story, also to catch the reader attention that the
story is interesting story through the best character which arranged by the author. Characters are
the life of literature, they are the objects of our curiosity and fascination, affection and dislike,
admiration and condemnation. Indeed, so intense is our relationship with literary characters that
they often cease to be simply „objects’ (Bennet and Royle 60).
Karen Bernardo mentions four types of character in her article entittle Characterization in
Literature. The first is dynamic character. A dynamic character is a person who changes over
time, usually as a result of resolving a central conflict or facing a major crisis. Most dynamic
characters tend to be central rather than peripheral characters, because resolving the conflict is
the major role of central characters. The second is static character. A static character is someone
who does not change over time, his or her personality does not transform or evolve. The third is
round character. A round character is anyone who has a complex personality, he or she is often
portrayed as a conflicted and contradictory person. And the last is flat character. A flat character
is the opposite of a round character. This literary personality is notable for one kind of
personality trait or characteristic.
Character is one of intrinsic elements in New Criticism theory which has the
important roles in this research to analyze the character of Amy Elliot Dunne through her
dialogue, action, and image with other characters in the novel. Character is used by the

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Hudzaifah 11
researcher to analyze Amy Elliot Dunne’s personality that get oppression from her parents in
childhood until marital life with Nick Dunne which influence her for being a psycopath and to do
extraordinary behaviour. Amy Elliot Dunne is the only character from the novel of which the
researcher analyze deeply.

2.1.1.2 Characterization
Cambridge Dictionary defines characterization as the way that people are represented in a
film, play, or book so that they seem real and natural (Cambridge Dictionary Online). This
statement equally means with Harper Lee which state characterization is the process by which
the writer reveals the personality of a character in the story (Character and Characterization To
Kill a Mocking Bird 2). Characterization in literature refers to the step by step process wherein
an author introduces and then describes a character, the character can be described directly by the
author or indirectly through the actions, thoughts, and speech of the character (Marcopolo 1).
Characterization is revealed through direct characterization and indirect characterization
(Read Write Think NCTE Marcopolo 1). Direct characterization tells the audience what the
personality of the character is. Example: “The patient boy and quiet girl were both well
mannered and did not disobey their mother.” Explanation: The author is directly telling the
audience the personality of these two children. The boy is “patient” and the girl is “quiet.”
Indirect characterization shows things that reveal the personality of a character. There are five
different methods of indirect characterization that explained by the researcher, as follows:

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Hudzaifah 12
What does the character say? How does the character speak?
Speech

This characterization relates with the conversation and
dialogue of the character.
What is revealed through the character’s private thoughts and
feelings?

Thoughts

This characterization relates with the feeling and idea of the
character, how the author draws the narrative in vary situation
that passed by the character.
What is revealed through the character’s effect on other
people? How do other characters feel or behave in reaction to
the character?

Effect on others toward the
This characterization relates with the activity that did by the
character
character in the story, every activity that effect to other
character or himself which make a react in the story that make
some results.
What does the character do? How does the character behave?
Actions

This characterization relates with every actions in the story.

What does the character look like? How does the character
dress?
Looks
This characterization relates with the personality and
apperances from the character.

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Hudzaifah 13
William H.Coles in his article entitled Character in Literary Fictional Story stated that
characterization in literary fiction has special importance, and authors need to develop their own
sense of responsibility for full and effective character development. Therefore, understanding the
role of characterization in the story is very important for any writer. To put it briefly, it helps us
make sense of the behavior of any character in a story by helping us understand their thought
processes. A good use of characterization always leads the readers or audience to relate better to
the events taking place in the story. Dialogues play a very important role in developing a
character because they give us an opportunity to examine the motivations and actions of the
characters more deeply.
2.1.1.3 Psychoanalytic Feminism
Psychoanalytic feminism is one of the branches of french feminism. French feminism
believes in the importance of social and political activism in order to ensure equal opportunity
and equal access to justice for women. (Tyson 96). The Handy Philosophy Answer Book said
that French feminism is a school of thought named by feminists outside France to refer to work
mainly proffered by Luce Irigaray (1932), Hélène Cixous (1937), and Julia Kristeva (1941). But
none of these three is originally from France, and from time to time each has denied being a
feminist. What Irigary, Cixous, and Kristeva all share is that their work is based on
considerations of philosophical and psychoanalytic texts. They all assume that to improve the
situation of women, fundamental psychological structures need to be revised. That is, they are
working within the tradition of structuralism.

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Hudzaifah 14
Tyson also stated psychoanalytic feminism theory is interested in patriarchy’s influence
on women’s psychological experience and creativity (113). Its focus is only the individual
psyche, and do not on group experience. For the oppression of women is not limited to the
economic, political, and social domains. But, it includes women’s psychological repression at the
level of the unconscious as well. Psychoanalytic feminisim theory which focus on woman’s
psychological oppression that will be used by the researcher is one of french feminism branch.
This branch of feminism seeks to gain insight how our psychic lives develop in order to better
understand and change women’s oppression. This type of feminism emerged out of cultural
feminism, which investigate the differences between women and men to understand women’s
position in society. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy stated psychoanalytic feminsits
concentrate on early childhood development, primarily before the age of 3. Examining how
gender is construsted and practiced on societal, familial, and individual levels (Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy 2). That is mean psychoanalytic feminism explain women’s
oppression from early childhood reinforced by the continual repetition before thirty years old
toward the family,society,and their individual levels.
Actually, french feminism has two branches, materialist feminism and psychoanalytic
feminism. Tyson explains further that French materialist feminism examines the patriarchal
traditions and institutions that control the material (physical) and economic conditions by which
society oppresses women, for example, patriarchal beliefs about the difference between men and
women and the laws and customs that govern marriage and motherhood (96). Although Simone
de Beauvoir didn’t refer to herself as a materialist feminist, her groundbreaking The Second Sex
(1949) created a theoretical basis for materialist feminists for decades to come (96). In a

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Hudzaifah 15
patriarchal society, Beauvoir observes, men are considered essential subjects (independent selves
with free will), while women are considered contingent beings (dependent beings controlled by
circumstances) (Quoted in Tyson 96). The researcher finds out the meaning that materialist
feminism is the position of men can act upon the world, change it, give it meaning, but then
women have meaning only in relation to the men.
In contrast to materialist feminism, psychoanalytic feminism is interested in patriarchy’s
influence on women’s psychological experience and creativity. In each woman’s personal
psychology, that she must learn to liberate herself if women’s materialist liberation is going to
have any lasting foundation. For a woman can’t be liberated in any meaningful way if she
doesn’t know that she needs to be liberated (Tyson 99-100).
Kristina Wolff in Blackwell Reference Online said that Psychoanalytic feminism is a
theory of oppression, which asserts that men have an inherent psychological need to subjugate
women. The root of men's compulsion to dominate women and women's minimal resistance to
subjugation lies deep within the human psyche. This branch of feminism seeks to gain insight
into how our psychic lives develop in order to better understand and change women's oppression.
The pattern of oppression is also integrated into society, thus creating and sustaining patriarchy.
Dr. Hollace Graff said in A Very Short Summary of Psychoanalytic Feminist Theory and
Practice Psychoanalytic feminists explain women’s oppression as rooted within psychic
structures and reinforced by the continual repetition or reiteration of relational dynamics formed
in infancy and childhood. Because of these deeply engrained patterns, psychoanalytic feminists
wanted to alter the experiences of early childhood and family relations, as well as linguistic

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Hudzaifah 16
patterns, that produce and reinforce masculinity and femininity. Critical of Freudian and neoFreudian notions of women as biologically, psychically, and morally inferior to men,
psychoanalytic feminists addressed political and social factors affecting the development of male
and female subjects.
According to Chodorow, psychoanalytic feminism begins with its dismissal and the
feminist challenge of it. Chodorow defines psychoanalysis as "the method and theory directed
towards the investigation and understanding of how we develop and experience unconscious
fantasies (that form psyche, self, identity) and how we construct and reconstruct our felt past in
the present" (5). She describes her approach to feminist theory as something more holistic or
pluralistic, encompassing a number of organizational axes, but not absolute more of a multiplex
account of gender construction, relation, and identity. It is the focus on relations among elements
or dynamics, along with an analysis and critique of male dominance , which define an
understanding of sex and gender as feminist.
Working towards a more theoretical psychoanalytic feminism, object relational
transformation turned the traditional psychoanalysis from the son and father relationship to a
psychology of the relation to the mother in children of both sexes. Moreover,
In The Reproduction of Mothering, Nancy Chodorow, argued that differential experiences in
infancy orient girls and boys toward different developmental paths, with boys definitively
separating from their mothers to identify with the father’s social power and girls developing a
more symbiotic or continuous sense of self in relation to the mother. These relational dynamics
that emphasize autonomy and separation for boys render men emotionally stunted and less

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Hudzaifah 17
capable of intimate personal relationships, but better prepared for public life and the world of
work. Girls, who in contrast develop as subjects in closer relation with their mother, have more
fluid psychic boundaries that facilitate a greater capacity for intimacy but leave them less
prepared to negotiate the public sphere.

The researcher uses Psychoanalytic Feminism towards the grand theory of this research,
because this theory discusses oppression woman from the childhood which influence the woman
psychological side of the character. Gillian Flynn writes Gone Girl novel that potrays Amy Elliot
Dunne as the main woman character who get oppression from her parents expecially her mother
from childhood until she married with Nick Dunne. She also got oppression from Nick Dunne
until she is reported lost in the fifth anniversary of her marriage in a mysterious situation, though
Amy sets all the situation to frame Nick Dunne as the murderer her fake death. The extraordinary
situation done by Amy shows that she was having trouble with her psychology.

2.2 Review of Related Studies

The researcher gets difficulties to find previous studies that use Gone Girl novel as the object
of the research. But the researcher find a thesis written by Zahrotul Jannah in her bachelor degree
thesis entitle The Social Issue of Prostitution and Mrs.Warren’s Choice To Be a Prostitute in
George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs.Warren’s Profession which have similar statement of problem of
this study about the portrayal of the character. She analyzed the character of Mrs.Warren with
her choice to be a prostitute at that time. The portrayal of the main woman character is the
changes of Mrs.Warren before and after she becomes a prostitute has similarities with the first

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statement of problem of this study that explains about the character of Amy Elliot Dunne before
and after she extraordinary behaviour that show herself as a psycopath woman.

The researcher also find a thesis for master degree written by Victoria Mciver entitled
Psychoanalytic Feminism: A Systematic Literature Review of Gender. She examined how
gendered subjects, boys and girls, were produced, not on the basis of anatomical distinction
between the sexes, but on the basis of object relationships and the cultural construction of
family dynamics. In her thesis, she found out how the cultural construction of gender had been
understood within feminist psychoanalysis. Her interest in this topic was developed from
personal experience and clinical practice. She did her thesis and chose psychoanalytic
feminism after she attended seminars by Nancy Chodorow and Jessica Benjamin on issues of
gender and clinical practice and was interested in further understanding of the theories
developed by those women.
Beside that, The researcher also find a disertation for doctoral degree written by Irene
Bruna Seu entitled A Psychoanalytic Feminist Inquiry into Shame. This disertation offers an
inquiry in a particular reading of some women's life experience of shame viewed from
psychoanalytic and feminist perspective. The specific psychoanalytic model that she chose to
use to investigate shame was Freudian or Contemporary Freudian. The reason she chose this
focus because, while acknowledging the immense contribution of post-Freudian theories to
the understanding of women's psyche, She agreed with the view that the focus of feminist
therapy on the mother carries the risk of losing sight of the real inequalities of power, sex, race
and class (Sayers, 1990). Irene Bruna Seu’s study has similar psychoanalytic feminism but
different focus because she used Freudian theory but the researcher uses psychoanalytic

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feminism from Nancy Chodorow which explains Amy Dunne’s oppression from childhood
who affect the character’s psychological life.

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Hudzaifah 19
CHAPTER 3
ANALYSIS
This chapter deals with the detailed analysis about Amy Elliot Dunne and her
complicated life. Inside this analysis process, the researcher uses New Criticism theory,
expecially character and characterization and Psychoanalytic Feminism as the grand theory to
support the analysis in order to understand the facts that influent Amy Elliot Dunne being a
psycopath.
The discussions within this chapter are divided into two parts. The first is about the
oppression happened in Amy’s childhood that psychologically affects her attitude when she is an
adult. The second part is about the oppression in Amy’s marital life that affects her psychological
state.
3.1 The Oppression in Amy’s Childhood
Amy Elliottt Dunne is the main woman character of this novel. She was born Amy
Elliottt and Dunne is her husband last name, Lance Nicholas Dunne. The first thing that appears
extraordinary about her life is that she seems just fine with whatever oppression she underwent
from her parents in her childhood, but actually she unconsciously repressed the oppression and
that finally affects her psychology when she is an adult.
Firstly, start from her childhood, she feels uncomfortable when she has to do all her parents’
instructions, but she can repress her bad feeling and obey all her parents especially her mother’s
instructions. Her parents were the best writer who publish children’s book entitled Amazing Amy

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Hudzaifah 20
that get famous at that time. Amazing Amy tells about a daughter who is very perfect, smart, and
pretty. Amy’s parents especially Amy’s mother always commands Amy for being the same as
with Amy in Amazing Amy book in order to get the book famously read by million of people.
Amy is being oppressed by her parents with anyway to catch public’s attention that she is a
wonderful and perfect girl just like Amy in Amazing Amy. Many people want to be Amazing
Amy:
“She was the girl that every girl wanted to be,” said Sharon’s voiceover.“Beautiful,
brilliant, inspiring, and very wealthy.” “She was the guy that all men admired…” (247)
When one of the Amazing Amy series tells the story of Amy getting married, in factual
life, Amy is oppressed by her mother to get marry too. According to Amy, after married in thirty
two is still young for herself. Actually, Amy feels very sad, because she does not want to get
married in her age. But she can not refuse her parents. Her parents will search her a man if she
does not have a chance to marry with her choice. Amy feels worse when Marybeth Elliot says
that it will be okay because she was married with Rand Elliot in her twenty three.
Amazing Amy latest series will get the best seller, if Amy in her actual life is the same as
Amy’s character who marry with Andi in the book, because Marybeth also wants her daughter to
get marry before thirty five years old. Amy claims that she is not worry with marriage though she
has many married friends, because she has good job, a pretty face, and much money. She can
look for a man whom she love:

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Hudzaifah 21
Rand and Marybeth feared that I might take Amy’s marriage as some jab at my
perpetually single state. (“I, for one, don’t think women

should marry before thirty-

five,”said my mom,who married my dad at twenty-three.) My parents have always
worried that (25)
I go home and cry for a while. I am almost thirty-two. That’s not old,
especially not in New York, but fact is, it’s been years since I even
liked

someone. So how likely is it I’ll meet someone I love,

someone I love enough to

marry? I’m tired of not knowing who I’ll

I’ll be with anyone. I have many friends who are married—not
married, but many married friends. The few happy ones
baffled by my singleness. A smart, pretty,

really

much less
be with, or if

many who are happily

are like my parents: They’re

nice girl like me, a girl with so many

interests and enthusiasms, a cool job, a

loving family. And let’s say it:

money. The ones who are not soul-mated

the

ones who have settled are even more

dismissive of my singleness: It’s not that

hard to find someone to marry, they say.

(26)
Amy always gets oppressed by her parents about marriage. To avoid her mother’s
nagging, Amy goes to a party and meet a man whom she describe as nice and good-looking,
smart and good writer, Nick Dunne. Not long from that time, Amy was falling in love with Nick,
and both of them get marry. Actually, the marriage happens within a very short time, but because
her parents command her to get marry in order to get high fund from Amazing Amy, after Amy
meets one man, and they both like each other, there is more again to refuse Amy’s parents from

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Hudzaifah 22
marriage. Amy’s parents who tend to decide whatever Amy should do unconciously influence
Amy’s psychology that will give effect in later condition, as follows:
I go on dates with men who are nice and good-looking and smart— perfect-onpaper men

who make me feel like I’m in a foreign land, trying to explain

myself, trying to make myself known. Because isn’t that the point of every
relationship:

to be known by someone else, to be understood? He gets me. She

gets me. Isn’t that the simple magic phrase? (27)
So we married on the beach on a deep blue summer day, ate and drank under a white
tent that billowed like a sail, and a few hours in, I sneaked Amy off into the dark,
toward the waves, because I was feeling so unreal, I believed I had become merely a
shimmer (32).
Secondly, the reason why Amy passes her extraordinary action is because she gets
oppression from Nick Dunne, her husband. Nick Dunne also awares that Amy is somehow being
under pressure by her parents especially her mother to be as perfect as Amazing Amy. Amy tries
to do the best to show that she is the best woman ever. Amy has many hobbies which make her
husband feel curious with her, because she already study hard in order to get many new
experience, knowledge, and hobby:
Amy was once a woman who did a little of everything, all the time. When we
moved in together, she’d made an intense study of French cooking,
displayinghyper-quickknife skills and an inspired boeuf bourguignon. For her
thirty-fourth birthday, we flew to Barcelona, and she stunned me by

rolling

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Hudzaifah 23
off trills of conversational Spanish, learned in months of secret

lessons. My

wife had

a brilliant, popping brain, a greedy curiosity........... Of

course Amy

can cook

French cuisine and speak fluent Spanish and garden and

knit and run

marathons and day-trade

stocks and fly a plane and look like a

runwaymodel

doing it. She needed to be Amazing Amy, all the

time................. It was about

the worst outcome possible for my competitive

wife: a town of contented

also-rans. “She has a lot of hobbies,”I said (38).
Amy has to obey all her parent’s rule in order to show the public that she is the same as
Amazing Amy, . She is a multitalented woman who can drive the plane, speak spanish fluently,
cook french cuisine, knit, garden, run marathon, all those because has to be Amazing Amy.
Because of the fact, Amazing Amy becomes the best seller book and Amy’s parents get high
income from that. They demand Amy to do more and be the same as Amazing Amy story.
One of the reasons Amy’s parents do such thing is because they only have her. The other
children were passed away. When the y had Amy,it was a big luck because the baby is girl, just
the same as Amazing Amy. Therefore, Marybeth and Rand always oppress Amy to do the same as
Amy’s character in their book in order to get much money:
Marybeth would never have another baby. As a child, I got a vibrant pleasure out of this:
just me, just me, only me. (159)
Actually, Amy was exhausted with her parents demand her to be a perfect woman. In
other way, Amy has a husband who love her and take care her at the first time, but when Amy

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Hudzaifah 24
moves from her parents home and lives with her husband, Nick is no longer in love with her. He
also make Amy exhausted by himself.
While I am stuck here on earth, and every day I must try, and every day is a chance to
be