Post #6: Listicle

****SPOILERS****

Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl is nothing new. It makes for a decent read, but there isn't much between the lines. Every part of the story has been done before, and Flynn just put together the pieces. In doing so she ruins the reputation of women. A woman's life has improved in recent times, but this book definitely demonstrate equality of the sexes. All five female characters who play a fairly large role in this novel fit into some box that society has made for women.

Amy:
She represents the crazies. She is literally insane. When she doesn't get what she wants, she changes that by causing physical harm to herself and framing other people. In school, when a friend out-shined her, she responded by throwing herself down stairs and blaming it on the friend. Also in high school, Amy get bored with a relationship and spices it up by forging the boyfriend's breakup-induced attempted suicide. Just before dating Nick, another relationship got boring and this time she claims rape. Amy simultaneously plays the damsel in distress and the evil step mother in order to get the attention she lives for.

Mama Mo:
In no way is Mo a bad person. And while she's not a main character (mainly because she was dead due to cancer) she causes the Dunnes to move back to North Carthage. Mo was great: independent, caring, friendly. Her only downfall was letting her kindness mask other's bad-nature. It took her years to get out of an abusive relationship with Nick's father, and she let Nick marry someone who is clearly insane, even getting played herself. She wasn't the guiding light that many fictional mothers are, but her motherly care demonstrated a defense mechanism to avoid her problems. Mama Mo was the weakling, both emotionally and physically.

Officer Boney:
Another decent female character, but she innately fails. Multiple times she accuses Nick of killing his wife, even when he is totally honest with her. This behavior is "typical" feminine indecisiveness and kills Go's great qualities. She is only convinced right when Amy returns, but gives up easily when facing her. This show more weakness when, as a woman of authority, she does not complete the task or work to get what she wants.

Andie:
She's the adulteress. The whole book revolves around one major detail, and Andie is that detail. Amy has always been crazy, but cheaters send her over the edge. Her whole disappearance made Amy run away and frame Nick. Andie's involvement doesn't stop there, because she makes it even harder to clear Nick's name and in doing so helps Nick bring Amy home, which is the worst thing to happen in the book. She causes more problems than she solves, and is two faced like many other fictional cheaters.

Margo:
Go is a personal favorite of mine. She's the strongest female in the book, but she has some cliche qualities that ruin that. Every good trait is matched with a more detrimental one. For example, she's very supportive of nearly everything Nick does. When he wants to open The Bar, she helps. When he decides to clean out their dad's house, she doesn't argue. The counter to this is her close-mindedness when it comes to Amy. She couldn't be a friend for Amy in an unfamiliar place, and that was another thing that put Amy over the edge. Another example of conflicting qualities is her desire to offer refuge, and quickness to judge Nick.  Similar to Boney, she keeps her house open, but accuses Nick even when he tells her the truth. These flaws in character kill everything that was so great about her in the first place.

These problems make make the book realistic in a sense, but all of the women are archetypes that have been portrayed again and again in literature and pop culture. They all seem to be rather strong characters, but are as deep as a kiddie pool. The crazy woman, the mother, the failure, the cheat, and the best friend/sister. The female character that wins in the end is the insane one, and what message does that send to the world about how to live a successful life as a woman?