Amy Dunne might be your new life coach
A good story cannot succeed without the dynamic or chemistry between the protagonist and antagonist.
A protagonist is the main character of the book, the one that drives the story, and readers watch through their lens. The story often begins with a protagonist’s mission to achieve a goal or a wish. (Author Learning Center n.d.) Readers enjoy leading characters because they represent the readers in real life as the role each one of us aims to play in our life story.
And then comes the antagonist, the best part of any story, in my opinion. The individual(s) that forces the protagonist into change and growth throughout the tale. Antagonists represent obstacles we have to overcome in real life and without them, we cannot grow. Protagonists owe their growth to their nemeses, just as we owe our growth to our daily obstacles.
Because of that, every time we remove a barrier in our life, we know a little more about ourselves and grow with it. Understanding antagonists is one of not only interesting but also difficult ways to understand yourself because, despite the denial we always make, barriers are part of our life, as well as the antagonists.
In order to make my point clearer, this week, I’m going to share with you what I have learned about myself after trying to comprehend one of my favorite female antagonists in literature, Ms. Amy Dunne from 2012 phenomenon, Gone Girl.
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The rest of this writing contains SPOILERS. Decide for yourself.
1. It's okay to be bad guys sometimes
If you have read the book, you already know who the antagonist of the story truly is. If you have not read the book, feel free to continue or stop, I won’t take it personally.
At the beginning of the book, readers are fooled into thinking that Nick was the murderer and Amy was the poor victim. In the end, the result was the opposite.
Throughout the book, the author shows us how wonderful Amy’s manipulative skill is. She could play with people’s minds so well that she could frame her husband for murdering her, her high school best friend for pushing her down the stairs, and her ex-boyfriend whose throat she cut cold-heartedly, for kidnapping her.
The way Amy painted everyone in her life the way she liked teaches me about our daily choices. Every day is a story, and every day we wake up to write that story from our lens.
It’s easy to assume or jump straight to the conclusion when you can only hear half of the story. People often choose to judge over sympathizing because it’s easier. Therefore, it’s fine to be an antagonist in someone else’s story; we cannot please everyone, correct?
2. Living up to others' expectation is suicide:
In the book, we are introduced to a series of fiction books written by Amy’s parents called “The Amazing Amy” which is based on the actual Amy, so did every failure in her life inspired her fictional self to succeed. Due to the comparison, Amy strived for perfection to prove that she could be as perfect as her own fictional character.
Moreover, Amy even tried to live up to the image of a “cool girl” to please her husband. A “cool girl” is a combination of hotness, brilliance, fun, and wildness.
But don’t we all, at least once in our lifetime, force ourselves to be someone we are not to please our loved ones? Yes, it’s a very unhealthy lifestyle needs to be removed, as soon as possible. Because according to Morningstar (2018), there are many drawbacks of being a people-pleaser such as lack of identity, social distancing, having fake friends, personal dissatisfaction and so on.
We need to learn to balance between others’ expectations and our own because it’s no worth losing ourselves while chasing someone else’s dream.
3. Self-discipline is key:
I am a pure example of consecutive failures caused by impatience and disorganization. Despite having a high goal, I’m very anxious with the process that I grow to be incautious with every step of the plan. I believe many of you have been there.
Unlike me, Amy Dunne is excellent at being disciplined, the major key to accomplishing her master plan. Because according to Mind Controversy (n.d.), self-discipline is a way to obtain many perks in life. Being disciplined helps an individual stay focused towards her goals, avoid entangling herself in silly problems thanks to her self-control, succeed in the academic environment and many more.
For example, she saved up to $10,200 in cash for her runaway. To reach that number, she stole a little day by day from Nick’s pocket, wallet, his bank account and even from the tip jar in his bar.
In addition, she spent an entire year writing a seven-year romance of diary entries, carefully written with makeup details that eventually led to her victimhood. Amy even began a friendship with a neighbor she didn’t like very much whose urine was used to fake her own pregnancy.
It would have been a success if it hadn’t been for Nick’s upgraded version.
You see, I must thank Amy one day if I find my glory—hopefully, MY throat won’t be split.
Word count: 870
Reference list:
Author Learning Center n.d., ‘Characters 101: What is a Protagonist and Antagonist – article’, Author Learning Center, viewed 15 July 2019, <https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/writing/fiction/w/character-development/1941/characters-101-what-is-a-protagonist-and-antagonist---article>
Mind Controversy n.d., ‘Why is discipline important | 8 advantages and benefits’, Mind Controversy, viewed 15 July 2019, <https://www.mindcontroversy.com/advantages-discipline-life/>
Morningstar, A 2018, ’12 drawbacks of being a people pleaser’, A Conscious Rethink, viewed 15 July 2019, <https://www.aconsciousrethink.com/6624/drawbacks-people-pleaser/>