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Summary
Nick Dunne, Ten Days Gone
Amy’s diary contains all of the information the police would need to confirm Nick killed her. Tanner and Nick try to explain that Amy framed him, but Boney and Gilpin point out that Amy’s plan would have been ludicrously complicated to set up. Nick tries to explain Amy’s warped sense of justice, but it doesn’t seem to be working. Tanner shows Boney the Punch and Judy puppets, and she notices the missing handle, saying it could be used as a club.
Amy Elliott Dunne, Eleven Days Gone
Amy wants to watch Nick’s interview with Sharon Schieber alone, but Desi hovers around her. He makes them dinner and controls Amy’s food and clothing minutely. While the interview plays, Desi keeps up a running commentary criticizing Nick. Amy, however, isn’t listening: she’s too focused on Nick saying everything she dreamed he might one day. She immediately decides she wants to return to her old life with Nick, fantasizing of moving back to New York with him.
Nick Dunne, Fourteen Days Gone
Nick knows he will soon be arrested, as Go informs him that the woodshed contents have been leaked and the public hates him again. Go and Nick can barely stand to talk to each other after being stuck in the house all week, hungover and scared. Nick fantasizes about killing Amy and worries that he’s becoming like his dad, a violent man who hates women. His father appears on the doorstep, barging into the house and repeating the phrase “f*cking b*tch.” Nick drops him back at the care facility, and thinks, again, that he wishes Amy would come home so he could kill her himself.
Amy Elliott Dunne, Twenty-Six Days Gone
Amy feels increasingly like Desi has kidnapped her. He controls everything about her day, from what she eats to her hair color. He tells her that she has to stay with him, that he can keep her safe. When this doesn’t seem to work, Desi’s concerns turn into threats, warning Amy that if she ever left the lake house he’d have to go to the police. She feels like she’s lost control of the situation.
Nick Dunne, Thirty-Three Days Gone
Nick is losing coherence, his days blending into one another. One day, however, he comes home to find the two detectives and Tanner in his house. Boney explains that they found the missing handle from the Judy puppet on the riverbank near Nick’s house. It has Amy’s blood on it. They arrest Nick for her murder.
Amy Elliott Dunne, Forty Days Gone
Amy plans to escape Desi and begins to set up a trap. She seduces Desi using her extensive knowledge of his particular kinks, and after they have sex, she hands him a martini that she has liberally spiked with sleeping pills. Desi, who thinks he has everything he’s ever wanted, falls asleep, allowing Amy to begin her escape.
Analysis
Although the entire novel is packed with reflections on misogyny and toxic masculinity, it’s in this section that the reader really sees it become the central issue of the story. It’s clearly present in the dynamics between Nick and his father, the control Desi exerts over Amy, and the media’s changing attitudes to Nick’s alleged crimes.
Nick's reflections on his relationship with his father are an important window into why he is the way he is. Bill Dunne is a deeply misogynistic, deeply angry figure. Seeing him brutalize and cow their mother has a serios impact on the way Go and Nick see femininity and masculinity. The elder Dunne's hatred for women crops up far more regularly than seemed normal in Nick’s childhood. Random, highly energetic hatred for any woman in a public or powerful position filled his behavior and speech. He repeatedly referred to them in derogatory terms, often using several variations of the phrase "f*cking b*tch." Whenever a woman annoys Nick, he feels the phrase “f*cking b*tch” rising to the top of his thoughts, along with a wave of shame and self-loathing.
It’s unclear whether Nick understands just how toxic his behavior is toward women, but he certainly sees the problems with his father’s choices. For example, in "Fourteen Days Gone," Nick fantasizes about killing Amy and immediately starts to dread that he is becoming like his father. As if Nick has summoned him with these thoughts, Bill suddenly appears at Nick’s house and repeatedly shouts the phrase “f*cking b*tch.” This scene shows the generational transmission of sexist attitudes, and also points to Nick’s internal struggle to distance himself from his father's legacy. His fear of becoming like his father, however, doesn’t stop him from objectifying women, taking them for granted, or treating them as lesser beings.
Although his version of toxic masculinity is more insidious than Nick’s cookie-cutter behavior, Desi Collings exhibits very similar needs to control and dominate the women in his life. Desi's obsessive regulation of Amy is designed to mold her into the woman he wants her to be. He monitors her every move, dictates what she eats, and decides that she should lose weight and dye her hair. He does so through manipulation and by revoking her ability to leave the house. For example: Desi doesn’t like that Amy has gained weight over the last month while she was in hiding. Amy describes his hospitality in the following way: “He’s thinning me up, he always preferred his women waify. So he brings me lovely green star fruit and spiky artichokes and spiny crab, anything that takes elaborate preparation and yields little in return.” Instead of sharing meals with her, Desi provides her with the means to turn back into the Amy he desires. He doesn’t force-feed her or starve her, but only offers her enough food to rapidly lose weight. The food is luxurious and delicious, but it’s not what Amy wants. It’s what Desi wants her to want. By "Twenty-Six Days Gone," Amy feels increasingly like Desi has kidnapped her, especially as he has begun to make veiled threats about calling the police if she tries to leave. This shift is part of the novel’s commentary on the toxically masculine desire to control and subjugate female partners, trapping women in oppressive situations.
The societal attitudes towards Nick's alleged crime also reflect a public distaste for his brand of toxic masculinity and the fragility of his ego. As the investigation unfolds, the media and public are quick to vilify Nick, because their story looks just like others where a husband murders a wife. When the diary comes out, the police rush to judge Nick based on the fake entries Amy made. Her writing takes on a life of its own as it reshapes the history of their marriage. It doesn’t matter that it’s fabricated, because it’s the only tangible piece of evidence they have, and it makes sense in the broader story of Nick as the charming murderer. Although Nick and Tanner try to explain that Amy is framing Nick, the detectives are highly skeptical. They find it hard to believe that Amy could have orchestrated such an elaborate plan, which reflects patriarchal society’s tendency to underestimate women's intellectual capacity. This underestimation is itself a form of misogyny, as it’s rooted in stereotypes about women's supposed innocence and passivity. Although Nick’s explanations make as much (if not more) sense as the too-perfect story of a murder Amy has built, his protestations are waved away.
