Gone Baby Gone Analysis

“Your child will follow your example, not your advice.” – Unknown (exploringyourminds.com). The first socialization a child experiences is with their parents. Before they are hounded by societal norms and expectations, their parents give them a basic understanding of what interactions with the outside world is like. In Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl and Dennis Lehane’s Gone Baby Gone, we see protagonists Nick and Patrick heavily impacted by their past with abusive fathers. Parental influence is something that a person carries throughout their time on earth. It can determine how they live the rest of their life and in the instance that the influence is negative, they are forced to overcome it.

The mental abuse inflicted on Nick and physical abuse on Patrick by their fathers leave deep ridden mental scars. Nick is portrayed as a somewhat disconnected character, and we see that he endured a

After Amy’s disappearance, Nick is left to deal with the people that come to console him. Paired with the mental scars from past abuse, is his father's misogyny. When talking to Shawn Kelly, in his mind, he calls her a “… clingy groupie whore” in a “burst of rage” (Flynn 130), both of which connected to his father’s influence, and he rightfully calls his “… daddy’s boy attitude” (Flynn 130). His internal thoughts reflect on his actions, causing him to dismiss Kelly. This changes the course of the investigation and paints him as the bad guy. Similarly, Patrick’s bouts of anger which he describes as a “pool of red marble and ice-cold metal” (Lehane 175) come out during his fight with Broussard after they interrogated Cheese. He depicts this as what “… separates [humans] from animals” (Lehane 175). The use of this comparison helps him refrain from “… the lash of [his] hand” or “the kick of [his] foot.” A constant reminder to himself not to become what his father is to him: an