Critical Discourse Analysis of Blackmail in Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl

Abstract

This work studies the literary theme of blackmail in two main selected extracts of Flynn's Gone Girl, by adopting Critical Discourse Analysis as a framework for analyzing and interpreting discursive events. Nowadays, blackmail becomes a common phenomenon in all fields. This phenomenon is usually not expressed directly, but it depends on specific linguistic components that should be analyzed to affirm its nature as a blackmail. The analysis of the linguistic component is to clarify the meaning that forms the problem of this study.  While much academic work has studied the novel’s themes of marriage, power, revenge, and truth, few studies adopt a Critical discourse Analysis to examine the discursive occurrences of blackmail in the novel. Previously, studies have neglected the significance of linguistic elements such as dialogue, critique, shaping, and other techniques in showing the importance of the discursive strategies in Gone Girl. However, the problem of this research can be represented in terms of how the characters use a new and unique ways of blackmailing which are used by Amy and Nick in the novel. Amy exploits her victims by using all institutional and social settings to affect her husband, Nick. She employs a legal or legitimated blackmail to exploits her victims by using faked diaries, media and policy. Unlike traditional blackmail, the deceptive and manipulative strategies of blackmail in the novel hide her truth and support women autority in modern society. The study adopts Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis Approach (2003) since it aims to discover the hidden perspectives of blackmail that are used by Amy and Nick in the novel. In addition, it also aims at: first, identifying the textual mechanisms such as grammar, vocabulary, and coherence; second, exploring the discursive practices of the blackmail and how it shapes and reflects the personal identity; and third, uncovering the social practices that reinforce or influence the societal ideologies in the novel. The study demonstrated how linguistic elements shape and scrutinize the concept of blackmail. Also, it employs qualitative analysis as the primary design for data collection.