The Female Revenger: Gothic Influence in Stephen King’s Carrie and Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl Alejandro Martínez Fernández College

The gothic influence is still undeniably present on contemporary fiction. Although this influence is rather obvious in most of cases, it is more complex that it seems in some works, specifically in the creation of certain atmospheres or the personalities of some characters. In Stephen King’s Carrie (1974), Gothic is more than an inspiration and plays an important part in how the story is told. Closer to present-day was published Gone Girl (2012), a thriller novel, written by Gillian Flynn, which is also influenced by the literary movement but with a different story, tone and even, intended audience. However, they both share an interesting feature in their protagonists, the figure of the female revenger.

As Dybas explains, “classically, a revenger is something of an anti-hero character who has a specific injustice on which to focus their vengeance” (6). Carrie pays her classmates back with her telekinetic powers at prom after she is soak in pig’s blood and after years of suffering bullying, while Amy, Gone Girl’s protagonist, makes an elaborated scheme to fake her own death and blame her husband after she felt neglected by him. They both kill people pursuing this revenge, and as Dybas continues stating, “revengers are bad, but...