Seventy-Two Derwents Summary & Analysis

Tyler tells the reader that they are reading her journal. Her schoolteacher, Mrs Carlyle, has given the students these journals and asked them to update them on their own. Mrs Carlyle adds that she may read the journals, but promises that they will always be kept anonymous.

Mrs Carlyle tells Tyler about her two pet budgies. She promises that if they ever lay eggs, she will give one of their babies to Tyler after giving it time to mature. Tyler imagines how she would care for the birds.

Mrs Carlyle explains that the mother bird pulls her own feathers out to line the inside of the nest, and adds that she put soft things inside the cage, but that the mother bird continued to pull out her feathers regardless, drawing on “instinct.”

Tyler writes that, if Mrs Carlyle does give her one of the baby budgies, she will name it Alicia, and she imagines trying to teach the bird to say its name. Mrs Carlyle cautions her that she’s not yet sure whether the birds will lay eggs, and she asks Tyler not to tell her classmates about her promise, since they might get jealous. Tyler is nevertheless very excited by the thought of the baby bird.

Later, Tyler’s mother asks Tyler for her opinion of her boyfriend, Shane. Tyler responds noncommittally. When Shane arrives for dinner, Tyler’s mother brags about her homemade chips and asks Tyler to affirm that her chips are the best.

Tyler recalls an incident when she asked her mother for money to buy a hamburger. Her mother insisted that Tyler wait in the kitchen while she prepared a burger from scratch, then insistently pressed Tyler to agree that the homemade burger was better than what she would have gotten from McDonald’s. Tyler writes in her journal that she has learned to “just say yes.”

Tyler recalls Mrs Carlyle telling her class that training a dog to behave, or training a bird to talk, requires repetition so that the animal learns to respond to cues. Tyler reflects that the same technique might work on humans, as well.

At dinner, Shane watches The Simpsons with Tyler while her mother prepares the meal. He asks her questions about her age, and prods her about whether or not she has a boyfriend, which makes her uncomfortable.

Tyler writes that she doesn’t have or want a boyfriend—what she wants is a set of seventy-two Derwent artist’s pencils. Her friend Georgia from school has a set, and Tyler describes their high quality and texture. She recalls taking her grandmother to the art store and asking for them as a birthday present, then she lists the evocative names for the pencils’ different colors. She imagines sharing a set of her own with Georgia, and asking Mrs Carlyle to use her knife to scrape off some of their paint to write her own name on them.

Back in the present, Shane continues pressing Tyler to admit that she has a boyfriend. Tyler thinks about how strangely time and space work in cartoons, including how characters can run through walls and leave holes shaped like their bodies in the wall behind them. She recalls that her mother’s old boyfriend Gary once threw a bottle at a wall in their house, but “it just smashed.” Tyler continues thinking about the cartoons as Shane accuses her of blushing and presses her further on what she “gets up to” with her boyfriend.

Later, Shane is attempting to fix Tyler’s mother’s Subaru, and he complains about the quality of the car. Tyler adds that Ellie, her sister, is working at Subway that night. Shane fights about the car with Tyler’s mother. Tyler fantasizes about crawling inside of a soft pasta shell like a hammock.

Tyler thinks about what she’d do if her friend Georgia came over to her house. She thinks about watching TV, roasting marshmallows, putting on nail polish, and doing homework with her. Tyler is always careful to do her homework, and she mentions how much she enjoys sketching, although her mother doesn’t consider it a useful skill. She hopes that, if Georgia came over, her mother and Shane would leave them in peace.

Mrs Carlyle asks Tyler’s class who’s been writing in their journals. Since nobody raises their hands, Tyler doesn’t, either. When a student complains about having nothing to write about, Mrs Carlyle suggests writing about earlier moments in their lives, including memories of Christmas.

Tyler describes a Christmas gift of her own, a doll that her Aunty Jacinta made by hand and gave to Tyler for Christmas two years ago. At the time, Tyler’s mother laughed at the doll and attempted to make fun of it with Tyler’s older brother Zac, who responded coldly. Tyler explains that three of her siblings, including Zac, no longer live with her family.

Tyler describes her gratitude when she received the doll from Aunty Jacinta, and how nice her aunt smelled. When Aunty Jacinta began helping Tyler think of names for her new doll, Tyler’s mother got up abruptly.

On the way back from Christmas, Zac asked their mother to drop him off at the station, despite her reluctance to let him leave on Christmas day. Once he left, the kids’ mother began complaining to Ellie, asking her to confirm that Zac was always an “ungrateful little shit.” Ellie refused to confirm this, and her mother began to justify herself at length. Tyler describes her mother’s resentment towards other members of her family, including Aunty Jacinta and Tyler’s grandmother, and her mother’s suspicion that one of them called Child Services to take away her daughter, Tegan.

Tyler recalls writing a card to Aunty Jacinta last Christmas. Her aunt responded warmly, calling her “wonderful” and sending Tyler her phone number, despite the fact that Tyler’s mother already had it. Tyler decided to name her doll Calypso.

Watching cartoons on Saturday morning, Tyler sees Shane in front of the TV. Shane insists that she read his ankle tattoo, which says “live fast die young leave a pretty corpse.” Tyler thinks it looks strange, and writes that she feels uncomfortable wearing pajamas while he’s in the house.

On Tyler’s birthday, Tyler’s grandmother gives her a tin of colored pencils, but they are not the Derwents. Tyler compares their cheap, fragile quality to the Derwents’ durability. Her mother promises that they’ll have a party next year, and Ellie commits to making Tyler’s next birthday a better one. Tyler mentions that Mrs Carlyle baked cupcakes for her in school earlier that day.

Shane does not attend Tyler’s birthday because her mother hasn’t introduced him to Tyler’s grandmother yet. Ellie presses her on why she wants to keep him secret, and her mother says that she wants him to finish parole before she introduces him to the family. Tyler and Ellie play with toy disco balls in Tyler’s bed, and she describes feeling “lovely and warm.”

Tyler’s mother claims that she will soon be hired for a sewing job. She sews with an overlocker that Jacinta gave her two years ago. She’s working on a type of doll she calls “glamour plushies,” which she hopes she can use to start her own business. Ellie presses her on her expensive sewing scissors, which the girls’ mother bought by borrowing money from Ellie.

Tyler prepares dinner while her mother works. She then works on her school project in her room, since her mother’s things take up the whole kitchen table. She apologizes to Mrs Carlyle for the poor quality of the coloring, explaining that she did it with the pencils she received from her grandmother.

Tyler describes her mother’s dolls, comparing them to “cartoon monsters.” She checks in on Ellie, who is doing her homework. She explains that Ellie works hard in school and maintains a part-time job in order to be able to go to university. Tyler recalls Ellie fighting with her mother by claiming she’s setting a good example for her sister by showing her “how to get the fuck out of here.”

Shane comes for dinner, and Tyler senses that he’s in a “mean mood.” He mocks her mother’s dolls. Later, she hears her mother and Shane making noise in the halls. Her mother is laughing and seems happy, but the sound nevertheless makes Tyler feel like she has stones in her stomach. Ellie comes into Tyler’s room, wakes her up, and brings her to sleep in Ellie’s bed.

Ellie says she keeps a small stone under her pillow to ward off bad dreams. Tyler writes that she sometimes dreams of being hunted by a wolf, but doesn’t tell Ellie. Instead, she tells Ellie that she sometimes feels like she has stones in her stomach. Ellie responds by promising to buy her Derwent pencils someday.

Mrs Carlyle tells her class that she once adopted a puppy that had trouble separating from its mother. Using an old clock, a fur collar, and a hot-water bottle, she tricked the puppy into believing its mother was in the cage with it; afterwards it learned to sleep on its own.

Mrs Carlyle mentions that the puppy liked sleeping in baskets of old laundry. Tyler compares the puppy cuddling with Mrs Carlyle’s old clothes to the way people might cuddle with her mother’s dolls. She recalls Ellie telling her that they once had a cat, but that it ran away. Ellie says she doesn’t blame it.

Tyler’s mother continues working on the dolls, complaining that Shane doesn’t do more to help her. However, she never complains in front of Shane. While Tyler’s mother is putting on perfume, Shane approaches Tyler and gives her a Mars Bar, asking her not to tell Ellie so that she doesn’t get jealous. He promises to leave surprises in Tyler’s room, under her pillow. Tyler smiles even though she tries not to, and hides the chocolate bar.

Tyler’s mother seems dejected about her progress on the dolls, and Tyler writes that they look “creepy or dead.” Ellie paints pupils in the dolls’ eyes, though, and they immediately look much better. The girls’ mother is relieved. Tyler compares Ellie’s intervention to a magic trick.

Tyler’s mother tells Tyler she’d like her to stay home from school the next day to help with her dolls, framing this as a special treat. Despite the fact that Tyler doesn’t want to miss school, she agrees. That night, Tyler wakes up to see someone standing in her doorway. When she realizes it’s Shane and asks what he wants, Shane pretends he was sleepwalking, then goes away.

Ellie is upset with her mother for keeping Tyler home from school, worrying that that this will mean Tyler is forced to spend more time with Shane. They fight, and her mother mocks Ellie’s boyfriend, Luke. Ellie responds by pointing out that Shane’s efforts to fix her mother’s car have “ruined” it. This attack embarrasses the girls’ mother. Ellie has Tyler promise to text her if “anything goes wrong” or if Tyler “get[s] the stones feeling.”

Tyler and her mother work on the dolls all day. When Ellie comes home, she wakes Tyler up in bed, asking her whether Shane did or said “anything weird,” and warning Tyler to tell her if Shane asks her to sit on his lap or “anything like that.” Tyler asks why she shouldn’t tell their mother instead; without explaining, Ellie reiterates sadly that Tyler should tell her, not their mother.

Tyler recalls Ellie telling her that their two older brothers, Zac and Dylan, were sent to live with other families after accumulating criminal records and running away to find their father, who turned out to be “hopeless.” Tegan, their sister, left because their mother’s previous boyfriend, Ian, abused her. Their mother fought with Child Protection to no avail. Tyler asks Ellie if she’s saving up so she can afford to leave. Ellie responds by promising never to leave Tyler.

Some time later, Tyler asks her mother to drive her to the mall so she can try to buy individual Derwents. Their car has become unsafe since Shane attempted to repair it, but Tyler’s mother dismisses her concerns. Tyler purchases five pencils. She recalls that her science teacher, Mr Godfrey, didn’t believe she had done her sketches on her own and accused her of copying them. After she proved that they were, in fact, her own, he enlisted her to decorate the board for parent-teacher night and didn’t apologize for doubting her. Tyler reflects that all teachers, Mrs Carlyle excepted, unfairly take advantage of students’ passions to pursue their own ends. She thinks about wanting “special,” artist-grade pencils instead of her student-quality ones.

Tyler and her mother visit the shop to which her mother sold the dolls. They aren’t in the window, and her mother is humiliated, assuming that they had only put them on display for a short time to appease her. However, a shop worker runs outside and informs them that they’ve already sold out. Tyler’s mother collects the money they’ve earned and buys donuts for Tyler and herself. Tyler wishes her mother bought her a Derwent pencil instead of a donut. The car won’t start in the parking lot, which prompts her mother to break down crying. Through tears, she hands Tyler thirty dollars as her share of the profit from the dolls.

Later, alone with Shane, Tyler passes him a call from his parole officer. Shane takes the call, then asks Tyler to do him “a favor” by urinating into a cup for him, claiming that it’s “just for a surprise” and a “trick [he’s] playing.” Tyler feels like she has stones in her stomach again. Although she is confused and frightened by his request, Tyler consents. She notes that she’s recording it in her journal because Mrs Carlyle encouraged them to describe things that “make us feel ashamed or like we want to cry.”

At school, Mrs Carlyle gently asks her students if anyone would volunteer to submit their journal. No students do, but when Tyler is waiting for Ellie to pick her up, she writes that she’s going to submit hers on an impulse.

Two nights later, after Tyler has gotten her journal back from Mrs Carlyle, Tyler wants to tell Ellie about Shane making her urinate in a cup, but she feels like she has stones in her stomach again and that she can’t speak. The next day, Mrs Carlyle asks Tyler to stay behind, and explains that she’s reported the contents of Tyler’s journal to the police. Tyler begins to panic. Mrs Carlyle offers to drive her home, but Tyler asks to go to Mrs Carlyle’s house to see her pet budgies.

Mrs Carlyle shows Tyler her aviary, adding that the mother bird has laid eggs, and that she still intends to give one to Tyler. Mrs Carlyle explains that she’s “bound by mandatory reporting,” and asks Tyler if she trusts her. Tyler says yes. Tyler asks if the mother bird would bite her if she put her hand in the nest; Mrs Carlyle sadly confirms this. Mrs Carlyle then drives her to the mall to meet Ellie.

Later, Tyler’s mother receives an apron from her Centrelink sewing course and proudly shows it to her daughters until Shane mocks it, after which she takes it off. From then on, she wears it only when he’s not in the house.

Later, Shane bursts into the house screaming for Tyler, complaining that he’s now violated his parole thanks to her tattling on him to her teacher. As Shane screams that he’ll kill her, Tyler buries herself in a laundry basket to hide. She feels like her “whole stomach [is] full of stones now gritting heavy together.” She tries to think of Derwent pencils.

Tyler’s mother weakly attempts to calm Shane, but Tyler gathers that she won’t do anything to defend her, which makes Tyler hate her mother. In the laundry, Tyler finds a “student of the week” badge her mother won in her sewing class. Thinking of Derwent pencils to steel herself, Tyler walks into the living room to confront Shane.

Ellie tells Shane she’s called the police. Shane violently throws her against the wall, and Tyler observes that her sister didn’t leave a body-shaped hole in the wall like in cartoons. Ellie quickly stands up again and grabs a chair. Their mother quietly tells Shane to back off. Shane begins insulting her, calling her “fucked in the head.” Tyler thinks she’ll be too weak to defend her daughters.

Shane begins insulting Tyler as well. Tyler imagines hearing Ellie’s voice admonishing her not to respond, since responding would lead him to hurt them. Her mother says, “you’d better get out of here,” but it is unclear whether she’s telling Shane to leave or her daughters to run. Tyler presumes the latter.

Shane continues to mock their mother, claiming that Ellie hates her. Ellie shakes her head in denial. Her mother stares at her, then suddenly adopts a much firmer attitude, ordering Shane to get out and drawing her sharp sewing scissors from her pocket.

Shane grabs a knife and threatens Tyler’s mother, telling her that he’s stabbed others before. Tyler imagines Ellie telling her that it’s an empty boast. Her mother quickly moves forward and stabs him in the stomach with the scissors. Instead of fighting back, Shane falls to the ground and begins to cry. Tyler’s mother tells Ellie “to phone the police for real now”; Ellie embraces her.

Tyler now addresses her journal to Mrs Carlyle, explaining that she’s writing using the Derwent pencils she received from Ellie as a Christmas gift. She reveals that her mother offered to send her wherever she wanted, and Tyler asked to go to her Aunt Jacinta’s house; her mother immediately agreed, and they spent the last two weeks of the term plus Christmas there.

Tyler realizes that Mrs Carlyle will no longer be her teacher in the following year, but recalls that she told her class that there is no set ending for a journal. Tyler says she’s chosen to keep writing in order to prove her right. She remembers the afternoon at Mrs Carlyle’s house, adding the previously excluded detail that Mrs Carlyle told her that true friends never ask for favors as a test. She thanks Mrs Carlyle for helping her. She concludes by stating that she intends to put the diary in Mrs Carlyle’s mailbox, and asks Mrs Carlyle to keep a baby bird for her.