Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Dressmaker, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Transformation, Illusion, and Truth
Vengeance and Suffering
Secrets, Hypocrisy, and Conformity
Memories, Progress, and the Past
Healing, Medicine, and Power
Summary
Analysis
The next weekend is the football match between two nearby towns, Winyerp and Itheca. Dungatar will play the winner in the finals. Tilly finishes cleaning Molly’s house and she continues to feed and care for Molly. Molly’s strength begins to come back, and she tries to think of ways to outsmart Tilly, whom she still sees as an imposter.
Tilly dresses Molly and wheels her down the Hill toward town, where the high street is crowded with shoppers. Molly hisses that Tilly is trying to kill her. They approach the cake stall, which is manned by Lois Pickett and Beula Harridene. Nancy Pickett sweeps the street nearby. Lois and Beula gossip together as they watch Molly and Tilly approach. Lois asks Beula if Marigold knows that Tilly is back, and Beula says no.
The locals openly gossip about Molly and Tilly because they view them as outsiders and therefore do not feel the need to respect them. This suggests that the Dungatar residents are judgmental and hypocritical because they hold people to an extremely high moral standard but then behave immorally themselves by alienating and being cruel to people.
Themes
Tilly feels her legs begin to shake as she stops in front of the stall. Lois Pickett and Beula Harridene look Tilly up and down. Tilly says she will buy some of the cake, which Lois makes herself, but Molly warns her that they will be poisoned. Lois and Beula are offended, and they glare at Tilly. Tilly buys a jam cake and pushes Molly toward Pratt’s.
Although Tilly does not seek the townspeople’s approval, she still fears being judged and ostracized because humans crave social connection and because the consequences of being cast out can be frightening and severe. While the townspeople are dishonest and talk about people behind their backs, Molly’s madness makes her honest because she no longer cares what people think of her and does not try to fit in.
Themes
Inside Pratt’s, Alvin, Muriel, and Gertrude watch, amazed, as Tilly wheels Molly between the shelves. Tilly approaches the counter and asks for a length of green georgette fabric. Muriel cuts it for her and Alvin complains that, because of its unusual green color, the cloth will only be good for a tablecloth. He presumes that Tilly will also pay for Molly’s outstanding accounts, and so Tilly pays him what’s owed.
The Pratts are amazed to see Tilly because she is an object of gossip and scandal. The townspeople, therefore, obviously hope to shame and frighten Tilly away and are shocked when she instead stands up to their opinion and comes into town.
Themes
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Tilly pushes Molly into the pharmacist’s next, and they approach the counter that Mr. Almanac is hunched over. Molly cries out that she is being poisoned, and Nancy Pickett appears behind Tilly. Nancy is a boyish, strong-looking woman whom Tilly remembers from school. Tilly recalls that Nancy used to pick on her; Nancy was good at fighting and she always defended her older brother, Bobby. Nancy gives Tilly an antacid for Molly and Tilly turns to leave the shop. As Tilly goes, she whispers to Nancy that, if she does choose to murder Molly, she will “break her neck.”
Nancy picked on Tilly because her own brother, Bobby, was also a target. Rather than showing compassion toward Tilly because she, too, is vulnerable, Nancy instead chose to attack Tilly to take the attention away from her brother and to avoid becoming a target herself. This suggests that people are afraid of being alienated and would rather ostracize someone else than face this themselves. Tilly tries to frighten Nancy by suggesting that she is just as mad and dangerous as the townspeople believe she is.
Themes
As Tilly and Molly cross the high street once more, the townspeople gather to watch them. The two women pause by the river and they watch a duck and her ducklings struggle upstream. As they move up the road, they pass Irma Almanac, who sits in her garden in the sun. Irma suffers from painful arthritis and so she can barely move. She longs to be free of pain and she wishes she didn’t have to cope with her husband, Mr. Almanac, who tells her that she is ill because she is a sinner.
The townspeople are united against Molly and Tilly, whom they view as outsiders; they do not even try to hide their scrutiny of them. The duck and her ducklings represent Molly and Tilly: much like these ducks struggle to swim upstream, Molly and Tilly struggle against the tide of judgement and hate which they face in Dungatar. Meanwhile, rather than using his position as the only nearby pharmacist for good, Mr. Almanac abuses this power and cruelly denies his wife treatment for her pain. This suggests that access to medicine can sometimes be used to harm people, rather than to heal.
Themes
Tilly and Molly stop to admire Irma’s garden, and Irma recognizes Tilly. She says that Tilly is brave to come home, and Tilly thanks Irma for sending Molly food over the years. Irma glances warily at the pharmacy and warns Tilly not to tell anyone about the meals. When Mr. Almanac was young and healthy, Irma used to fall and injure herself a lot. As Mr. Almanac’s Parkinson’s disease progressed, Irma’s injuries stopped. Tilly and Molly bid Irma farewell and they make their way back up the Hill.
Given that Irma’s injuries mysteriously went away after Mr. Almanac got sick, it’s implied that Mr. Almanac was the one hurting her. Irma is extremely brave because she risked social judgment and violent consequences from her husband in order to help Molly. This suggests that unlike many of the Dungatar residents, who are too afraid to go against the community to help those who do not fit in, Irma values kindness and human connection over conformity.
Themes
