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Chapter 3
Themes
and Colors
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.
Active
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.
Active
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.
Active
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.”
Active
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.
Active
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.
