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
Ruth Dimm waits by her post van at Dungatar station. Hamish O’Brien, the station master, waits with her. The steam train pulls up and a guard unloads a puppy for Bobby Pickett and a chest addressed to Tilly. As the train pulls out, Hamish looks after it with tears in his eyes. He explains to Ruth that he is sad because diesel trains are replacing steam ones. Ruth says that this is “progress” and that faster trains are better for the passengers. Hamish retorts that the passengers don’t matter to him.
Hamish’s attitude demonstrates that romanticized ideas about the past are often selfish and close-minded. The introduction of diesel trains likely means that Dungatar will gradually become a more modern and diverse place, as people from out of town will be able to reach it more easily. However, Hamish dislikes change to the point that he’d rather inconvenience people and slow down social progress than let go of his romantic and nostalgic ideas about the past.
Themes
Back at the post office, Ruth opens the package addressed to Tilly and examines its contents. The chest is full of mysterious substances and postcards written in foreign languages from capital cities all over Europe. There is also a bundle of expensive lace and a novel by Hemmingway. Ruth examines a tin that contains brownish herbs, which says “mix with water” on the label. She puts the tin aside and hides it in her cupboard.
Ruth abuses her power—her access to people’s mail and, therefore, their personal information—to snoop into their affairs and try to learn their secrets. Everyone is obsessed with gossip in Dungatar, and people like to learn other people’s secrets because they feel that this gives them power over others.
Themes
Tilly pushes Molly home from town in her wheelchair. Molly carries bundles of shopping and Tilly stops at the base of the Hill to wipe sweat from her brow. Teddy pulls up beside them in his cart and offers them a lift. Tilly refuses, but Teddy lifts Molly up beside him anyway. Tilly gives in and climbs onto the cart, and Teddy drives them up the Hill. At the top, Tilly immediately jumps down and goes into the garden. Molly invites Teddy in for a cup of tea.
Tilly is reluctant to accept help or kindness from Teddy because of her past experiences with the townspeople. She is used to being outcast and, therefore, has come to expect rejection and cruelty from people. This demonstrates how people’s past experiences can impact their future behavior.
Themes
Tilly sets biscuits on a plate, and Molly and Teddy drink their tea. Molly complains that Tilly makes her drink tea made from herbs and roots that Tilly gets sent over from Europe. Teddy says that women like Tilly need men like him around, and Molly scoffs. Tilly brings washing inside and begins to fold it. Molly asks if they still have dances for the football team and Teddy replies that there is one on Saturday. Molly says he should take Tilly, but Tilly says she won’t go.
Europe is associated with modernity, progress, and diversity in the novel, whereas Dungatar is associated with old-fashioned and conservative ways of life. Tilly creates herbal remedies with the plants she receives from abroad and this suggests that, while herbal medicine is seen as suspect in Dungatar, it is commonly practiced elsewhere in more progressive, open-minded societies. Tilly is reluctant to socialize in Dungatar because she has always been treated like an outcast there. As a result, she expects this same treatment again. This demonstrates how people’s past experiences can influence their future behavior.
Themes
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At the post office, Nancy and Ruth get comfortable on the couch and they prepare to drink the tea Ruth has made from Tilly’s powder. They have also tried some herbs that Tilly was sent, but these put them to sleep. The tea also makes them sleepy, and they wake up when Tilly knocks on the door. Tilly explains that she never received part of her mail—a tin of brown powder—and she notices that Ruth’s lips are stained brown. Ruth says that she hasn’t seen it, and Tilly shrugs and says that it was bat dung fertilizer for her plants. She hears Ruth and Nancy gag as she walks away, and she wonders where she can buy some more henna.
Ruth and Nancy, like most of the Dungatar residents, are extremely conservative and suspicious of anything new or unknown. They suspect that Tilly’s herbal concoctions are drugs because they believe that anything outside of Dungatar, and especially something that comes from a foreign place, must be dangerous and sinful according to conservative moral standards. However, while Ruth and Nancy think they are being daring and worldly by trying the powder, the experiment only showcases their ignorance as the powder is nothing but henna—a perfectly common plant-based hair dye.
Themes
As Tilly walks back through town, she sees Mae McSwiney. Tilly thanks Mae for looking after Molly, but Mae says that she didn’t do anything. Tilly remembers that Mae’s disabled son, Barney, was almost taken to the asylum once, but that his siblings stopped this. Mae sternly tells Tilly that people should “keep to themselves” in Dungatar and that Tilly should know this by now.
Although modern medicine should be used to help people, in Dungatar it is often used to silence and control anyone who does not fit in or will not comply. The townspeople try to have Barney committed simply because he does not fit in. In this sense, Ham suggests that if medical treatment is misused, it can do more harm than good for people like Barney. Mae is wary of people because of her experiences in Dungatar, where she is treated like an outcast because her family are poor. This suggests that ostracizing people leads to more cruelty and lack of connection among people, as those who have been hurt are less likely to reach out to others.
Themes
The next day is muggy, and Tilly takes Molly to visit Irma Almanac. Molly and Irma sit and talk in the garden. They avoid unpleasant conversation about things they have in common—lost children, men who have abused them—and Tilly gives Irma some homemade cakes to help with her arthritis. Irma asks Tilly why such a clever woman would want to live in Dungatar, and Tilly counters, “Why not?”
Molly and Irma are both haunted by tragic events which occurred in their pasts. Tilly uses herbal remedies to ease Irma’s suffering. By contrast, Irma’s husband, Mr. Almanac, is the town pharmacist and has access to a range of medical cures. He will not prescribe any to Irma, however, because he is cruel and uses his power to abuse her. This suggests that although modern medicine is extremely powerful, it can be withheld from or used against people.
Themes
By the time Tilly and Molly leave, Irma’s pain is gone and she can’t stop giggling. Nancy rushes into the kitchen and asks Irma sharply why she was not outside to catch Mr. Almanac after work. Irma bursts out laughing again as Mr. Almanac careens past her and he lands in his chair. Over dinner that night, Mr. Almanac says that Tilly can never make up for what she did. Irma just laughs at him again.
Tilly uses herbal remedies to temporarily heal and transform Irma—she is no longer in pain and enjoys herself for the first time in a long while. Tilly’s remedy also allows Irma to get revenge on her husband, who cruelly refuses to provide her with medicine for her arthritis even though he is the town pharmacist.
Themes
That night, Teddy brings Tilly and Molly some eggs and some shellfish he caught. The next night, he brings them fish and cooks it for them. Molly says that Tilly should be kind to Teddy because Mae, Teddy’s mother, kept her alive while Tilly was away. Tilly says that Mae only brought what Irma cooked. Molly insists that Tilly should go to the dance with Teddy, but Tilly does not want to go. Teddy does not insist—everyone would be shocked to see her there anyway, he says.
Even though Teddy shows genuine kindness toward Tilly, her past experiences of rejection and ostracization in Dungatar make her reluctant to accept his help. This suggests that people’s pasts can inform their future behavior. When people are treated badly, they are less likely to reach out to others because they may be traumatized by their past experiences.
Themes
Molly is angry with Tilly because Tilly refuses to go to the dance. Molly wets the bed, so Tilly changes the sheets. Next, Molly deliberately rams Tilly with her wheelchair. The next day, Teddy brings them a chicken and a cooking pot that he took from Marigold Pettyman’s bin. He makes a stew for them and they listen to Billie Holiday on Tilly’s new record player while they eat. Teddy tries to talk about books and modern music, but Tilly is sarcastic with him.
Molly does not want Tilly to end up lonely and isolated (the way that she was before Tilly arrived) and so she tries to pressure Tilly into connecting with Teddy. Teddy tries to show Tilly that he is interested in the outside world, unlike the rest of the Dungatar residents, who fear anything new or modern. Tilly is snobbish with Teddy, however—she is scarred by her past experiences of rejection and heartbreak and does not want to risk being hurt again, so she tries to push him away.
Themes
Noticing Tilly’s attitude, Molly tips her soup onto her legs so that it burns her. Teddy quickly rubs butter on Molly’s burns and puts her to bed. He sends Barney to buy cream from Mr. Almanac. Tilly thanks Barney and Teddy, but she throws the cream away after they have gone and she makes up her own potion from garden herbs and ointments that she owns.
Molly can see that Tilly is about to sabotage her relationship with Teddy and so she burns herself to stop this. Meanwhile, Tilly prefers to use her own herbal remedies rather than traditional medicine. Although traditional medicine is considered modern in Dungatar, Tilly knows that Dungatar is an old-fashioned place and that, elsewhere in the world, attitudes toward medicine have broadened. Tilly also does not trust Mr. Almanac because she knows that since he is the only person who can supply medicine in Dungatar, he may use this power to hurt Molly in some way because he dislikes her and sees her as an outcast.
Themes
