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Stewart Pettyman
Irma Almanac is the wife of Dungatar’s chemist, Mr. Almanac. Irma is an elderly woman who’s crippled by painful arthritis and has lived a sad and downtrodden life. When Mr. Almanac was young, he used to beat Irma—now that he is too old and ill to do this, he abuses his power over her by refusing to let her take pain medication for her illness. Instead, Mr. Almanac tells Irma that she is in pain because she is a sinful person. Irma is kind, however, and she sends Molly food when she knows that Molly is ill and alone. Tilly becomes friends with Irma when she returns to Dungatar, and she makes Irma herbal cakes that ease her arthritic pain. Every day, after Mr. Almanac finished work, Nancy (Mr. Almanac’s assistant) wheels him across the street in his wheelchair and Irma catches him with a cushion at the front gate. One night, after eating a batch of Tilly’s cakes, Irma falls asleep and fails to catch Mr. Almanac. He rolls through the house and out of the back door, where he drowns in the river. After his death, Irma takes to wearing bright red dresses, which she was never allowed to do before.
Irma Almanac Quotes in The Dressmaker
The The Dressmaker quotes below are all either spoken by Irma Almanac or refer to Irma Almanac. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 4 Quotes
‘Your husband's mighty slow these days. How did you manage that?’ Tilly placed an apologetic hand, lighter than pollen, on Mrs. Almanac's cold, stony shoulder. Irma smiled. 'Percival says God is responsible for everything.' She used to have a lot of falls, which left her with a black eye or a cut lip. Over the years, as her husband ground to a stiff and shuffling old man, her injuries ceased.
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Explanation and Analysis:
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Irma Almanac Character Timeline in The Dressmaker
The timeline below shows where the character Irma Almanac appears in The Dressmaker. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
...a park on the riverbank and then the town moves east to west—from Mr. and Mrs. Almanac ’s cottage to the school where Prudence Dimm teaches. Alvin Pratt’s General Store sits on...
(full context)
Chapter 2
...that the street is clear, Nancy shoves Mr. Almanac’s wheelchair across the street. His wife, Irma Almanac , waits with a cushion at the Almanacs’ garden gate on the other side, and...
(full context)
Chapter 4
...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...
(full context)
Chapter 8
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...
(full context)
