The Dressmaker

The Dressmaker

by

Rosalie Ham

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Sergeant Farrat Character Analysis

Sergeant Farrat is Dungatar’s policeman who becomes close friends with Tilly and Molly. Sergeant Farrat is a mild-mannered and patient man. He tolerates the Dungatar residents—whom he finds spiteful and malicious—and enjoys his quiet life in the town. Sergeant Farrat loves fashion and makes his own clothes in private, which he keeps this a secret from the townspeople because he likes to wear women’s clothing and does not want to be gossiped about. Before Tilly’s arrival in Dungatar, Sergeant Farrat does not challenge the status quo or go against the crowd and, instead, keeps his hobbies to himself. His friendship with Tilly, however—which spawns from their mutual love of clothes—helps Sergeant Farrat embrace his passion, and he learns not to care what the Dungatar residents think of him. Sergeant Farrat is one of the only characters in the novel who understands the negative consequences of gossiping about and ostracizing people and who tries to learn from this and change. Although Sergeant Farrat does not go to see Molly before Tilly’s arrival, his friendship with Tilly makes him more considerate of people in the community and he begins to advise the Dungatar people to be kinder to one another. He is also the only person who stands by Tilly after Teddy McSwiney’s death, which the townspeople blame Tilly for. Although Sergeant Farrat is a benevolent character in the novel, he is punished, along with the townspeople, at the novel’s end when Tilly sets Dungatar on fire and burns the town down. Sergeant Farrat, like the others, loses his home and all his homemade outfits in the fire. In the Dungatar production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth (which the townspeople put on for a cultural event), Sergeant Farrat plays Banquo. This is fitting because, in Shakespeare’s play, Banquo is a true friend to Macbeth and is betrayed by him. Sergeant Farrat, similarly, is a good friend to Tilly and is betrayed by her at the novel’s end when she also burns his house down and steals his money.

Sergeant Farrat Quotes in The Dressmaker

The The Dressmaker quotes below are all either spoken by Sergeant Farrat or refer to Sergeant Farrat. 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:
Transformation, Illusion, and Truth  Theme Icon
).
Chapter 19 Quotes

Then Sergeant Farrat left Tilly's side to stand and deliver a sermon of sorts. He spoke of love and hate and the power of both and he reminded them how much they loved Teddy McSwiney. He said that Teddy McSwiney was, by the natural order of the town, an outcast who lived by the tip. His good mother, Mae, did what was expected of her from the people of Dungatar, she kept to herself, raised her children with truth and her husband, Edward, worked hard and fixed people's pipes and trimmed their trees and delivered their waste to the rip. The McSwineys kept at a distance but tragedy includes everyone, and anyway, wasn't everyone else in the town different, yet included?

Related Characters: Tilly Dunnage, Teddy McSwiney, Sergeant Farrat, Edward McSwiney, Mae McSwiney
Page Number: 180
Explanation and Analysis:

Sergeant Farrat said love was as strong as hate and that as much as they themselves could hate someone, they could also love an outcast. Teddy was an outcast until he proved himself an asset and he'd loved an outcast—little Myrtle Dunnage.

Related Characters: Tilly Dunnage, Teddy McSwiney, Sergeant Farrat
Page Number: 180-181
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 20 Quotes

The people of Dungatar gravitated to each other. They shook their heads, held their jaws, sighed and talked in hateful tones. Sergeant Farrat moved amongst his flock, monitoring them, listening. They had salvaged nothing of his sermon, only their continuing hatred.

Related Characters: Tilly Dunnage, Teddy McSwiney, Sergeant Farrat, Stewart Pettyman
Page Number: 185
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 27 Quotes

'Anyone can go, Beula, but only good people with respectful intentions should attend, don't you think? Without Tilly's tolerance and generosity, her patience and skills, our lives—mine especially—would not have been enriched. Since you are not sincere about her feelings or about her dear mother and only want to go to stickybeak—well it's just plain ghoulish, isn't it?'

Related Characters: Sergeant Farrat (speaker), Tilly Dunnage, Molly Dunnage, Beula Harridene
Page Number: 223
Explanation and Analysis:

'Molly Dunnage came to Dungatar with a babe-in-arms to start a new life. She hoped to leave behind her troubles, but hers was a life lived with trouble travelling alongside and so Molly lived as discreetly as she possibly could in the full glare of scrutiny and torment. Her heart will rest easier knowing Myrtle again before she died.

Related Characters: Sergeant Farrat (speaker), Tilly Dunnage, Molly Dunnage, Evan Pettyman
Page Number: 225-226
Explanation and Analysis:
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Sergeant Farrat Quotes in The Dressmaker

The The Dressmaker quotes below are all either spoken by Sergeant Farrat or refer to Sergeant Farrat. 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:
Transformation, Illusion, and Truth  Theme Icon
).
Chapter 19 Quotes

Then Sergeant Farrat left Tilly's side to stand and deliver a sermon of sorts. He spoke of love and hate and the power of both and he reminded them how much they loved Teddy McSwiney. He said that Teddy McSwiney was, by the natural order of the town, an outcast who lived by the tip. His good mother, Mae, did what was expected of her from the people of Dungatar, she kept to herself, raised her children with truth and her husband, Edward, worked hard and fixed people's pipes and trimmed their trees and delivered their waste to the rip. The McSwineys kept at a distance but tragedy includes everyone, and anyway, wasn't everyone else in the town different, yet included?

Related Characters: Tilly Dunnage, Teddy McSwiney, Sergeant Farrat, Edward McSwiney, Mae McSwiney
Page Number: 180
Explanation and Analysis:

Sergeant Farrat said love was as strong as hate and that as much as they themselves could hate someone, they could also love an outcast. Teddy was an outcast until he proved himself an asset and he'd loved an outcast—little Myrtle Dunnage.

Related Characters: Tilly Dunnage, Teddy McSwiney, Sergeant Farrat
Page Number: 180-181
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 20 Quotes

The people of Dungatar gravitated to each other. They shook their heads, held their jaws, sighed and talked in hateful tones. Sergeant Farrat moved amongst his flock, monitoring them, listening. They had salvaged nothing of his sermon, only their continuing hatred.

Related Characters: Tilly Dunnage, Teddy McSwiney, Sergeant Farrat, Stewart Pettyman
Page Number: 185
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 27 Quotes

'Anyone can go, Beula, but only good people with respectful intentions should attend, don't you think? Without Tilly's tolerance and generosity, her patience and skills, our lives—mine especially—would not have been enriched. Since you are not sincere about her feelings or about her dear mother and only want to go to stickybeak—well it's just plain ghoulish, isn't it?'

Related Characters: Sergeant Farrat (speaker), Tilly Dunnage, Molly Dunnage, Beula Harridene
Page Number: 223
Explanation and Analysis:

'Molly Dunnage came to Dungatar with a babe-in-arms to start a new life. She hoped to leave behind her troubles, but hers was a life lived with trouble travelling alongside and so Molly lived as discreetly as she possibly could in the full glare of scrutiny and torment. Her heart will rest easier knowing Myrtle again before she died.

Related Characters: Sergeant Farrat (speaker), Tilly Dunnage, Molly Dunnage, Evan Pettyman
Page Number: 225-226
Explanation and Analysis: