Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Dry, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Human Cost of Climate Change
Justice
Urban vs. Rural
Friendship
Summary
Analysis
Sergeant Raco leaves to bring Dow in for questioning while he’s out working on a plumbing job. Back at the station, Falk and Raco discuss Falk’s recent find on the receipt. Falk is sure he didn’t get a call from Karen, whom he’s never spoken to, but she might have known he investigated financial crimes from Luke or from seeing Falk on TV.
The fact that Karen could have potentially seen Falk on the TV hints at the asymmetrical relationship between urban and rural life. When Falk himself saw Luke on TV, it was only because of the murder—in general, urban dwellers like Falk don’t notice the regular lives of farmers like the Hadlers.
Themes
Falk and Sergeant Raco get ready to interrogate Dow. Raco says that to keep things above board, he called Clyde police and let them know about Falk, pretending to be annoyed by Falk’s interference. Clyde said it was OK for Falk to be there. Falk and Raco go to talk to Dow, who refuses to say anything helpful. At last, Falk mentions the receipt with Grant’s name on it. Dow slams the table. He says he won’t have the murders pinned on him.
Raco’s new willingness to call Clyde suggests that he feels confident enough about the evidence he and Falk have gathered so far to justify everything to the officers at Clyde. Dow’s dramatic reaction to Falk’s accusation doesn’t necessarily reveal anything, since Dow is so naturally combative anyway.
Themes
Dow sticks to his story that he was digging ditches when the murders happened. Falk asks Dow if he’ll inherit his uncle Deacon’s property after Deacon dies, and Dow says he will, but it seems like a sore subject. Dow just wants to sell the property when he gets it. Falk notes that with both Deacon’s farm and the Hadler farm up for sale, that’s a sizable amount of land that might even be attractive to foreign investors.
Falk’s questions about Dow inheriting Deacon’s property hint at some sort of financial angle, but it isn’t clear yet how this relates back to the Hadler case. Falk speculates that perhaps Dow killed the Hadlers to make his own land more attractive to investors, and while this could be a good motive, it also seems that Falk is playing off Dow’s well-documented dislike of outsiders to see how he reacts.
Themes
Falk and Sergeant Raco ask more about Karen, whom Grant admits he always found attractive. They bring up Grant’s feud with Luke and try to establish a motive. Grant says his alibi is strong—stronger even than Falk’s during Ellie’s murder—and dares anyone to prove it wrong.
As Falk and Raco level more accusations against Dow, he just gets more resistant and combative. Dow seems unable to back down from a challenge, and as many characters in the novel do, he tries to shift suspicion away from himself by turning it back on someone else: Falk.
Themes
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