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Summary
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
From the road that approaches Dungatar, Australia, travelers can see the distant shape of a hill on the flat horizon. On top of this hill stands a ramshackle house with a large chimney that overlooks the town. People can see this house from the train, which rolls into Dungatar through the wheat fields that surround the town. Sometimes, passengers can see a light in the shack window. In the evenings, the Hill casts a long shadow right across Dungatar.
The Hill is raised, whereas the surrounding landscape is flat, and this suggests that the Hill (and, by extension, whoever lives on it) is somehow separate from the town and the surrounding neighborhood. Since Dungatar is a town which values conformity, this person, who is separate from the community, literally and metaphorically casts a shadow over the town.
Themes
One evening, in winter, Myrtle (Tilly) Dunnage approaches Dungatar on a Greyhound bus and she looks up at the Hill to see if there is a light on in the shack, which is where her mother, Molly, lives. Tilly has tried to write to Molly but received no response. She then tried to call, but the woman on the “telephone exchange” told her that “Old Mad Molly” does not have a phone. Tilly says that she wrote to Molly and the woman replies that Molly would not understand a letter. Tilly decides that she must return to Dungatar.
Again, Molly’s dwelling on the Hill, which is separate from the rest of Dungatar, suggests that Molly is an outcast who does not fit in with the townspeople. This is further supported by the woman’s unhelpful attitude, which suggests that people in Dungatar view Molly as “mad” or crazy because she is different. Tilly decides she must go back to see Molly because Molly is not treated kindly or included by the townspeople, who seem careless and disinterested in her wellbeing.
Themes
