Previous
Chapter 13
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
Falk sits by where the river would have been for a while. Eventually, he gets up and decides to visit a landmark called the “rock tree” (a eucalyptus that grew entwined with a boulder), which he remembers from 20 years ago.
The rock tree illustrates how, despite how drastically the drought and farming have changed Kiewarra, some aspects of nature remain the same even 20 years later.
Themes
Falk remembers going to the rock tree alone with Ellie when they were both 16. He remembers talking too much, trying to find a topic that would make her smile. Ellie wanted to be alone with him, without Luke or Gretchen. But when Falk asked about doing something that night, Ellie said she was working at the milk bar (general store) again. While they talked, Ellie threw her house keys up and down, accidentally tossing them into a crevasse in the rock tree. Falk put his arm in to retrieve the keys.
Ellie’s behavior in this passage seems to be evasive, arguably to an extent that Falk himself doesn’t realize. It seems that either she had to work at the milk bar for a specific reason (a “milk bar” is an Australian term for a type of general store that might also have a deli and sell fast food items), or she was lying to cover up somewhere else that she had to be. This passage shows how even when Falk and Ellie were at their closest, secrets came between then.
Themes
As Falk returned the keys to Ellie, they got close, and she kissed him. But as they kissed, Ellie recoiled when Falk put his hand on the back of her head. She claimed that everything was fine and that Falk just took her by surprise. She asked Falk to keep everything a secret. Falk asked if she meant the crevasse or the kiss, and she said both, at least for the moment.
While previous passages hinted at a potential romantic connection between Falk and Ellie, this makes it explicit. Falk’s feelings for Ellie both explain why he would want to leave Kiewarra forever (because her death was traumatic) but also why he would feel compelled to stay (out of a feeling of obligation not just to Luke but to Ellie to find the truth).
Themes
In the present, Falk reaches into the rock tree crevasse where he found Ellie’s keys. He is shocked to find his own cigarette lighter, engraved with his initials, initials A. F. He decides it belongs in the crevasse and puts it back. He’s pretty sure Ellie never told anyone else about the crevasse or the kiss, and he knows he never did either.
As this passage shows, Falk’s smoking was part of his past in Kiewarra, but he quit until recently when Raco offered him one of Luke’s old cigarettes. Falk’s lighter doesn’t end up being an important clue on its own, but it does foreshadow events that will happen later at the climax of the story.
Themes
Get the entire The Dry LitChart as a printable PDF.
Falk recalls how he, Ellie, and Luke used to play together as kids, then at a certain age, Ellie left them to spend more time with other girls. Within a couple years, Ellie got into vodka, and eventually she decided she wanted to go back to hanging out with Luke and Falk, saying she didn’t like the other girls. Eventually, Luke started bringing around Gretchen. To everyone’s relief, Gretchen got along with the group, and the four of them became friends.
Although the main action of the novel mostly involves characters who are adults, the flashbacks to 20 years before tell a coming-of-age subplot about many those same characters. Although Ellie’s heavy drinking hints at something dark in the background (once again something that Falk himself doesn’t seem to fully realize), ultimately this is a nostalgic passage about the strength of childhood friendships and how they linger on in nostalgia even after they fade in real life.
Themes
