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Chapter 25
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 leaves Sergeant Raco’s place and goes back to his room to take a shower. All of a sudden, he gets an urgent knock at the door from McMurdo. Falk rushes down to meet him and finds what seems to be a fight at the bar between Sullivan and Dow. As Falk gets closer, he sees that Whitlam is also there and has a bloody face. Whitlam claims he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Falk tells all the onlookers to leave as Raco arrives on the scene.
While Dow and Deacon certainly liked to threaten violence earlier, this pub fight at McMurdo’s place is the first evidence that Dow intends to follow through on his promises. Sullivan continues to look suspicious, particularly after the recent surveillance footage of him being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but this fight is also noteworthy for being the second time Whitlam just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time (after his mugging in Melbourne).
Themes
Falk inspects the injuries and confirms that no one needs medical attention. Falk questions Dow about the fight, and Dow refuses to budge, claiming that everything was just a misunderstanding. Sullivan also sticks to the story that it was just a misunderstanding. Sergeant Raco tells Sullivan to come by the station early the next day. Raco offers to drive the drunk Sullivan home.
Despite their animosity toward each other, Dow and Sullivan are alike in their distrust of official institutions like the police. The fact that Sullivan got too drunk to drive home seems to suggest that his character has something weighing on his mind and that he’s trying to drink it away.
Themes
Falk talks to Whitlam, who has a bloody nose but claims that someone knocked him over on his way back from the bathroom. Falk thinks Whitlam is drunk and shouldn’t drive, so he agrees to take him back. He drives Whitlam back to his home. Whitlam invites Falk in for a drink, but Falk declines. As he goes inside, Whitlam muses that it’s especially unfortunate that Billy died, since he seemed to have no connection to whatever was going on with Luke. As Falk pulls out of Whitlam’s driveway, he gets a text from Sergeant Raco that says to call him: Raco just found out what Sullivan was doing when the surveillance footage placed him near the pharmacy.
Despite his polite exterior, Whitlam continues to be a mysterious character. His seeming certainty that Billy had nothing to do with whatever motivated the killer to murder the Hadlers is a very odd statement, given that most people in town believe Luke killed his own family. Whitlam seems to be drunkenly admitting to knowledge that something nefarious was going on that resulted in Luke’s death. Meanwhile, Raco’s call suggests that perhaps Sullivan himself revealed important information while drunk. This passage shows why the pub is such an important location in Kiewarra—it seems that alcohol is one of the few things that motivates people to drop the barriers they put up and share their secrets.
Themes
