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Chapter 40
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 survives but sustains some serious burns on his hands. The doctors predict that Sergeant Raco will also survive, but he is in worse condition. They learn that Whitlam is in a different hospital, where he’s under custody for the murders of Billy, Karen, and Luke. Falk gets some grateful visitors in the hospital, including Barb and Gerry. Gerry is relieved that the new murders have nothing to do with Ellie.
The burns on Falk’s hands are a physical manifestation of the emotional scars he has taken on from coming back to Kiewarra and facing his past. This chapter begins the process of wrapping up the story as it shows the fates of some of the characters. Still, one important mystery remains: the murder of Ellie.
Themes
When Falk gets discharged from the hospital, he goes to see Gretchen and apologizes. She finally reveals why she knew Falk’s alibi of being with Luke was a lie: because Luke was with her.
It turns out that Gretchen and Falk were both keeping the same secret during their entire relationship: each knew that Luke’s alibi was false, but they didn’t want to reveal their secret to the other. This shows how in spite of the fact that Falk and Gretchen liked each other, their relationship was ultimately founded on lies.
Themes
In a flashback to the day of Ellie’s murder, Luke and Gretchen are swimming in the river in their underwear when they hear the noise of someone coming. It turns out to be Ellie, but she doesn’t see them. Gretchen wants to go say hi, but Luke doesn’t want Ellie to see them together (possibly because Luke likes Ellie even more than he likes Gretchen). On the forest trail leaving the river, Gretchen confronted Luke, asking why it was so bad for Ellie to see Gretchen with Luke. The two of them argue, then they go their separate ways. But then Gretchen follows Luke in her ute to see if he’s going back to Ellie. For a second, she thinks he might, but in the end, he just returns to his house.
Like many people in Kiewarra, Gretchen has her own reason to feel guilty about Ellie’s death. While Gretchen’s guilt involves a story from the past, it seems that it also connects to more recent events and Gretchen’s potential affair with Luke after he married Karen. Gretchen simultaneous love of Luke and fear that Luke always wanted to be with someone else seems to have haunted her for most of her life, even after the death of Ellie. Gretchen’s feelings of being unwanted also help to explain why her character feels so lonely in the present. And so, Falk isn’t the only one in the story to face his demons from the past.
Themes
In the present, Gretchen feels guilty because she thinks that if she or Luke had spoken to Ellie that day, they might have stopped her from drowning herself. Still, even after confessing all of this, Gretchen maintains that Luke wasn’t Lachie’s father.
As the next chapter reveals, Gretchen’s feelings of guilt surrounding Ellie’s death are at least partly misplaced. It’s interesting that even after opening up to Falk, Gretchen refuses to admit that Luke is Lachie’s father. While it’s possible that Gretchen is telling the truth and that the photo of Luke with Lachie is just a coincidence, it’s also possible that Gretchen has determined that some secrets are too significant to ever reveal.
Themes
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