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Whitlam
Karen Hadler is the wife of Luke and the mother of Charlotte and Billy. She is close to her in-laws Gerry and Barb because she has no other family in town. One of her main traits is that she is a meticulous bookkeeper. This becomes her downfall when she discovers that Whitlam, the principal at the local school where she works, has embezzled a $50,000 grant meant for the school. She confronts Whitlam about the embezzled funds and intends to contact the authorities about it, but before she can tell anyone else about what she found, Whitlam murders her, Luke, and Billy to conceal his crimes.
Karen Quotes in The Dry
The The Dry quotes below are all either spoken by Karen or refer to Karen. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Prologue
Quotes
It wasn’t as though the farm hadn’t seen death before, and the blowflies didn’t discriminate. To them there was little difference between a carcass and a corpse.
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Chapter 1
Quotes
Luke lied. You lied. Be at the funeral.
Chapter 6
Quotes
He’d always assumed Luke had been found in the ute’s driver’s seat, but the images showed his body flat on its back in the cargo tray. The lip of the tray was open and Luke’s legs dangled over as though he’d been sitting on the edge. A shotgun by his side pointed towards the mess where his head would have been. His face was completely missing.
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Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11
Quotes
“Scott,” she began, then stopped. He waited. She took a deep breath. “Scott, to be honest, I wasn’t sure about coming to you with this. My husband—” Karen held his gaze, but Whitlam felt she was forcing herself. “Luke, well. Look, he wouldn’t be happy.”
Chapter 18
Quotes
“You’re a closed book,” she’d said one final time before she’d left. She’d said it a lot over the two years they’d been together. First intrigued, then concerned, finally accusing. Why couldn’t he let her in? Why wouldn’t he let her in? Did he not trust her? Or did he not love her enough?
Chapter 19
Quotes
“I’m trying to keep Kiewarra safe for our kids. Is that too much to ask? Haven’t things been bad enough? I know you didn’t have much time for Karen, but you could at least show some respect, Gretchen.”
Chapter 21
Quotes
“Christ, it’s like Deliverance around here sometimes.”
Chapter 32
Quotes
The tiny pink face, dark hair and chubby wrist peeked out from the folds of a blue blanket in his arms. Luke held the child comfortably, closely. Paternally.
Chapter 34
Quotes
“These gambling types are fair old suckers, though. Always looking for strategies and loopholes. End of the day, it only works if you back the right horse.”
Chapter 35
Quotes
“It was never about Luke.”
Get the entire The Dry LitChart as a printable PDF.
Karen Quotes in The Dry
The The Dry quotes below are all either spoken by Karen or refer to Karen. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Prologue
Quotes
It wasn’t as though the farm hadn’t seen death before, and the blowflies didn’t discriminate. To them there was little difference between a carcass and a corpse.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 1
Quotes
Luke lied. You lied. Be at the funeral.
Chapter 6
Quotes
He’d always assumed Luke had been found in the ute’s driver’s seat, but the images showed his body flat on its back in the cargo tray. The lip of the tray was open and Luke’s legs dangled over as though he’d been sitting on the edge. A shotgun by his side pointed towards the mess where his head would have been. His face was completely missing.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11
Quotes
“Scott,” she began, then stopped. He waited. She took a deep breath. “Scott, to be honest, I wasn’t sure about coming to you with this. My husband—” Karen held his gaze, but Whitlam felt she was forcing herself. “Luke, well. Look, he wouldn’t be happy.”
Chapter 18
Quotes
“You’re a closed book,” she’d said one final time before she’d left. She’d said it a lot over the two years they’d been together. First intrigued, then concerned, finally accusing. Why couldn’t he let her in? Why wouldn’t he let her in? Did he not trust her? Or did he not love her enough?
Chapter 19
Quotes
“I’m trying to keep Kiewarra safe for our kids. Is that too much to ask? Haven’t things been bad enough? I know you didn’t have much time for Karen, but you could at least show some respect, Gretchen.”
Chapter 21
Quotes
“Christ, it’s like Deliverance around here sometimes.”
Chapter 32
Quotes
The tiny pink face, dark hair and chubby wrist peeked out from the folds of a blue blanket in his arms. Luke held the child comfortably, closely. Paternally.
Chapter 34
Quotes
“These gambling types are fair old suckers, though. Always looking for strategies and loopholes. End of the day, it only works if you back the right horse.”
Chapter 35
Quotes
“It was never about Luke.”
