One of the golden rules of A+ essay writing is to understand that everything contained within the text is seen to be a deliberate choice by the author. With this in mind, we can start considering how Polley’s choice to include certain snippets or position footage in a particular way highlights her views. Views There were attempts at foreshadowing at some points, but waaaay too late to be effective. At every plot point revelation I felt like: oh, OK, I don't care. Probably just because I didn't actually care for the characters. Our clearest indication that Dungatar is not only traditionalistic, but absolutely reviles change and outside influence, is right at the start of the novel, when a train conductor laments that there’s “naught that’s poetic about damn [progress].” Here, we see the overriding contention of Rosalie Ham’s novel - that because a community like Dungatar has been isolated for so long, it has become absolutely committed to maintaining its traditionalism at all costs. There are more symbolic reflections of how stagnant the town has become, such as the fact that Evan Pettyman, the town’s elected Councillor, has been in the role for multiple decades without fail - or that the same teacher who ostracised Tilly as a child, Prudence Dimm, is still in charge of the town’s school. Social Class Never felt fully connected to everyone and I didn't understand the one blurb that proclaimed this a "Gothic tale" It didn't feel that way to me. The Dressmaker speaks extensively about social class. By class, what I mean is the economic and social divisions which determine where people sit in society. For instance, we could say that the British Royals are ‘upper class’, whilst people living paycheque to paycheque and struggling to get by are ‘lower class’.

If you'd like to see the all Chapter plots, their analysis, along with important quotes, then have a look at our The Dressmaker Study Guide. Themes, Motifs, and Key Ideas Isolation and Modernisation The Dressmaker is written in the Gothic style, which means it combines romance with death and horror, particularly horror of the emotional kind. The Dressmaker is divided into four sections, each named after a type of fabric Tilly uses in her work. You can use these in your essays to show how important dressmaking and fashion is to the plot’s progression, especially considering each section starts with fabric. The four types are: 1. Gingham So, who are considered outcasts in the two texts? Outcasts can be those of traditionally lower classes, they can be characters with physical flaws, those that are different to others or those who do not abide by the standards of their respective societies. I did like Tilly but it was hard to understand her at times, Teddy I was so-so on... "Mad Molly" was one of my favorites for most of the story. Tilly, or Myrtle Dunnage, is the protagonist of The Dressmaker, and an acclaimed dressmaker trained in Paris . Analysing Tilly requires an understanding that she believes she is cursed: starting with being exiled from Dungatar after the accidental death of Stewart Pettyman, and then finding her “seven month old” baby Pablo “in his cot...dead”, as well as witnessing the deaths of Teddy and Molly. In her own words, she is “falser than vows made in wine”, and does not personally believe she can be trusted. This pessimistic perspective on life inspires Tilly to adopt an incredibly individualistic understanding of the world; believing that the only way for her to survive is embracing her individual worth and rejecting toxic communities. Indeed, although Tilly initially arrived in Dungatar to care for her mother - a selfless act - the town spiralling into vengeance only confirmed Tilly’s pessimism. Her modern dressmaking ultimately could not change a fundamentally corrupt community predicated on “nothing ever really chang[ing]”, and therefore the maintenance of a culture of rumour and suspicion. Indeed, in “raz[ing Dungatar] to the ground”, Rosalie Ham reminds us that Tilly is an unapologetically individually-focused person, and will not tolerate anyone, or anything, which seeks to make her conform to the status quo and repress her individuality.When we read, we automatically apply our own experiences, biases, and understanding of the world to the text. As such, each person is likely to interpret a text in different ways. This is a major part of studying English, as the critic (you) is more important than the author’s original intention. The fact that a single text can give rise to multiple interpretations is the reason we study English; to debate these interpretations. When you are given an essay topic you are being asked for your opinion on one of these debates, not the author’s opinion on their own work. If you were reading The Fault in Our Stars and claimed it romanticised cancer, you would be participating in the literary debate, despite going against John Green’s original intentions. P3: In essence, it is the human response to change that divides individuals from ultimately displaying civil or uncivil acts in the world. EXECUTE Essay Only the judges in the other five years can say why Bainbridge’s books came close but not close enough. Perhaps her individuality worked against her: the books’ uncategorisable nature – mordant, unpredictable, melodramatic, funny, horrific, playful – may have divided the judging panels. Such decisions are often the result of a compromise, and compromise was something Bainbridge never did. When she was awarded the David Cohen Prize for Literature – a lifetime achievement award – in 2003, she was typically direct. ‘One hundred years ago, only 10% of the population ever devoured what is alluded to as serious literature. It is my belief that things haven’t changed, nor should we wish it otherwise. All the arts – music and painting and the written word – are by their very nature elitist, which is why they have such power to enrich our lives.’

For The Crucible, that’s precisely why the witchcraft crisis is so threatening, as the Salemites are prepared to replace Reverend Parris and deny his authority. Although Abigail and the group of girls thus single-handedly overturn Salem’s class structures and replace it with their own tyranny, Parris’ original intention was to use their power to reinforce his authority. In The Dressmaker, Tilly is threatening because she doesn’t neatly fit in to Dungatar’s class structure. Having travelled the outside world, she represents a worldly mindset and breadth of experiences which the townspeople know they cannot match. Microcosm - a community, place or situation regarded as encapsulating in miniature the characteristics of something much larger. This is a beautiful book. Dark and sinister - haute couture noir, gothic in essence, if you will. However, the characters were funny, quirky, colorful, eccentric, smart, dumb and unique. The story: sad but wonderful. This prompt does not ask you to discuss a specific theme or character - instead it guides you toward providing an analysis on Sarah Polley’s purpose for creating Stories We Tell. While authorial intent should always be included in any text response essay, it is essential that the purpose is central in response to this type of prompt - essentially, providing points of discussion as to why Sarah is unable to “leave things as they are.”Bernd had ‘no friends’ as a child - showing his isolated past - which could be described as the reason he leaves his father and goes off to join the Hilter Youth ‘just like the other boys.’ (find this analysis in the chapter ‘The Death of Walter Bernd’) Discuss how The Crucible and The Dressmaker use textual features to convey the author’s perspective. Feel free to apply this line of thinking to other aspects of the text - such a deeper engagement with the philosophical ideas of the text are far more likely to score highly, as opposed to shallow pieces that merely discuss the storytellers in isolation - and not what they represent.

NB: Much of the excerpts contained here are analysing specific scenes/motifs, and then linking such thinking to the theories listed below. I found this to be a coherent and structured way of including this deeper level of thinking in the publication of my own essays! Also discuss Giles Corey’s death and the significance of his punishment as the stones that are laid on his chest can be argued to symbolise the weight of authority The Dressmaker is a 1973 novel by British writer Beryl Bainbridge. Set in 1944, following the devastating WWII bombings of England, it is the story of a small, working-class family and their vicious cycle of mutual sabotage. Rita, age seventeen, is the ward of her aunts, sisters Nellie and Marge. A study in contrasts, Nellie is starchy and excessively proper, while her younger sister, at fifty, suffers from stifled sensuality and longs for love. Rita is caught in the middle. As Mavis Cheek writes in The Guardian, it’s “a novel in which ignorance, repression, narrow-mindedness can lead only to tragedy.”

Jutta is characterised as a strong and independent woman instead of the traditional ‘pretty girl in a propaganda poster’. Society expects most women to stand on that side of human behaviour and representation however she defies this. As the women saw the evidence of Tilly’s skill, they were bemused. But they also wanted to own beautiful dresses and so the competition to be the best dressed began. Rivalry and resentment were rife in the town – whatever would happen next?

Once again, I’ve related the townspeople’s values and beliefs, as well as the physical context, to their behaviour.Unable to leave things as they are - wanted to question the concept of traditional family structures, by contrasting the influence of biological connections and emotional relationships on her development. For The Dressmaker, the question then becomes - "how does class relate to Dungatar?" Well, Dungatar is one of the most classist societies around, where societal worth is explicitly based on one’s position in the class structure. Femininity, Fashion, and Patriarchy Master Georgie, shortlisted in 1998, was perhaps the most striking of Bainbridge’s near-misses. In what the chair of the judges, Douglas Hurd, called ‘a quiet year’, Master Georgie finished behind Ian McEwan’s Amsterdam, a novel that few, 25 years on, would consider to be among his best work. And the last novel published in Bainbridge’s lifetime, According to Queeney (2001), was longlisted but not shortlisted. One of the judges, Philip Hensher, quite reasonably argued that ‘the media excitement over Beryl Bainbridge actually damaged her chances […] We realised that if we shortlisted her, she had to win. There was no point in blotting out the winner’s publicity with a storm of “Beryl Bridesmaid Again” headlines.’ A strange story indeed. Quirky characters in what appears to be a typical, very small, country town in Victoria. Tilly (Myrtle) has returned from The Big Wide World to take care of her mother, Mad Molly Dunnage. She arrives one night at the train station with her bags and Singer sewing machine, and the only character I liked, Sergeant Farrat, drives her home to the smelly house on The Hill by the tip. Unable to leave things as they are - wanted to comment on the ephemeral nature of the truth in our lives.