Essay - ‘The dress’:
Misunderstandings, crisis and conflicts sometimes occur to families. There are many reasons why these things happen. An example could be if the common communication had been suffering severe damage after a parent’s divorce. These families with divorced parents and children living with one parent have become a more and more common scenario nowadays. The short story “The dress” tells the story of a family with divorced parents and where the two daughters are living with their mother. The relationship between the two sisters Rachel and Flora is clearly not good, and the relationship to their mother is not good either. The plot is that Flora steals one of Rachel’s dresses. This action creates a major conflict between Rachel and Flora, and later on it has fatal consequences to the relationship to their mother too.
Already from the start the widened gap between Rachel and Flora is described. Rachel is quite sure that Flora has taken her dress. She is walking round in the house looking for the dress and it is pretty obvious what she feels about her sister. “She stared at the place where she had left the dress, ironed and ready to wear that night for their mother’s birthday. The hanger was still there, thin and wretched, but the dress had gone, and the room smelled of Flora”. (p.1.l.14-16) “Rachel picked up the hanger and threw it onto the floor. She wanted to hurt someone.”(p.1.l.19) Rachel is clearly not happy about her sister at this point, and is not going to be for the rest of the story. When we hear from Flora’s point of view, we get the impression that Flora regards her sister as being the brightest and the best one. She envies Rachel: “It seemed to Flora that the dress was meant for her, not Rachel. It made her feel taller, braver, cleverer, and Rachel was all those things already.”(p.1.l.35 and p.2.l.36-37) The relationship between the two sisters is obviously tense. Rachel is thinking that she is superior and way more reasonable than Flora. And Flora is thinking that she is inferior and tiny compared to her sister.
When the sisters are sitting together with their mother at the restaurant celebrating the mother’s 40th birthday, the mother anticipates that something is wrong between her daughters. But instead of confronting them with it, she tries to repress the upcoming argument. She knows how ugly it might get, and wishes to avoid it. “She suddenly wished they had gone to the cinema and sat together in silent darkness. Communication between her daughters was often like this: barbed and dangerous.” (p.3.l.88-90) The mother works as a bereavement counselor, and it seems like she is using all of her strength to help other people process losses and deal with problems. The missing strength in her personal life is making her unable to deal with problems in her own family. Therefore the mother does not appear as a good role model to her daughters because of her inability to communicate and solve issues properly.
From the outside it looks like that the reason to the conflict between Rachel and Flora is Rachel’s precious silk dress. But when you learn how bad their relationship is; you realize that the dress is just a symbol to the release of all of their frustrations. It seems like it could have been any other thing causing the clash between them. That Flora is stealing Rachel’s dress and that this is leading to major problems between them is a sign of the mistrust and bad communication ruling their relationship. Flora is afraid of simply asking her sister if she can borrow her dress. And when Rachel discovers that the dress is gone she immediately suspects her sister and gets quickly furious about it. The mother is not better than her daughters; all the time she is trying to avoid problems instead of putting up some resistance and try to sort out the problems between them. Selfishness is also a dominating factor that radiates from all three characters. For instance when Flora is confronted by Rachel about the theft at the restaurant; Flora steadily denies in a childlike way that she does not know what Rachel is talking about. By acting childlike she is trying to gain the mother’s sympathy. Later on in the story this also shows after Rachel rushed out of the house. ““Don’t be angry” she said, in a childlike voice. “I’m very angry” answered the mother. “Everything is ruined. You are a thief.” “I know it was stupid.” Flora leaned her damp head against her mother’s leg, but the mother stiffened and pulled away.” (P.5.l.179-182) And when they are sitting at the restaurant the mother tries to draw attention from her daughters conflict to her own problems. “I’m so old,” said the mother. “You’re not!” said Flora. “No not old,” said Rachel. “I think I might leave my job,” said the mother. “I thought you enjoyed it,” said Rachel. “It’s just so sad,” said the mother. (p.3.l.108-111) Therefore themes like selfishness, bad communication skills and family conflicts stand out.
The short story is build up in a way where flashbacks sometimes occur in the middle of everything to explain situations. An example could be at the bottom of page 4: “I was with Alberto, in the Café Malata. We were drinking cocktails.” (p.4.l.158) At this point we are at home, where Flora is trying to explain what happened. “The glass had slipped out of Flora’s hand. The drink was bright red, with glassy slivers of ice and fruit. The front of the dress was stained horribly.” (p.4.l.159-160) Right after sitting in their living room we are dragged back to the café drinking cocktails with Alberto in a flashback. This happens several times throughout the story.
The narrator is omniscient without comments. The omniscient narrator moves freely in time and place and in and out of the character’s minds. In the beginning the story is told from both Rachel and Flora’s point of view. That tells us that the narrator is not a limited omniscient narrator because it is not only focusing on the thoughts, feelings and actions of only one character. The fact that the narrator moves freely in and out of more than one person’s mind shows on the first page. “That night they were going to an expensive restaurant. It was their mother’s fortieth birthday, and Rachel knew that she would have to be pleasant, to forget about her stolen dress, wear something else, and smile. The thought was unbearable.” (p.1.l.26-28) Here the narrator moves inside Rachel’s mind. “Flora was wearing the dress. It felt delicious, like water.” (p.1.l.31) The narrator tells us how Flora feels about the dress. This is confirming that the narrator is able to move freely in more than one mind. When the mother meets with her daughters at the restaurant, it shows that the narrator is also capable of moving inside of her mind. “The mother’s head ached. She wanted the meal to be over. She wanted her daughters to make an effort. She filled up her daughters’ wine glasses and raised a glass in the air.” (p.2.l.76-77) The narrator also uses the surroundings at the restaurant to create a chaotic mood while reading the story. You do not only hear about the argument between Rachel and Flora. You also hear about a very loud birthday party nearby their table. The noise from the other birthday party clearly annoys the characters of the story. Loud people and breaking glasses make the whole situation seem more confusing and chaotic.
To sum up: ‘The dress’ is a short story about how bad communication and selfishness can ruin relationships between sisters and relationships between mothers and daughters. It makes you think about how you communicate with people in your own everyday life, and the importance of good communication.