Significance Of Teddy Mcswiney In The Dressmaker

The Dressmaker, by Rosalie Ham, follows the lives of the residents of the fictitious small Australian town of Dungatar. Having unique and somewhat disturbing character attributes falling under three basic traits of humanity, those who are ‘good, bad and ugly’, Ham employs the technique of characterisation to expose Teddy McSwiney’s admirable qualities and Mr Percy Alamanac’s deplorable arrogance to explore how the intent of actions are returned.

Ham employs positive characterisation to demonstrate how Teddy McSwiney represents the scarce goodness in the town, and how his story ends in tragedy. Teddy is introduced as a character who is “highly valued … charming … [and] girls loved him” [pg28]. His amiability is recognised throughout Dungatar

“Clutch[ing] his fists” [pg64] and “thrust[ing] out his chest” [pg64] when others talk negatively about an absent Tilly, he is willing to selflessly sacrifice himself in order to protect others worthy of defence. Ham positions Teddy in such situations throughout the novel to juxtapose his decency and moral character with Dungatar’s mob mentality. Gossip and rumours are the way of the town, and from the very outset, the majority of Dungatarians condescendingly refer to Tilly as “mad Molly’s bastard girl” [pg64] and a “bastard murderer” [pg184]. Such condemnation makes Tilly uncomfortable, but such judgements do not affect Teddy’s perception and relationship with the town pariah. He chooses to take Tilly out, with his “arm strong around her waist” [pg88] bringing her a sense of safety, as well as outwardly signalling that he dismisses the opinions of others who are malicious and vengeful. He loves “Tilly Dunnage as much as [the town] hates her” [pg197] because he sees her decency and honesty, unlike the vast majority of residents in

Mr Almanac is the town’s chemist, a man who should be revered, but Ham positions readers to be suspicious and condemning of his persona because unrelated to her arthritis, Irma, his wife, had “a lot of falls [leaving] her with a black eye or cut lip,” [pg41]. These ‘falls’ seemed to cease once her husband ages, making readers infer that Mr Almanac was abusive in his younger days. Characterisation exposes his manipulative nature and abuse of power because he withholds medication from Dungatar’s residents, believing that people “can never make up” [pg79] for their past immoral actions and must be punished. As judge and juror of the town’s residents, he believes that medication is not a cure for pain and “all that’s needed is God’s forgiveness [and] a clean mind” [pg39/40]. When Molly has a stroke, he refuses to ease her pain claiming that “nothing [could be] done, [as] God [would] see to her” [pg234]. Such dismissal is contrary to his position as a health practitioner, but Ham uses his words to expose his ‘wickedness’ in holding arbitrary power over others without justification. His power and control increase as “the nearest doctor [is] thirty miles away” [pg23] and when residents could not get a doctor “Mr Almanac knew what you needed and why” [pg23]. Ironically he used his knowledge to oppress people and ensure they remained in pain. Through Mr Almanac’s demise, Ham reveals