Family are the friends we do not pick by ourselves, but are born into. “The dress” by Julia Darling is a short story about the sisters Rachel and Flora, and their mother. The story focuses on the deterioration of the sister’s relationship but also on their relationship to the mother. The story also focuses on what happens to a family when it is missing love and communication. Throughout the story, the main topic is a certain dress, and this leads to a dispute having immense consequences. In the following analysis and interpretation of “the Dress”, will I account for the impairing relationship by characterizing the mother, explaining the complex relationship between Flora and Rachel, and furthermore account for the structure, the symbolism and
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Their relationship is characterized with intrigue and jealousy. They fight over the mother’s affection and seek her attention, but the mother fails to handle her professional life and work life. The way they seek her attention is vastly different. Rachel mimics her mother by being tidy, while Flora being more rebellious: her room is messy, she’s going out with an Italian guy named Alberto, smoking, swearing and she steals the dress.
Flora seems jealous of Rachel, which is the reason she steals the dress. “The dress was meant for her […] it made her feel taller, braver, cleverer, and Rachel was all those things already." (p. 2 l. 1-2) here it’s seen how Flora wants to be like her sister and feels jealous.
There are several symbols in the text. The most important one is the dress, which symbolizes the relationship between the sisters and how it has now been buried. It’s because Flora ruined the dress which causes Rachel to leave. When asked by her mother if she would dig it up Flora refuses and therefore denies the possibility of redoing their relationship. Flora steals the dress from Rachel, which symbolizes Flora stealing their mother’s attention. However, it fails to succeed. Another use of symbolism is Rachel’s black dress and red earrings. These are used to show Rachel’s emotions, where black symbolizes anger while red symbolizes
Their relationship is characterized with intrigue and jealousy. They fight over the mother’s affection and seek her attention, but the mother fails to handle her professional life and work life. The way they seek her attention is vastly different. Rachel mimics her mother by being tidy, while Flora being more rebellious: her room is messy, she’s going out with an Italian guy named Alberto, smoking, swearing and she steals the dress.
Flora seems jealous of Rachel, which is the reason she steals the dress. “The dress was meant for her […] it made her feel taller, braver, cleverer, and Rachel was all those things already." (p. 2 l. 1-2) here it’s seen how Flora wants to be like her sister and feels jealous.
There are several symbols in the text. The most important one is the dress, which symbolizes the relationship between the sisters and how it has now been buried. It’s because Flora ruined the dress which causes Rachel to leave. When asked by her mother if she would dig it up Flora refuses and therefore denies the possibility of redoing their relationship. Flora steals the dress from Rachel, which symbolizes Flora stealing their mother’s attention. However, it fails to succeed. Another use of symbolism is Rachel’s black dress and red earrings. These are used to show Rachel’s emotions, where black symbolizes anger while red symbolizes