”The dress “by Julia Darling is a short story about issues of jealousy between two sisters, but also their relationship to their mother who struggles being a single mum with a career. The relationship between the two sisters Flora and Rachel is a very tense relationship, which breaks on their mother’s fortieth birthday, because Flora has stolen and ruined her sister’s favourite dress. And it all ends with Rachel unable to handle Flora anymore, goes to live with their father instead. Afterwards the mother kicks Flora out of the house.
In the story the mother is a fortieth year old bereavement counsellor. Who lives alone with her two teenage daughters, assuming she is divorced since the daughters father doesn’t lives with them. Her job as a bereavement counsellor consists of helping people out, but when Flora and Rachel start fighting she is unable to solve their conflict "Flora!" whispered the mother, who wanted life to be calm, a flat sea with no sudden breezes. She liked emotions to be explored in saferooms, with a clock." (p. 3). A normal day for her is spending her time listing and taking care of other people whose lives are falling to pieces and after a hard day she just want to go home to a quiet and calming life. The mother is tired of focusing on other peoples life problems, she wants to be the one people are focused on and makes her feel loved. All that trouble she has had to deal with over the years is enough also from her own daughters, who she thinks should at least pretend to get along on her fortieth birthday. She would prefer to deal with her daughter’s problems in the same way she deals with her clients, but she can’t. She often takes Rachel’s side, because she is the “good” daughter and Flora is the “bad” daughter. But the mother neglects her girls and has problems to deal with their problems. And this has obviously had a influence on the two girls especially Flora.
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