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Truth and Reconciliation - Essay
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An in-depth essay on the themes of truth and reconciliation in The Dream House. It has been marked and received 100%.
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The Dream House EssayKate Jones
Topic 10
If there is to be reconciliation, first there must be truth.” Timothy B. Tyson
Discuss how The Dream House mediates the relationship between truth and reconciliation.
Truth and reconciliation are inextricably linked in The Dream House. It is revealed that there
must be an element of truth before reconciliation can occur, however it is not necessary for
the entire truth to be revealed. Lies, too, are able to heal. This is demonstrated as Looksmart
forces Patricia to re-evaluate the past, particularly the day of Grace’s death, and find its
truth, as Patricia learns, with Beauty’s help, the relativity of the truth, and as they discover
that lies are also helpful in bringing about reconciliation.
Initially, Patricia does not focus on the past, believing that it “doesn’t amount to much in the
end.” She accepts Richard’s explanation that Grace was “taunting the dog” and does not
ponder whether or not his words are true. Looksmart’s return, however, forces Patricia to
re-examine her role in Grace’s death. As Looksmart tells Patricia that he “saw it as murder”
and “cannot forgive” her for viewing Grace as “less than human”, she begins to acknowledge
that “sometimes a crick in the neck is exactly what the doctor orders”. To Looksmart, forcing
Patricia to confront the events of the past allows him to “witness the resurgence of his hatred
and her fear” but in the end appears to heal him too. Before returning to Dwaleni, he had
been unable to “separate” his “love and [his] fear,” which “grew together”. This had damaged
his relationships with his family and left him incapable of loving his wife fully. His discussion
about the past with Patricia, and the knowledge that - while he “will never be free” of the
past - he has been able to “hand some of his burden across to Patricia” allows him to leave
Dwaleni with the hope of forging more honest, meaningful relationships with his family.
After Looksmart forces Patricia to acknowledge the past, she begins to learn the importance
of the truth, as well as to acknowledge its subjectivity. Looksmart, although he did heal from
visiting Dwaleni, left with “gaps carried away inside him” as he did not know the full truth of
the past. Beauty, however, teaches Patricia that “sometimes, a small amount of the truth is
enough to satisfy a person’s appetite”. As Patricia learns, through Beauty, that Richard was
paying Grace for sex, “each and every time”, she finally accepts “the mystery that must run
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