Summary
When Mrs. Pettyman arrives at Gertrude's wedding, everyone is very impressed by how she looks in the dress. Back in town, Mrs. Harredine goes to the schoolhouse, where Oklahoma! is mysteriously playing on the record player. Tilly is sitting at one of the desks, and asks Mrs. Harredine if she was in love with Mr. Pettyman. She reviews Mrs. Harredine's witness testimony of the day of Stewart's death, in which she said that she saw Tilly strike Stewart on the head with a brick.
Barney and Molly hit golfballs towards the schoolhouse, which scare Mrs. Harredine as she leaves. Tilly follows her and recalls how abusive and mean Mrs. Harredine was to her as a 10-year-old. When Tilly suggests that perhaps Mrs. Harredine killed Stewart Pettyman, Mrs. Harredine flatly denies it, before eventually suggesting that Mr. Pettyman would have blamed her for Stewart's death.
At Gertrude's wedding reception, Mrs. Harredine approaches Mrs. Pettyman and tells her that Tilly killed Stewart with a brick. Molly approaches Mr. Pettyman and warns the women who are with him that they should "run for the hills." Meanwhile, Tilly finds Farrat and tries to tell him that Harredine lied in her statement, and he tells her that Mr. Pettyman is her father.
They are interrupted by Mrs. Pettyman, who screams at Tilly, calling her a murderer. Tilly insists that she did not murder Stewart, but Farrat tells her that everyone else had an alibi, so she is the only one who could have killed Stewart. Pettyman tells Farrat he wants to press charges, and Teddy threatens him. "You should never have come back," Molly says to Tilly. Barney becomes very upset and yells, "I saw it, he done it himself!" as Teddy tries to calm him.
Teddy follows Tilly and brings her to the schoolhouse, where he asks Tilly what Stewart Pettyman said to her. She tells him that Stewart threatened to kill her and her mother, "the slut." Teddy recalls that Stewart used to run at kids like he was a bull, and in a flashback, we see what actually happened on the day that he died. Stewart charges towards the wall that young Myrtle was standing on, and she moves out of the way, causing him to hit the wall and break his neck. Teddy then tells her that Barney saw the whole thing, before saying, "You didn't kill Stewart Pettyman, he killed himself."
Later, Teddy asks Tilly to marry him, suggesting that they should have a big wedding there and then move away, bringing Molly and Barney. Tilly looks up at the stars with a small telescope, pretending to see Superman. Teddy gets up and jumps into the silo, making Tilly promise that she will say "I am no longer cursed." She yells it after he jumps in, before realizing that he's died, asphyxiating on the sorghum in the silo.
Tilly helps Teddy's mother prepare his body for the funeral. When she tries to go to the funeral, Mrs. Harredine closes the door of the church on her.
Analysis
In this section of the film, while everyone else in the town is at Gertrude's wedding, Tilly confronts Mrs. Harredine about the day of Stewart Pettyman's murder. She suggests that Mrs. Harredine's statement to the police does not make sense, and insists that she is innocent. Just the sight of Tilly sends Mrs. Harredine into a nervous episode, and Tilly seems to make a strong case that she is not responsible for the murder for which she was charged. She chases Mrs. Harredine through her house until Mrs. Harredine admits to her complicity in Stewart Pettyman's death.
In spite of this small victory for Tilly, matters continue to get more complicated and difficult for her at the wedding reception. There, she learns that the unsavory Mr. Pettyman is her father, and Mrs. Harredine informs Mrs. Pettyman that Tilly killed Stewart, which causes a huge scene. In spite of the fact that Tilly has won over the people of Dungatar with her talent for dressmaking, she is now once again disgraced by the rumors that circulate about her involvement in Stewart Pettyman's death. Chaos breaks out, and it seems as though Tilly might never find justice.
When everyone else seems to oppose Tilly, even Molly, Teddy remains loyal to her, following her after the debacle at the wedding, and taking care of her. Their love is the only thing shielding Tilly from being completely ostracized in the town. Teddy's loyalty seems to stem not only from his affection for Tilly, but also from his knowledge about what happened on the day of Stewart Pettyman's death. At the schoolhouse, he helps Tilly piece together the fact that she is not in fact responsible for Stewart's death, that he ran into the wall himself.
Just after Tilly finally learns the truth about what happened to Stewart and is given some kind of closure on the event that has haunted her life for years, she is struck by another tragedy. After she and Teddy make plans to move away and marry, Teddy jumps into the silo, which he doesn't realize is filled with sorghum, and drowns. Teddy, who has been Tilly's one main supporter in the film, dies, leaving her alone in a town that does not care for her. It is a tragic and awful turn of events that makes Tilly's already bleak prospects look even bleaker.
The scene of Teddy's death is shot in a curious way and with the film's characteristic irony. Before he jumps into the silo, Teddy teasingly makes Tilly tell him that she is no longer cursed. He wants her to believe in herself and believe that she can have a good life. After he jumps in, but before she realizes what has happened, Tilly does as he wishes and yells out, "I am no longer cursed!" The irony is, of course, that Teddy's fate feels rather cursed in itself. Just in the moment when Tilly feels relief, she loses the man she loves in a tragic and sudden way. The moment is darkly ironic, as Tilly's declaration that she is not cursed starkly contrasts with the event of Teddy's death.
