Other characters

Dolly

Dolly is Fern’s sister in the movie Nomadland directed by Chloé Zhao. The two sisters seem to share a tense relationship, mostly caused by how different they are.

Dolly lives in a suburban house in Denver. She is married to George. Fern was the one who introduced the two, as George used to be a good friend of hers. Dolly and George have been married for 30 years. They do not seem to have any children.

Dolly seems to be completely unlike Fern and to have a different lifestyle and different values. She is more family-oriented and not as adventurous as Fern, which she herself admits. Dolly also enjoys a more comfortable lifestyle, and would like Fern to have something like this, too.

It seems that Dolly might not fully understand Fern’s lifestyle. At the barbecue, she seems to have a romanticized image of the nomads: “You know, I think that, um, what the nomads are doing is not that different than what the pioneers did. I think Fern’s part of an American tradition. I think it’s great.” (01:14:20-01:14:29). Dolly does not seem to see the hardships of Fern’s life and regards it as an adventure, focusing on the “interesting” (01:15:05) people that Fern ...