Cloudstreet
“It’s not us and them anymore. It’s us and us and us. It’s always us…there’s no monsters, only people like us.”
“We all turn into the same thing, don’t we? Memories, shadows, worries, dreams. We all join up somewhere in the end.” (Quick)
“I’m a man for that long. I feel my manhood. I recognise myself whole and human, know my story for just that long, long enough to see how we’ve come, how we’ve all battled in the same corridoor that time makes for us, and I’m Fish Lamb for those seconds it takes to die, as long as it takes to drink the river, as long as it took to tell you all this and then my walls are tipping and I burst into the moon and sun and stars of who I really am. Being Fish Lamb. Perfectly. Always. Everyplace. Me.” (Fish)
Readings
Spirituality in Cloudstreet – an interview with Tim Winton
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/spiritofthings/tim-wintons-faith/3429900#transcript
Gender in Winton’s Work
Winton and The Past
The Search for Meaning in Cloudstreet
To a large extent Cloudstreet is about people’s attempts to find meaning in their lives.
- Why do people seek such meaning?
- In what ways do we attempt to discover this meaning?
Contemplate the following as ways in which individuals attempt to find meaning:
– love
– religion
– family
– having children
– devotion to a cause or ideology
Chapter 9 Class Notes
Each character’s struggle to find redemption and wholeness
Please add your notes to the blog page below
- The House is Trembling to The Shifty Shadow (pp325 – 332)
- The Shifty Shadow to Weathering it Out (pp 332-341)
- Weathering it Out to Arrest (pp 341-348)
- Arrest – Mothers (pp 348 – 353)
- Mothers to He Does (pp 353 – 360)
- He Does to Home (pp360-368)
- Home to Hole in the Wall (pp 368 – 374)
- Hole in the Wall to Does the Poo Hurt (pp374 to 379)
- Does the Poo Hurt to end of Chapter 9 (pp378 to 385)
Questions to consider in response to Chapter 6
What events or moments stood out for you in chapter 6?
How does each of these key events and moments link to what has gone before?
How do these key events and moments connect with the theme of redemption – from being lost (grief and suffering), through the search for meaning and finding a way through the chaos (struggle), to arriving home (achieving wholeness and harmony)?
How does Winton explore the role of the supernatural, mystical or numinous in this chapter?
Enter your responses on the blog pages below.
The River as Motif and Symbol
“Shall we Gather at the River”
An 1864 Christian Hymn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8EIjGXtCLk
1. Shall we gather at the river,
Where bright angel feet have trod,
With its crystal tide forever
Flowing by the throne of God?
- Refrain:
Yes, we’ll gather at the river,
The beautiful, the beautiful river;
Gather with the saints at the river
That flows by the throne of God.
2. On the margin of the river,
Washing up its silver spray,
We will talk and worship ever,
All the happy golden day.
3. Ere we reach the shining river,
Lay we every burden down;
Grace our spirits will deliver,
And provide a robe and crown.
4. At the smiling of the river,
Mirror of the Savior’s face,
Saints, whom death will never sever,
Lift their songs of saving grace.
5. Soon we’ll reach the silver river,
Soon our pilgrimage will cease;
Soon our happy hearts will quiver
With the melody of peace.
The hymn’s lyrics refer to the Christian concept of the anticipation of restoration and reward, and reference the motifs found at Revelation 22: 1-2 (see below) a crystal clear river with water of life, issuing from the throne of heaven, all presented by an angel of God.
The origin of the story
One hot afternoon in July 1864, as Pastor Lowry was resting on his sofa, visions of heaven pervaded his senses. He saw the bright golden throne room and a multitude of saints gathered around the beautiful, cool, crystal, river of life. He was filled with a sense of great joy. He began to wonder why there seemed to be many hymns that referenced the river of death, but very few that mentioned the river of life. As he mused, the words and music to Shall We Gather at the River came to his heart and mind.
Bible – Revelation 22: 1-2 Eden Restored
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
Historical Context of Cloudstreet
- Cloudstreet is framed by many key events in world history, including World War II, the Korean War and the Assassination of John F. Kennedy.
- The novel takes place during the prime ministership of Robert Menzies, where Australia was, for the most part, comfortable and conservative, characterised by backyard barbecues, by wives – who were no longer needed for the war effort – consigned to the home, and by the growth of the Australian dream of owning a new home.
- Cloudstreet was written during the 1980s over a period of about 18 months (1987-88) consisting of six months in Paris, six months in Ireland and six months on the Greek Island of Hydra under a travel scholarship, the Martin Bequest. Writing from overseas provides for a more detached yet nostalgic approach.
- Winton lovingly depicts a simpler, less affected yet a richer mosaic of eccentric Australians of our past who suffer from a “whispering in their hearts” over their unearned possession of indigenous lands (house). Though spanning the years from 1943 – 1964, the novel’s background takes in times as early as the 1890s, Lester’s early childhood. Emerging Australian identities are forged through floods, fires, war and hard times. The resilience of the aussie battler is revealed through the travails of the main characters, especially Sam Pickles’ family.
- The novel uses actual historical events to place it in context, such as World Wars, the Nedland Monster (a real serial rapist and murderer who terrorised Perth in the early 60’s) and the assassination of President Kennedy.
- While the stories of the two contrasting families sharing a house may be allegorical of the greater Australian psyche, it is also more literally an account of Winton’s heritage. The book is dedicated to Sam and Sadie Mifflin and Olive and Les Winton. In an interview (1991) with Janet Hawley in Good Weekend, Tim Winton writes:
The fiction in Cloudstreet grew from sparks of memories of his paternal grandparents. “My grandmother was a powerful matriarch who ran the family, a shop and most of the suburb, and lived in a tent in the backyard of the house where my grandfather lived. We never questioned it — we thought it was perfectly normal. She’d recite poetry and Bible stories to me as we dug the vegetable patch.
“Grandfather was a bit of a magician and had a collection of ventriloquists’ dolls in the toolshed. I can remember crapping myself at the sight. He was often sick and would lie in bed with a long string tied on his toe leading to a big cymbal on the back path. When he needed Grandmother, he’d tug the string. “They were both great characters, and very respected people in the community,
He also claims that it is a story; not a text.
Symbols and Motifs in Cloudstreet
Throughout this novel, Tim Winton relies on both symbols and motifs to convey meaning.
Water, the river, war, fate and faith, the mystical, miracles, ghosts, and visions, dance, meals, the knife, the tent, the Nedlands Monster, home, belonging, separation/alienation, place, light and dark, grief and suffering, love and celebration, nostalgia.
No 1 Cloudstreet/The House : Character in its own right – personification, “a living breathing” thing, representation of the nation, ghosts living in it, Fish takes on the emotions of the house, house changes its moods depending on the dynamics, divided split down the middle and a fence dividing the back yard – like a stroke victim – reflects the families themselves, lopsided, opposites, initially represents division but comes to represent integration, unity and harmony. Walls and fences removed
Home – Belonging, peace, harmony, completion, community, love, unity, wholeness, integration of mind body and spirit
Belonging – Connectedness to place and people, necessary for human happiness and positive relationships,
Place – Important for a sense of belonging, connection between place, identity and sense of belonging, integration of the earthly (material) and spiritual (supernatural)
Water: Purity, rebirth, source of all life, cleansing, new life,
The River: Source of life, life and death, fertitility, journey, currents of life, eternity, heaven
The Blackfella: wisdom, guide, conscience, allusion to aboriginality
Fish and fishing: Symbol of christ, fertility, fisher of men,
War: WW1, WW2, Korea, Cold War, man’s inhumanity to man, human suffering and cruelty, conflict, evil, hate,
Fate and Faith: Choice and controlling one’s destiny v fate, leaving everything up to chance. Faith helps people to overcome and transcend despair and suffering.
- The knife – chance, random nature of life,
- Hard work – self-determination, controlling one’s lifeb and luck
- Nation – Loyalty to country
- Anzacs – Connected to Australian Identity; defined by mateship, brotherly love, bravery, courage , strength,
- Big Country – mind country, what you believe in your own mind (Oriel)
The Mystical (Numinous): Spiritual realm, supernatural, mysterious, limitations of reason and logic, there may not be neat answers to the mysteries of life. Integration into the real and everyday “we all come back to the same thing”
- Miracles – ordinary (babies, life) and extraordinary (pigs that can talk, angels, walking on water,
- Ghosts – connections to the cruel past that is the Indigenous experience – unfinished business – connection to our history of stolen generation and white dispossession of Indigenous
- Visions – provide guidance – help people to understand – Quick running, Fish flying, Fish in fruit box rowing across the sky.
- Black fella – angel, guide, guardian – looks over the house, Christlike figure, remind Quick, Sam and Lester of the importance of family and home
- Quick glowing –
Dance and Song – Celebration, community, harmony, joy,
Meals/picnics – Celebration, unity, community, harmony, joy, community
The Tent – Alienation from community and self, separation, isolation,
The Nedlands Monster – Loss of innocence, murder and cruelty, hate, evil, also a father of 7 children, a man, a husband, a human being who has suffered and struggled, randomness of life events, inability of man to control life.
Time – Temporal (Earthly/material)and Eternal (Infinite)
Grief and Suffering – Part of human life therefore the choices we make about how to deal with grief and suffering will have a bearing on how we view life and the sense we make of those things that seem senseless.
Love and Celebration – Important for a sense of unity, community, belonging, wholeness, compassion, forgiveness, grace, joy, empathy, acceptance, etc.
Nostalgia – for times past, for values that were important, for a pre-war Perth when family values were more important than they are today
Light and Dark –Lambs connected with light, Darkness of the library, light associated with knowledge, understanding, goodness. Darkness connected with ignorance, evil, etc.
Library/No Man’s Land – dark, evil, smells, putrid, inexplicable noises, inhabited by ghosts of the past – woman and girl.
A framework for developing a reading of Cloudstreet:
Redemption and Wholeness in Cloudstreet
Winton presents us with a 3 stage process towards redemption in the novel: Hamartia, Repentance, Redemption.
What is the pathway to human wholeness and redemption that each character travels in Winton’s novel, Cloudstreet?
1. Losing your way: feeling lost or broken; fractured; inner or outer alienation; fracture for each character in Cloudstreet?
How does Winton show us that each character has lost his/her way or has become distanced, fractured or fragmented from self or others?
How do each character’s words and/or actions reveal their inner/outer fragmentation or alienation?
What does this say about their values and belief systems?
What does this fracture – inner or outer – mean for each character?
2. Turning: seeing things differently; a change of heart or thinking; an about-face; change of mind; new way of seeing (Repentance)
Identify the journey that each character embarks upon in order to make sense of their fragmentation and loss of direction.
How does Winton show each character coming to his/her own change of heart or point of turning?
Are there any particular values that have become more important now than they were before for each character that has influence this change of heart or seeing?
Does each character come to his or her own turning or change of heart on their own or with the help of others?
3. Unity and wholeness – those who were lost are found; those who have been fractured become whole (Redemption).
How does Winton show us that each character has reached a point of wholeness/unity/redemption at the end of the novel?
Look carefully at the evidence provided (character actions and words, symbols and motifs, plot resolution, etc.) that each character has come to this point of unity and wholeness?
What values and beliefs underpin this new found sense of wholeness for each character?
Overview of Cloudstreet
https://proffpoet.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/cloudstreet-introductory-presentation.pdf
Professional discussions of the novel and author
The First Tuesday Bookclub and Cloudstreet
Jennifer Byrne, Peter Garrett, Mem Fox and panel discuss Australianness in Winton’s Cloudstreet
http://splash.abc.net.au/media/-/m/28467/australianness-of-cloudstreet-
Transcript of discussion and notes
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/firsttuesday/s2795575.htm
Jennifer Byrne’s interview with Tim Winton
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/firsttuesday/s3866109.htm
The “blackfella” in Cloudstreet.
In Cloudstreet, the mysterious figure of the Blackfella appears at key points, mostly to Quick. In each occurrence he appears to represent a different meaning or purpose, but there is an overall symbolic representation, and that is of spirituality. Although he appears to be in physical presence, as in where he talks to Quick, the Blackfella has an overwhelming spiritual presence. This is not represented just through aboriginal symbolism there are also many biblical references when the Blackfella appears. On page 61 the Blackfella flees from Cloudstreet once he reaches the centre of the house. This portrays a sense of spirituality in the air due to the ancestral deaths that had occurred there.
In an imaginary scene on page 178, Fish sees a lack man flying around and over him. This image represents somewhat an impression of the spiritualistic freedom the
From his bag, he pulls out bread and a wine-like drink, much like the bible story, and this supply appears not to deplete. Quick suspects nothing at all. By page 217, Quick begins to think about who this black man is. Quick had been pulling in hundreds of fish in an almost incomprehensible situation, where he would be catching strings of fish attached to each other. As he is rowing he sees a black figure that appears to be walking on water. As he moves closer he recognises the black figure as the familiar Blackfella. This, again, can be perceived as a biblical reference.
Page 326 has a short appearance of the Blackfella to Fish, who sees him across the street from Cloudstreet. As a truck goes by, the Blackfella disappears in the dust as it
Again on page 368 the Blackfella sends Quick home. When Quick turns to face him again, instead of one, there are hundreds of Blackfellas. Page 405 has the Blackfella appear, and then enforce to Sam not to sell the house. Every time the Blackfella appears in Cloudstreet there is a sense of spirituality in the air. It is not always of a common faith but it is spirituality all the same.
Often in his presence there are biblical symbols of Christianity, such as the walking
Some important literary techniques that you need to get a handle on for this novel
MOTIFS and SYMBOLS
Throughout this novel, Tim Winton relies on both symbols and motifs to convey meaning.
So what is a motif and how is it different from a symbol?
A symbol is an object, picture, written word or sound that is used to represent something.
A motif is an image, spoken or written word, sound or act or another visual or structural device that is used to develop a theme.
A symbol can be repeated once or twice, while a motif is constantly repeated
A symbol can help in the understanding of an idea or a thing while a motif can held indicate what the literary work or piece is all about.
Religious Symbolism in Cloudstreet
Religious symbolism has an important role in Cloudstreet. It is impossible to read the novel without noticing the religious being foregrounded in the events and characters. The Lambs are the Lambs of God and “you could see it in the way they set up a light in the darkness” Although the members of the family appear to lose their faith after their ‘miracle’, whenever the situation becomes critical, there is the notion of God. Oriel sits in her tent at night, reading the Bible by lamp, and an Aboriginal man, the ‘black angel’, appears whenever the family, house or unity are threatened – a critical situation. Shadows stream from separate directions as he attempts to point the characters in ‘the right direction.’
Quick sees the great sagging west wall of cloudstreet and hits the breaks. Where exactly do you want to be dropped off mate? The man points…At the corner the blackfella takes up his Gladstone bag and gets out. Comin? Qick Lamb laughs fearfully and guns the dodge away.” (page …)
However Fish Lamb is the character most identified with religious symbolism. The fish is an age old Christian symbol for life, rejuvenation, and ‘fishers of men’. Those that possess this symbol recruit others to their faith by helping them understand current and future events. Indeed this is the main role of Fish. He narrates the story, and even after the acccident, is a main force in uniting the families. However, Fish’s Christian name is also of special significance. Samson in the Old Testament was a Nazirite who had made a special promise to God never to cut his hair, or his strength would be no more. Alas, he is undone by treachery as Delilah deceives him. This therefore points to a parallel in Cloudstreet. Fish is drowned ‘by treachery’ as Lester, ‘lest we forget’ Lamb and Quick, ‘as unquick as his father’ accidentally drown Fish with a prawning net. “You and me understand. we were there. We were stupid enough to drown him tryin to save him.” (p94) The religious symbolism continues throughout the novel and embeds a sense of spirituality. Although the Pickles believe, unlike the Lambs, in ‘Lady Luck’ and the ‘shifty shadow’, this sense of fate is also referred to as the ‘hairy hand of God.’ Thus the novel must be read in a religious sense to gain a full understanding of the themes that Winton conveys through symbolism.
from: http://www.123helpme.com/symbolism-in-tim-wintons-cloudstreet-view.asp?id=162374
Biblical references
“only one bathroom and twelve people to be washed”
Biblical event
Washing of the twelve by Jesus
The spread of kangaroos in the outback is referred to as “the Egyptian flamin plagues”
Biblical event
The plagues that God sent that almost destroyed Egypt
Quick comes home glowing
Biblical event
Moses coming down from the mountain after receiving the 10 commandments – Exodus 34:29 “his face was shining because he had been speaking with the Lord”. Quick has had some sort of spiritual revelation- ‘seen the light’.
Quick is fishing and “he got a strike the moment the hooks hit the water, and then another, and when he saw the upward charge of the mob he felt something was happening he might not be able to explain to a stranger”
Biblical event
Disciples go fishing and they come back ashore with an abundance of fish The significance of these parallels is they maintain the spiritual dimension of the novel and as stated on p.151(p.198): “those bible stories and words weren’t the kind you forgot. It was like they’d happened to you all along, that they were your own memories”. This suggests their relevance to ordinary life and the parallels suggest that miracles can happen, and the allusions impose a sense of hope despite the dramas at Cloudstreet.
from: http://www.boredofstudies.org/course…l_Hennessy.doc
The Pickles’ belief in fate and ‘Lady Luck’ is at odds with Lester and Oriel, the ‘Lambs of God’, who begin the story with deep religious faith. Both of these world views are tested by unfolding events over the next two decades.The name of one of the characters, Samson ‘Fish’ Lamb, who at times plays the part of a first-person omniscient narrator, is symbolic: the fish (Jesus being the fisher of men) and the lamb (innocence, the Lord is my shepherd) are strong Christian symbols and Samson is a name from the Bible. Like Samson, Fish loses a part of himself in seeking a greater realisation of his higher purpose.Despite the strong Christian symbolism contained in the character of Fish, Winton generally approaches the story with a spiritual rather than explicitly religious message. Characters come to their own realisations about higher powers and the supernatural, with literary devices such as symbolism and magic realism also helping to embed a sense of spirituality throughout the novel.
from: http://treasure-explorer.nla.gov.au/treasure/tim-winton%E2%80%99s-manuscript-cloudstreet.
The Anzacs were what the Lambs believed in, the glorious memories of manhood and courage. The nation, that’s what kept the Lambs going. They were patriots like no others. The thought of World Communism put fear in their hearts. Oriel had dreams about Joe Stalin – she knew what he was about. They weren’t political, Lester and Oriel, but they were proud and they offered themselves to the nation.” p.144 (p. 188)
Key Readings:
Overview of Cloudstreet – Answers .com
http://www.answers.com/topic/cloudstreet
Rosie Thomas: Insight Notes – Introduction to Cloudstreet
Click to access TG-Cloudstreet-10-pages.pdf
Cloudstreet summary
Click to access cloudstreet_summary.pdf
Reading Notes by Penguin Books
http://www.penguin.com.au/products/9780140273984/cloudstreet/38055/reading-notes
Marilyn Anthony: Review of Cloudstreet
Robert Dixon: Cloudstreet and the Field of Australian Literature
Grief and Suffering in Cloudstreet – Thematic Overview
Click to access grief-and-suffering.pdf
Stuart Murray: Tim Winton’s `New Tribalism’: Cloudstreet and Community
Postmodernism and Cloudstreet
Click to access cloudstreet_postmodernism_and_style.pdf
Aboriginality in Cloudstreet
Click to access representation_of_aboriginality_in_cloudstreet.pdf
Michael McGirr: Go Home Said the Fish
Lynn McCreddan: Dreams of Belonging in Cloudstreet
http://readingaustralia.com.au/Secondary/Cloudstreet/Essay.aspx
Fiona Morrison: Genre and Narrative Method in Cloudstreet
http://ojs-prod.library.usyd.edu.au/index.php/SSE/article/view/546/513
Bárbara Arizti Martín: New Possibilities of Neighbouring in Cloudstreet
Click to access coola101arizti.pdf
Knowledge and Understanding Tests:
There will be a factual recall test on your knowledge of the details of characters and relationships, key events, settings and themes, as well as a set of questions designed to elicit your levels of understanding of big ideas and themes. This will take place upon your return to school after the break.
You will be asked to support all of your answers with evidence/examples from the text. It may help to make notes on these aspects of the novel as you read through it.
Preparing for the study of Cloudstreet:
If you have not done so already, the reading of Tim Winton’s, Cloudstreet, needs to be completed by the first Tuesday back after the holiday break – that is Tuesday, July 15.
This is a very long novel and quite complex, so it is absolutely essential that you have completed at least ONE full reading of the novel prior to our classes commencing in Term 3. Your knowledge and recall of the text will be assumed and tested.
Audio and e-Books available:
This novel can be purchased as an audio recording if you feel that this will help. Downloading the audio onto an MP3 player or your mobile phone may be very helpful to you – just make sure you buy an unabridged version.
2014 VCE ENGLISH 
Cloudstreet Chapter 6
What key moments or events stand out for you in this chapter? Identify the key moment/event and explain why it stood out for you.
Quick sees himself running shirtless whilst he is hunting for Kangaroos
Represents Quick’s lost identity and the notion that Quick does not belong here. The fact that he nearly shoots himself scares Quick immensely which starts to affect his shooting
The imagery of Quick running shirtless, hunting for kangaroos, is quite animistic and savage. Perhaps Quick has a distorted perception of himself, and sees himself as an animal for what he did to Fish.
This could also imply how Quick is running away from his responsibilities at cloudstreet
Is this the only place where he sees himself running?
HI Jim. In your comment below, I am wondering about where it is that you say Quick does not belong? Can you clarify please?
Quick seeing himself running shirtless, whilst he is out shooting kangaroos could potentially represent that by avoiding his family, home and himself he is effectively shooting himself through self destructive behaviour that would prevent him from reconciliation, happiness and peace.
In response to “Is this the only place where he sees himself running?” In this scene, he doesn’t necessarily envisage himself running, but he “kept seeing figures” on the “long, impossibly slow drive back to Earl and May’s”. Every mile or so, “some mad bugger would jump out waving from behind a karri tree”; half the time “it was that black bastard and other half it was him”. Why is Quick seeing himself jump out waving from behind a tree? How does this relate to him being “lit up like a sixty watt globe” the next day?
Cameron mentions that this running suggests Quick as running away from his responsibilities at Cloudstreet. What might these responsibilities be?
Road trip with the Blackfella and him leading to Cloudstreet, symbolises the importance of the Aboriginal man within the novel, and his ability to guide the characters back to the house.
What is the importance of the Blackfella in teh novel? is there anything more than his role as a guide and angel?
Quick stays with cousins at Margaret River, it is significant because that is where fish drown, and lost part of his soul.
Quick finds himself back at exactly the spot – the estuary – where Fish drowned and sees them all as they were before the accident – by the river, whole and happy.
Maybe Fish finds himself back here because it’s a place he needs to reconcile with to become whole again. On his path of redemption
Maybe Quick needed to confront his traumatic past in order to move forward and overcome his guilt, as even after leaving Cloudstreet “His mind keeps coming back to Margret River”
Quick beginning to glow. Because it’s almost a symbol of a light taking guiding him home, which is sort of underlying theme of the whole novel, that home and family is where we belong
Sam’s stump also glows when he feels the Hairy Hand of God.
Does the light guide him home or is he taken home because of the light, and quick is taken home because that is where he belongs and where he is able normal and reconlie with the importance of home and belonging
When Quick and Rose take Fish away with them on a camping trip in the section entitled Spaces (Chapter 10) Quick wakes up “with the moon white on his face” and all over Fish’s face …”or it seemed to be until Quick saw that moony light was coming off Fish himself”. Again they are seen to be glowing with light. This immediately precedes another important vision that Quick, Rose, Fish and Wax Harry see…”a line of figures moving between the trees.” Fish let’s out a “gasp of delight”…”They were children, naked children. Placid faced, mildly curious, silent but for their footfalls rising from the ground…some familiar somehow in the multitude…a tide of naked children…parted the wheat like the wind itself and took all night to pass.”
So the inexplicable presence of light is again associated with Fish and Quick and the power to see thngs that others fail to see – visions. This time as they both watch in awe, Rose and Harry watch toothe line of children “swirling around them, dizzyingly” before the “great adventure of sleep took them back.” (p419-420)
Quick’s vision of Fish in the boat. He is on the brink of death and encounters Fish’s spirit who tries to bring him to the other side, but Quick refuses.
Why does Quick refuse, is it becuase he has not yet reconiled with his guilt?
Nice point Benny. As we have discussed, ghosts supposedly exist due to the fact that they have ‘unfinished business’. Perhaps Quick refuses because he feels that he is not yet ready to be brought to the other side. Quick may feel as though he must first reconcile with himself, and achieve a sense of happiness and wholeness, before it can be done.
Sacha, I really like this idea of Quick’s readiness. Perhaps he has not yet found his true self, the self that is free of guilt and self-loathing. He will not be able to love fully or completely until he has forgiven himself. Interested in your thoughts!!! If this is so, can you suggest a point in the novel where Winton might be suggesting to us that Quick has reached this point of understanding of self?
Quick continues to ‘cut out pictures of those less fortunate than him’ p.212 which demonstrates that he still has not overcome the burden of guilt even though he has left home
Yes this is a significant factor in defining who he is as an individual at this point in the journey. It is not until he is able to let go of this guilt that he will be able to find happiness, wholeness and completion. When he starts to separate himself from the identity he has assumed – a guilty and hateful man who is responsible and to blame for Fish’s condition – that he will be able to define himself in a new way. Think about how this connects to the way in which the ghosts retract into the walls of the library at Cloudstreet and darkness and evil are squezzed out when light and love are introduced into the room. The catalyst for this are the characters Rose and Quick.
In a way Mrs Coker, perhaps the imagery of the ghosts receding back into the wall parallels Quick’s own ‘ghosts’ retreating, as he finds love, light and wholeness.
When Quick is fishing in the boat, all the fish start to jump into the boat with them also biting the other tails to get into the boat. This is also a moment from the Bible which happens to jesus which adds onto the numerous religious references in the novel, and adds to the symbol of Quick being Jesus. During this time the Aboriginal man is standing on the water laughing at him while the boat is sinking.
When Quick is fishing in the boat, all the fish start to jump into the boat with them also biting the other tails to get into the boat. This is also a moment from the Bible which happens to jesus which adds onto the numerous religious references in the novel, and adds to the symbol of Quick being Jesus. During this time the Aboriginal man is standing on the water laughing at him.
Quick takes Earl’s boat out for a week. Starts to get incredibly lucky as he keeps catching fish after fish. Quick was throwing out bait less hooks and was dragging in great silver chains of Fish. Fish started to leap into the boat.
This is a fascinating moment in the chapter and can be interpreted in a number of interesting and different ways. What do you make of the fact that the fish are filling up the boat to the point of overwhelming and nearly smothering Quick to the point of sinking the boat? What can be made of the references to Lucy Wentworth in this scene? What do you think it means in the context of Quick’s struggle and search for meaning? What sense do you make of the fact that it happens on the Margaret river where the original accident happened?
The strange occurrence of fish jumping into Quick’s boat could have multiple meanings. It could be a reminder to Quick of his responsibility to Fish, his need to reconcile and confront his feelings as well as his brother, which would allow both of them to move on and become whole. It could also represent that Fish is “out of water” and broken, in desperate need of his brothers support and presence which he indicates by repeatedly involving himself with Quick who pushes him away, causing Fish to sink further and further into his split state, paralleled by the boat sinking, the thing that is supporting Quick on the water. The fact that Quick keeps rowing even when the boat sank could also be a metaphor for Quick’s inability to realise that his actions are causing more harm than good. The boat is sinking from the weight of the fish who are “bludgeoning themselves against the timbers” and killing themselves due to their own helplessness which is comparative to the futility of Fish’s situation and his own helplessness, as well as Quick’s who is hurting himself by running away from responsibility and his true life.
do they really?
The Blackfella has a bottle and a loaf of white bread.” and starts to feel comformtable with the black to the point where he almost explains “everything, the whole business.”. This shows that Quick just wants to tell someone his life story and let out his struggles in life and come to peace with his struggles in life. Quick feels like the Blackfella is his source of light to his struggles
“A bottle and a loaf of white bread” is a religious reference of the last super and a symbolism of fullness
Why might Winton be making a connection between the Blackfella and Christian symbolism at this point? What does this specifc reference to wine and bread suggest?
This blog is not to be used for such commentary.
Quick’s visions. He sees Fish, he sees himself and he sees the blackfella. These visions overwhelm him to the extent that he questions his sanity. He cannot discern the line between reality and dreams and is haunted by the “misery pictures” and memories. He is confused, lost – ‘he knows he cannot decide how he feels – enlightened or endangered, happy or sad, old or young, Quick or Lamb’
Quick is ‘lit up like a sixty watt globe’. This glowing is almost a supernatural occurrence that is designed to lead Quick back to where he belongs. ‘a black angel’ is all Quick said that night and could be referring to the aboriginal man who is guiding him home.
The scene with Fish rowing across the wheat fields while Quick lays incapacitated, reflects the amount of time that has passed since Quick has left Cloud street and that despite this he is unable to return home.
The scene where spiritual Fish approaches Quick conveys the measures that Quick takes in order to escape from Cloud street but also the feeling that home is beginning to call him back again- however he is still not ready to journey home. Quick travelling the outback can be seen as a desperate attempt to get as far away from his family as possible, where he was constantly reminded his of his guilt as the survivor. During the exchange between Quick and spiritual Fish, Quick says that despite being away from Cloud street for so long that he can’t entirely recognise his brother, “that’s not his brother, that’s a man,” he is not able to return home, “I just can’t move.” Spiritual Fish reflects on Quick’s absence later, saying “I’m calling you brotherboy, and you won’t come….. Here, Fish calls Quick to come home to the water. In Cloudstreet water acts as a binding, healing force that can help restore balance to the characters. Until Quick comes home, Fish knows that he cannot go to the “Big Country” until his brother is home and reconnected with the family.
Q2: How do the key moments/events in chapter 6 connect with the theme of redemption? (Lost, alienation, hamartia – struggle and search, repentance – discovery, arrival, enlightenment, understanding – redemption)
Quick has the vision of Fish – and see’s themselves rowing the boat like when they did to Freemantle. In a moment of near death Quick envisions Fish to be summoning him to the place where Fish’s ‘other half’ is waiting, inviting him to be together and again and be whole.
actually i think its only fish in the boat
Maybe this is suggesting that Fish is leading him home, leading him back to the place where he belongs with his family as that’s a part of him becoming whole again
Yes Quick sees only Fish rowing in the fruit crate, seemingly summoning him to the “Big Country”, to the place beyond the material world which for Fish was home, belonging wholeness and completeness.
Yep i agree Aniko, but at the same time, it seems like it is the part of Fish that is not in the material world and in the “big country”, that is beckoning Quick to him, which makes it ambiguous.
Quick leaves Cloudstreet ultimately because he has lost his way and hates having Fish everyday reminding him that he was a part of his accident as it is defining who he is. When Quick has his accident and nearly dies, it makes him realise that he can’t keep running from the reality and he certainly can’t run away from where he belongs, with his family.
The Importance of family and home is also shown when Quicked is guided back home by the blackfella, who is a constant reminder to us not only about the importace of family but also spiritual connections and connections to the landscape around us. As once we are able to connect with the landscape that is when we are able to seek comfort within the landscape
Does Quick go back because he belongs to his family? It could be a more narrow reason that he still feels the responsibility for Fish and that he has to be there for him. It could also be for the families to re-connect as before this chapter the conversations between Oriel and the daughters indicate that they miss Quick being apart of the family, also so Fish stops being miserable over not having Quick with him. It eventually leads to him and Rose coming together which is a pivotal moment for both families to come together.
After Quick’s near death experience with the truck accident, he requests time off and asks for a boat which brings him back to the river and the source of Fish’s tragedy. However, during his moment of desperation and fear he thinks of home especially Fish “he thought how sweet it would be to have Fish come…and haul him away from here”. During Quick’s struggle and search for answers he ultimately thinks of home, displaying his need to go and salvage his relationship with Fish
When Quick goes and stays with his cousin’s at Margaret River, where Fish was brought back to life but lost part of his soul in payment.
How does this change him? What impact does staying with his aunt and uncle have on him with what they do for him? Is it just that they give him a boat, which leads to a significant moment?
There is an interesting passage on page 268, where the narrator of Fish’s spiritual half directly addreses Quick. “i’m calling, brotherboy, and you won’t come.” “From me to you, the river. In me and you, the river. Of me and you, the river.” I’m still struggling to really understand it, but i feel like it relates to Quick’s redemption to wholeness, as he struggles to come to terms with his own involvment in Fish’s drowning. It seems as though Winton is suggesting that the two brothers have a deep connection to each other through the involvement with the river.
This is a wonderful observation Lucy. Well picked up. “From me to you, teh river. In me and you, the river. Of me and you, the river.” There is something hymn-like about these lines: the rhythm, the imagery, the repetition. Can you wrestle with its meaning a little more? I agree that Winton seems to be suggesting a deep connection to the river of both young men – the repetition of the word itself suggestive of this. perhaps you might like to think about the use of the phrases “from me to you”, “In me and you”, and “Of me and you”. Have a go, Lucy!!! Anyone else can jump in here as well 🙂
There is a sense of redemption within chapter 6 when Quick is fishing. After dealing with the traumatic experience of continually seeing himself running through the woods and the bogging down of Earl’s car, Quick looks to the water for answers. On the water, Quick witnesses the black fella on several occasions, as well as effortlessly catching a significant number of fish. These leads to Quick questioning how he feels, happy or sad, old or young, Quick or Lamb. He starts to have dreams about his family enjoying their time at the river with music. It can be suggested that at this moment, Quick decides that he must go home to the place he belongs.
HI Jim
Another great observation and pick up. Can I just clarify, however, whether the vision of the family gathering on the banks of the river comes before or after the mysterious haul of fish? The sequence of events here is important to get right. Yes I agree that this is a pivotal moment in helping Quick to understand the importance of going home. So there are a number of mystical moments that reinforce the same message about finding “home”.
Chapter 6 details Quick’s experiences on his own, away from Cloudstreet and his family. The struggles Quick faces , and his near death incidents in particular, provoke a greater examination of his identity and who and what he wants to be as an individual. He examines the past and the present, and looks towards the possibilities of the future. Quick reflects that ‘there were a lot of things he just wanted to fail to remember. He didn’t mind being lonely; he was used to being sad, but he didn’t want to baulk at shadows for the rest of his life’. He comes to the realisation, while working at Earl and May’s, that his life is somehow meaningless – ‘he thought he was coping, but he was miserable, lost, drifting, tired and homesick as a dog’.
This a fabulous quote to have picked up on Steph; ‘he thought he was coping, but he was miserable, lost, drifting, tired and homesick as a dog’. It really speaks to the despair that Quick is feeling at at this point in the novel and the journey he must still go on to find wholeness and completion as a human being.
Quick beginning to glow can perhaps symbolise the significance of light within the novel, as it is the glow that ulitmately drives him back to his home and family, and leads to his journey to redemption.
HI Hannah
I like where your thinking is heading here. Scroll down to Cameron’s comments about glowing and the response offered by the REV. I think it will be most helpful to you.
Q3: How does Winton explore the role of the supernatural (numinous, mystical) in Chapter 6?
Winton seems to be suggesting that the supernatural – visions/dreams – is part of everyday life. Visions/mystical moments seem to happen when the characters are alone, sick, injured or having a near death experience. Quick seems to have more visions than any of the other characters, although the characters who have visions are mostly men – Sam speaks to the blackfella who tellls him to not sell the house; Quick has many meetings with the blackfella who guides him back home to Cloudstreet, who seems to provide wisdom when Quick is floundering, who Quick feels he can open up to, and who Quick sees walking on water. Quick also sees himself running shirtless through the wheatfields, and sees Fish rowing the orange box across the wheatfields beckoning for him to join him in the sky and the Big Country. Many of these visions are not things that can be easily explained in terms of logic and reason, time and place as we know it but, in Winton’s world, they exist nonetheless.
One way is when Quick is out fishing and he sees the Blackfella walking on water, it’s not supernatural but it’s a Christ-like representation and I guess that is something quite unknown, it’s not something he can explain
Interesting comment, Aniko. Can you comment a little further about why Winton might have made this reference to the Blackfella walking on water?
Winton explores the role of supernatual through chapter 6 by showing us that sometimes there are things that happen in the world that we can not explain, but hold a vast wealth of meaning that sometimes we might not be able to come to grips with, until it is all over. For example when the Blackfella guides Quick home he is confused about why he has been lead back home but then later on realises the importance of family and home. How home is where you belong.
“He did not think of home, but home thought of him” p.212
Great quote to include, Jackson.
In this you say that home is where we belong, but the main point we’ve focussed on is people having a strong connection to the river and their life. So what would be difference in the way in which they feel they ‘belong’ to in the two places, would home be stronger or would the river?
This call to go home is coming from a number of different places: Fish is calling for Quick to come home; the Blackfella is guiding Quick home; many of his visions are reminding him of home and the quote below reinforces the idea that even though he is not yet fully conscious or aware of the importance of home, that home is calling for his return.
Is Winton suggesting that “home” means the same thing for all characters? Is Winton suggesting that “home” is limited to its literal meaning of where we live or something else?
A supernatural element Quick experiences is while he is fishing, initially he is having difficulty catching any fish until the fish begin to throw themselves in the boat. However were the fish real? “Quick was throwing out bait less hooks to drag in great silver chains of them”. As fish would not simply throw themselves in the boat, especially with no bait. Guessing this could be a religious representation or if Winton is attempting to explore something else through unlikely natural events?
Winton explores the idea of the supernatural through Quick, when many strange things start to happen to Quick, for example when Quick begins to glow and doesn’t stop until 10 days later, another point in the novel where something glows is when Sam’s stump, is glowing. The supernatural events are ultimately trying to lead Quick back home.
Great point, Darcy. Can you explain in more detail the connection between the supernatural and leading Quick back home? Is Quick the only character searching for meaning or “home”? Use specific examples from the novel – even here in this blog – to support your point.
The supernatural seems to be most prominent in the novel when characters are either sick, alone, injured, on the river, or after a near death experience. This is when characters have space to contemplate – about life and meaning.
Quick sees himself running shirtless whilst he is hunting for kangaroos. This may represent Quick’s lost identity and the fact that he almost shoots himself frightens him which immensly starts to effect him, and his state of mind.
Tim Winton could also be using Quicks glowing to symbolise christianity and religion. The only words quick said that night was the “black angel.” Going by religious beliefs, angels glow. Sam’s stump also glows, which also displays religious symbolism.
I found a biblical reference from Exodus 34:29 it says “his face was shining because he had been speaking with the Lord”. This is when Moses comes down from Mount Sinai after 40 days after receiving the Ten Commandments and talking to God. Perhaps Winton is directly linking Moses’s to Quick’s glowing. After Moses had received the Ten Commandments he was enlightened with new knowledge and wisdom. Winton could be implying that the glowing of Quick symbolises new knowledge, and perhaps, a turning point in his life in which he is on journey in becoming whole.
Hi Cameron, I like your interpretation regarding Quick’s “glowing”. Within the Christian tradition (Tim Winton’s faith tradition is Christianity and in particular the Roman Catholic expression of Christianity) this glowing can be interpreted as someone having come into the living presence of the Divine (God – Ultimate Mystery) and as such carries the mystery and experience with them. The glow is a sign of having engaged an experience outside of but also contained within the ordinary in life – and life this person’s life is ultimately different. The glow indicates transformation and change. The glow can arise from the deep interior of the human soul and is associated with joy, tranquillity, love, inner peace. In our ordinary moments it’s possible to “see and experience the glow”, within the natural world, eg the way droplets of water cling suspended from branches and catch the light – natural beauty that touches the heart and mind of the observer who having had the experience becomes a participant in the great mystery and wonder of creation. Two poems you might find useful regarding the glowing in nature are: Gerard Manley Hopkins: As Kingfishers catch fire, (this is about the essence of things) first stanza, and God’s Grandeur – the poems will give you a feel for the glow in the natural world – written by someone whom I believe experienced the glow from within – ie a new perspective on reality. Rev
Thanks Rev
These GMH poems you refer to are exquisitely beautiful. I love the way you have connected the divine to ordinary life experiences such as the water droplet – something fragile and exquisitely beautiful and remarkable in the natural world. I want to draw a link between what you have said here about the divine and the glow, Rev, and the fact that it came after a profound experience on the river where, while fishing, Quick’s boat was inundated with fish jumping of their own accord onto the boat, almost miraculously. Would anyone care to comment?
Hello its the rev
The most significant even that stood out to me was mostly based on Quick’s encountering with the Blackfella. It is already shown before that Quick has lost his belonging away from Cloud Street. But the Blackfella becomes Quick’s beacon of guidance to recover his identity and his belonging back to his ‘home’ when he leads Quick back to Cloud street
Chapter 9 is important in showing us how each character is truggling to make sense of their lives. Please enter your Chapter 9 comments here
Darcy and David
Mothers to He Does (pp 353-360)
The passage entitled ‘Mothers’ describes an intimate conversation between Rose and her mother, Dolly. They had always been distant, with Rose actually hating her mum for being incompetent when Rose was a child. Rose also greatly resented her mother’s promiscuous behaviour when they were younger. Her mother had always liked men and had certainly slept with many of them, and Dolly had done this pretty openly, so everyone had known about her affairs. When Rose visits Dolly, who is sick in bed, she finally asks her mother a question that prompts an answer, which ultimately allows Rose to see her mum from a new perspective: ‘But what was she like? Your mother.’ (356)
When Dolly explains that her mother was actually her grandmother and her father was her grandfather, she dissolves into sobs without tears. Admitting to Rose that her mother was actually her second oldest sister was a cleansing and rejuvenating experience for both Dolly and her daughter, Rose. This incestuous relationship shocks Rose but it enables her to understand her mother’s bad parenting. Dolly had been a bad mother but in expressing a desire to spoil Rose’s children and be a good grandmother, Dolly is telling Rose that she wants to makes up for her mistakes as a mother, and have a fresh start with her extended family. There seems to be some growth in Dolly, with her wishing to change for the better and start afresh. Likewise, Rose seems more able to give her mother a second chance.
In ‘Tonic’ the anorexic Rose starts healing herself, partly through Quick’s love for her, but also because she starts swimming in the river at Peppermint Grove, and even does ‘bombies’ off the jetty. She comes home starving, eats and keeps her food down. She is physically being healed, maybe partly after resolving her issues with her mum. Maybe the river also washes and cleanse her as well. Is it a baptism and a spiritual healing?
Aniko and Jypsie
2. The Shifty Shadow to Weathering it out
Important developments for the characters
There is a constant parallel between Rose and Dolly’s relationship and their hate for each other and the spiritual world. Constant reference to the ghosts and spirits whilst either Dolly or Rose is suffering and then also the ghosts of the old widow and the aboriginal girl almost fighting with each other just like Rose and Dolly
“While around him the two women bare their teeth at each other, dark and light, light and dark, hating, hurting, hissing silently until Fish…I hate youse you stupids! This is my house!” p.335. Represents a parallel to Rose and Dolly’s relationship within the spiritual world, and the disturbance it creates for the house
– Dolly loses favourite son Ted “so many women have loved him and suffered him, but none so much as his mother” p.335
– Dolly is truly suffering from this loss and feels as if she has no one “They killed my baby! Him, he was the one I loved…”
– “the shadows danced. Oh, how they danced” suggest happiness and joy when Dolly is completely distraught over the death of Ted. A parallel of Rose’s pleasure in Dolly’s suffering
– Rose has a miscarriage- in a time where you would normally reach out to your family, especially your mum, she doesn’t want them around, isolates herself, emphasises the terrible relationship she has with her mum
– After Rose loses her baby, she finds out that Ted is dead and she can’t care, “he was a bastard…Dad, I’m tired. My baby died” and even though Sam mentions that Dolly is going to be upset, again she just doesn’t care “Well, Mother’ll be upset…” – Emphasises the current state of Dolly and Rose’s relationship before they come to this critical moment of reconciliation
– She became completely depressed and hopeless after such a great loss and not even Quick could comfort her “She was just too weak and spiritless to get through the day anymore”
– The point of reconciliation between Rose and Dolly. They have both suffered such loss that finally they have this one moment in common and allows them to come together and reconcile
– The suffering leads to a point where the can come together on a path of redemption
Issy and Jim
1. The house is trembling – the shifty shadow
Identify key moments of dialogue and action that point to elements of the journey towards reconciliation, meaning and wholeness for different characters.
– Quick and Rose have acknowledged the importance of the other, and how compatible they are despite they’re differences. “He was calm, steadfast” – Quick. “She was so passionate, so full of restless energy and hard-headed… She was her own woman.” “She was ambitious all ways…But Quick had more aim than ambition, and for that as much as the rest, she knew she needed him.”
– Rose wants to move away from Cloudstreet whereas Quick is dreaming and thinking of it, at this stage both of them are unaware of the importance of home to them, although Quick appears to have some inklings. Rose: “They are them now, and we are us.” “I want a small, neat house that only we live in…Clean and new, that’s what I want.”
– “Quick thought of his room at Cloudstreet.” “Quick often lay awake thinking about it” (Cloudstreet)
– Perhaps Oriel sees some of herself, in regards to her stubborn nature, in Rose.
– “That’s my boy” – Oriel “No, Rose uttered silently, against her will, that’s my boy now.”
– Quick is still struggling internally with his own survivor guilt – something has to happen in order for him to reach wholeness, he is searching as a police officer for crime for evil for something he can fix because of his own inability to ‘fix’ what happened to Fish. He is still struggling with his survivors’ guilt. “Hoping guiltily for a spot of sin to come his way.” “Those days he just had his thoughts to keep him going.”
– Rose is still wanting to escape 20 years later, something has to happen that helps her realise the importance of home and belonging.
Sacha and Benny – Arrest to Mothers
Focus on Rose and Dolly’s relationship
Rose’s Memory (pg. 348-351)
Rose: “Something bad is going to happen” – Rose begins to remember the Catalina pilot back at the Eurythmic hotel.
Rose: “Dad’s lost his fingers. And she’s in there huffing and puffing with someone else”. Rose resents her mother for her lack of faithfulness and the damage that she has caused her childhood. This causes Rose “to weep”
Rose: “I don’t want to remember that! I don’t want that”
Rose: “I was a girl, she thinks; I shouldn’t have had to hear that. I shouldn’t have had any of it”
Quick, the “Policeman”, returns home and informs Rose that Dolly has been found and that they need to return back to Cloudstreet. However, Rose is not yet ready to reconcile with her mother
Rose: “I don’t wanna do this, Quick! – It is interesting to notice that this section is entitled “Arrest”. When one is arrested, this is generally against their will. A parallel can be drawn between a legal arrest and the fact that Rose is being forced to visit her mother.
“Rose stands there with her hair about her like a storm-cloud, all the steel gone out of her.” Rose has begun to lose all strength, both physically and emotionally.
Key conversation between Rose and Quick: Relationship with Dolly and Reconciliation (pg. 351)
Quick: “She’s yer mother.”
Rose: “I can’t help that.”
Quick: “Neither can she. They said she wants you.”
Rose: “She can go to hell.”
Key conversation between Rose and Dolly: Relationship (pg. 351)
Rose: “You stole from me. My childhood, my innocence, my trust. You were always a hateful bitch. A drunken slut. You beat us and shamed us in public. I hate you for all the reasons you hate yourself, and I wanted to kill you the way you wanted to kill yourself. Everything, you stole from me. Even when I was a teenager you competed with me, your looks against mine. Shit, even my grief you steal from me. You can’t imagine how I hate you”
Dolly: I wanted to talk to you.
Rose: I don’t want any boozer’s justifications and sympathy talk.
Dolly: Come back tomorrow.
Rose: I’ve got my own life now.
Dolly: Come back.
Rose: No.
Dolly: Rose.
Rose: Why?
Dolly: I want to talk, just to talk.
Rose: I’m busy.
Dolly: Doing what?
Rose: I’m just busy.
Dolly: Come tomorrow. Please. I’m beggin you to come back tomorrow.
This is the first time Dolly has made considerable effort to reconcile with Rose, and yet she completely disregards her attempts.
Lester encourages reconciliation between Rose and Dolly
Lester: I dunno. I can’t stand the hate. It’ll kill you. You’re one of us now and I couldn’t bear to lose you. Quick’s hurtin. We all are. Go on with your life, love. It’s all there is.”
House – symbolism
This section of the novel contains reference to the symbolism of the House. Winton personifies the house as “a living breathing” thing, as it changes its moods depending on the dynamics of the families living within.
“It was hard to believe that something like this could give birth to you. The whole house went quiet till it was just grinding on its stumps, like a ship at anchor.”
“The house fell back against the night sky like a dying planet.”
Jypsie-Flynn
Long, Hot, Peaceful days
Rose
Past issues with anorexia aren’t a problem now days. “Liked the smell of the shop…. The fatty cold meats” She has come closer to the stage of being reconciled by finding love in Quick, having a baby, getting along with her mum, but the only issue to complete was to find trust with her mum as well as Oriel.
Works in the shop with the rest of the girls.
“I can see why Quick married you” “He didn’t, I married him”
Being just like her mum, “You’re a ringer, Rose!”
Relationship with Dolly: still wary about her with the baby – lack of trust within their relationship that still needs to develop between the two.
“Whenever Dolly was around the baby, Rose was nervous”
“Drilled herself into the discipline of refraining from panic”
Relationship with Oriel: “They were wary of one another” Rose cant understand why Oriels actions were so unforgivable.
“Why does she always have to be right and the one who’s strong, and one who makes it straight, the one people come to?”
“Why do I still dislike her… because she’s so totally trustworthy?”
Quick
Strong love between him and his son Harry
Started to accept Dolly for who she is “he’d come to the conclusion she was a bit of a character”
Harry – Rose and Quick’s baby
Spoilt rotten by the family. Happily welcomed into the household, growing older beginning to crawl and “healthier, gamer.”
Dolly
Made her own friends “They so clearly adored her” despite them smoking all the time.
Oriel
She still had not relaxed in herself she was still strict and uptight, hadn’t connected with Lester yet. She had a specific way of doing things and didn’t leave much room for slack.
“Her kindness was scalding, her protection acidic”
“She bought the whole place to attention”
“Nothing written off to chance”
Lester
Still struggling within himself “Distracted somehow”
“He baked irregularly and made no ice-cream”
Pansy and Lon
Had a baby girl and pregnant again!
Pansy does not talk to Oriel still – have not resolved their issues still.
Elaine
Still engaged with her partner for 6 years “Daydreamed all morning about her fiancé.”
The house
“The place looked like a dancehall parking lot” People always coming in and out of the house. Coming more lively and lived in.
“Lamb’s house won all trade”
Lucy and Cameron
Nedlands murderer:
“They got him, the Monster”
“disappointed at the size of him”
“hopeless… ambushed…frightened…pathetic”
“A frustrated man with a harelip”
“lifetime of losing”
[after the birth] “they’re already celebrating something else, something they’ve been waiting for in their beds all year.”
Winton describes the Nedlands murderer in a way that allows us to make connections between the murderer, and any other human who has experienced ‘a lifetime of losing’. This is important to Quick’s own realisation later on that if he continued to be burdened by his participation in Fish’s drowning, he too could become troubled as the Nedlands murderer had allowed himself to become troubled. It seems as though Winton is suggesting that in the characters journey to reconciliation, they must all accept and confront their own hatred that they hold, for the outcome of not overcoming this will only be dire.
Cloudstreet:
“the house wakes”
“the room goes quiet”
“leaving a warm, clean, sweet space among the living, among the good and hopeful.”
“The house is shaking”
“the house breathes its first painless breath”
The house reacts to the events taking place. Especially in relation to birth of Rose and Quick’s child
The supernatural:
[the ghosts] “fading, fading…finally being forced on their way to oblivion”
[the pig] “like an angel in a pig’s body… like the voice of god Himself pouring up”
The ghosts fade into the wall because they mimic the actions of the characters, thus creating the connection between spiritual and physical.
Rose:
“She’s never been so grateful to see her” [Oriel] – illustrates a connection between the two families
“Rose feels herself lifted like a child”
“Rose sees the stars and moons in the walls”
“The two strong spirituous women pressed away from her”
“the women fade and for a moment Rose is frightened it means she’s dying”
Fish:
“let’s off a bust of wild singing”
Winton depicts the scene as completely chaotic with noise and family members running around, when the baby is born the ‘room becomes quiet’ and there is a sudden peace that the birth of the child brings within Cloudstreet.
Dolly:
“I’m a grandmother” – she now has a new responsibility