Cloudstreet

Cloudstreet * Divided house * Lambs Vs Pickles Fish – Physical and spiritual * Story told by spiritual Fish * Magic realism * Half in/half out * Fish, as the novels narrator, serves as the essence of spirituality. * The bulk of the narrative Fish is referred to as ‘you’ or ‘Fish’ and on page 424 the final moment it is ‘Me’. Fish is a peculiar character in Cloudstreet as he is separated into two parts when he drowns and is brought back to life – the spiritual Fish and the Physical Fish. It is through the spiritual Fish that enables the reader to see what is happening to all the characters and what their thoughts and feelings are. Although, he does try to be one, himself, but cannot. “Soon, soon...you’ll be yourself...and we’ll be us; you and me. Soon.” Fish and River - Extremely symbolic as the River is where Fish is half left and he always longs the river, Fish is incomplete until his connection again with the river at the end of the book. Even the name Fish runs in conjunction with the river. Human Relationships Rose and Quick – shows there can be hope in any relationship * Quick and Rose find their love on the river * Families start off on wrong foot. Only until married do their families unite as they are blood * Birth of ‘Wax’ Harry who is symbolic of the future generation that Pickles and Lambs are brought together like ‘wax’ * Final decision to all stay in Cloudstreet and celebration at the river is only scene where both families are at peace and are happy “they’re all down by the river, laughing like themselves from another time...the Lambs and Pickles.” * Symbolically the fence dividing the house is brought down Themes – overall theme is RECONCILLIATION The River * Symbol of love, life, family, determination, spirituality * Starts and finishes at the river with Fish first drowning and coming back to him finally dying and ending what he had started * Once Fish is finally reunited, he becomes whole again * Quick says “all the important things that have happened to me, have happened near the river”; Fish drowning, Rose and Quick getting married on the river, “black angel” telling quick to rejoin his family was walking on the river. Spirituality/Aboriginality * Black man * Two families; * Pickles –Lady Luck – Shifty shadow * Lambs – Christian ideals * Spirituality of land and water * Abos are more spiritually aware than white Australians; as he recognises the existence of evil in the house, something the Lambs and Pickles are unaware of. He stands outside the house trying to ward off the evil spirits * Coming and going * Posing as ‘Christ’ figure walking on water. with Quick rejecting him, is like him rejecting spirituality “He saw the figure of a man walking upon the water and it made him laugh...He was black” “A black angel, said Quick” * Giving advice to Quick, telling him to go back to Cloudstreet on a number of occasions “Go home...This isn’t your home. Go home to your home.” * Novel suggests that white Australians can learn from aboriginals Symbolic representations of blackfella and encounters with Sam and Quick are used to reinforce indigenous and non-indigenous reconciliation Winton suggests that Abos have a heightened spiritual awareness that white Australians need to learn, which is revealed when he physically guides Quick to “go back to his home” and advises him that “places are important, too many places broken” when he is away from Cloudstreet. Shifty Shadow * Sam pickles believed heavily in the shifty shadow “He believed deeply in luck...He called it the shifty shadow of god” * Shadow can be avoided, and should be. Although if you greeted it, it may be good luck “If you greeted it, it came to you; if you shunned it, it backed away” “I got a job...How' The shifty shadow” Reconciliation between 2 families * Familial breakdowns * 2 very different families with different beliefs and values * Start of book, Winton narrates families journeys in separate chapters to draw contrasts between their lifestyles, family structure and beliefs * Fence is brought in to symbolise differences and personifies the house which “ticked but didn’t go off” to show the tension between families * Winton uses Quick to show importance of family as he is haunted by guilt knowing it “should have been him, not Fish” * He then runs away to the bush in hope of restoring himself, only to end up “lit Up like a sixty watt light globe.” Winton uses this simile and supernatural image to illustrate the great importance and need of Quick’s Return to Cloudstreet and his family, despite his self--‐deprival. It is only when Quick returns to his family that he is able to find happiness. Therefore, through the example of Quick, Winton conveys to the responder the need for reconcile to one’s family and home; as there is where true happiness lies. * Only when ‘Wax’ Harry is born that they are brought together “like wax” * This resulting in both families wanting to stay in Cloudstreet and in celebration they go down to the river * Symbolically the fence dividing the 2 houses is brought down Language * Colloquial * Personification * Australian Idiom – natural diction of Australian voice * Lack of punctuation