Cloudstreet essay review

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Cloudstreet

Essay 1 – question 2 info

Besides providing an interesting story line, texts may portray attitudes and values connected with many aspects of the society in which they were written or represent. This is the case in the novel, Cloudstreet, in which values and attitudes of Australian life are presented in the story of two families sharing one house. The author, Tim Winton, may have directed these attitudes and values at the Australian society to provide the people involved within, an understanding of themselves and their culture, and also make an attempt at pushing his own interpretation of them. In Cloudstreet, Winton has effectively used the role of the woman and the man to express more modern attitudes and values of Australian life. Lester and Oriel Lamb are prime examples of this. Being the man of the house (or half of the house), it is usually expected that Lester go out and work hard for his money, to come home to a wife who supports him and looks after the house and kids. But this is not the role he plays in Cloudstreet, in fact the complete opposite. Lester is portrayed as a sensitive man who cooks and cleans regularly, helping out with many of the household chores. He never seems to have a quarrel with Oriel, his wife, having most of the control of the family.

Essay 2

Textual integrity requires a composer to be constantly aware of all the elements of a work, especially the writer’s values. Discuss the relationship, textual integrity and values in your understanding and interpretation of Cloudstreet. Textual integrity is important in the construction of a novel. It makes the readers more aware of the author, Tim Wintons intentions. A personal interpretation of Cloudstreet includes the characters values, the narrator of the novel and the symbolic images which make up the novel. The values of the characters are all similar and contribute to the textual integrity of the novel. The whole book is about recognising that the spiritual world is connected with the past, present and future and how each character comes to realise this. One side of the house has a strong belief in luck "Lady luck'' while the other places value in their faith. The Pickles, especially Sam, place their chances on luck. The day that Sam lost his fingers he "felt the shifty shadow of God lurking about" and he knew something bad was going to happen, same with the feelings before Dolly broke her leg. Rose and Dolly have a distant relationship. Rose lost her childhood because she had to rescue Dolly from the pub fairly often.

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Essay 3 – question 2 info

“Cloudstreet dwells on the human desire to find meaning in life.” Tim Winton expresses many themes in his novel “Cloudstreet”, one of which is about finding one’s place in the world and the search for the meaning of life. Basically all of the main characters in the novel experience this desire and battle to find it. In the beginning of the book, Oriel Lamb is a devoted religious woman, though all of this changes after Fish’s accident. She cannot come to terms with the fact ...

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