Similarly Family and relationships is further explored through the interactions between Sam, Dolly and Rose. There is a prevalent sense of disconnection and division with the 'silent' Pickles. Sam and Dolly constantly challenge the constructed stereotypes, yet they consistently fail their children, particularly Rose. “Reckon it's a friggen' house of cards I do said Ted, the old girls the wild card also the old Mac's the bloody Joker.' This failure of an interaction causes the disjointedness of the Pickles family and general source of bitterness and hopelessness. This is accentuated through the animosity felt between Dolly and Rose, 'Hating you is the best part of being alive.' Thus Dolly's failure to fulfil the motherly stereotype potentially incapacitates Rose's ability to love.
The theme of unity/identity is also a recurring theme throughout the novel, which Winton incorporates to highlight the changing of time and development of relationships. He successfully uses this theme to highlight how through time, relationships can develop and change through the interactions between characters. However, also highlights how unity cannot not be developed solely by a physical relationship as shown through characters Quick and Rose. The relationship between Quick and Lucy Wentworth supports this theory. The lack of emotive language and the use of casual vernacular, “I bet all you do is looks at those ladies Bums,' promotes the sense that Quicks relationship has no inherent meaning. This similar idea is further portrayed through Rose's relationship with Tony Raven. The use of third person narration allows Winton to provide the reader with an insight into Roses thought's, “she despised him as much as pities him'. This ultimately leads to a sense of dramatic irony as Rose does not inform Tony of her feelings. This invokes the sense that unity is not achieved through “casual flings', but is rather worked towards over an extended period of time. Winton successfully creates unity at the end of the novel, with the two families coming together. “Oriel and Dolly, Red and Elaine, and even Chub is up off his arse and dancing”. This is also emphasised through the presence of aboriginal spirituality, which was watching over the two families, has now come and gone. The symbolism of the water highlights its significance in bringing the two families together. The repetition of, “the water, the water, the water” emphasises the catalystic nature of the water and the fundamental role it has played in the novel, especially in bringing the two families together at the end.
The theme of spirituality is also presented in Tim Winton's novel Cloudstreet as a greater force “beyond the mere physical.' Elements of Cloudstreet have been derived from Winton's personal life, in particular his comprehension of the spiritual realm. The characters of Cloudstreet are thus exposed to a supernatural dimension and their spiritual journeys bring them to 'find meaning in the chaos of existence.' Winton employs the symbols of the house, the Aboriginal Blackfella and the water to present the landscape from which his characters, particularly the Lambs, are totally affected and consequently are brought to apprehend god and find their personal understanding and peace. Winton employs the water as a symbol of landscape, which is scene as a sacred place and represents the spiritual. It becomes a place of revelation, the place of miracles, the place of regeneration. “Shall be gather at the river where bright angel-feet have trod...”. This quote from the beginning of the novel, creates a clear allusion to the spiritual aspect of the water. This quote is central to events of the novel, as Quick realises that 'every important thing that happened to him, it seemed, had to do with a river'. The most outstanding of these is the near drowning experience of his brother fish. “Fish feels death coming unstuck from him with a pain like his guts are being torn from him”. It can be seen however that he is only brought back to a partial existence, “it's like Fish is stuck somewhere...Like he's half in and half out'. Due to Winton's depiction of the spiritual significance of the water, Fish is explored as the “Lamb' of god and the embodiment of spirituality. Fish is constantly drawn to the water, where he finds the source of his spiritual sustenance and regeneration. The novel begins and ends with Fish's death. On the other hand, the Pickles endure the loss of father Sam's fingers in a fishing accident. These physical tragedies trigger explorations of spiritual substance through which characters ponder the meaning of life.
The symbolism of the house is employed to play a part as an element of the physical and supernatural landscape through which characters are exposed to a higher spiritual realm. The house is a symbol of colonisations as it is explained that it was obtained to “make ladies” of Aboriginal girls “so they could set a standard for the rest of their sorry race”. The negative connotation of the victimisation of aboriginal girls associated with the house leaves the house resonating with spirits of discourse. The house is personified by Winton to represent this spiritual territory. 'Oriel wasn't the type to argue with a living breathing house” and Fish senses that “the house sad”. This personification emphasises 'It's dynamic nature' and greater dimension of complex spirituality. Conflict inhabits the house until the point of Oriel Lamb's rejection. She “moves her things out to the white tent beneath the mulberry tree at Cloudstreet”. The Blackfella is another element linked to the Landscape, which Winton employs to symbolically represent spirituality in Cloudstreet. The Black man personifies the identification Aboriginal people have with the land. His overwhelming presence throughout the events of the novel is explained by Winton who intended for his to represent a figure similar to a guardian angel or saviour. This allusion the Christian ideology, where God is depicted as a protector, is enriched by the historical significance of the angel being black. The Blackfella appears again as a hitchhiker who is carrying bread and wine which ware traditionally Christian symbols of Christ's death. The Blackfella directs Quick all the way back to Cloudstreet, which can be interpreted as his guardian angel guiding him home. Other instances where the Blackfella appears in a biblical manner. Quick sees, “the figure of a man walking upon water... He was black” . Wintons characters make the spiritual journey to reclaim part of self. By representing the Blackfella as a spiritual element, Winton refers to the aspects of the Aboriginal relationship with the land. The theme of spirituality is embodied throughout cloudstreet through the water and the ever present Aboriginal spirituality. To an extent it can be traced back to Wintons personal life and they way in which he was brought up.
by
hcornay (student)
