the house, more specifically the library, us the scene of the death of an aboriginal child, however it

holds the seed of new life, love, happiness, sadness, loss and gain. It is not, crucially, just a place of
death. It is a living, breathing connection with the past.


the union of two families through the passion of Rose and Quick in the library, and the birth of Wax
Harry months later in the same room, the spirits are exorcised in light, love, and family.


the house becomes harmonious due to the context in which it is placed a sphere endorsing the
values of love, family, determination, and spirituality in the search for completeness.


However, the library is the most significant room in symbolising the author's values and attitudes.


No. 1 Cloudstreet is referred to as this great continent of a house, suggesting that the house
symbolically represents the continent of Australia, the suicides of the Aboriginal girls represents the
persecution of the Aborigines and the Lambs and Pickles represent the invading colonisers. For this
reason Cloudstreet is seen as an advocate for reconciliation as the inhabitants of Cloudstreet,
through the birth of Wax Harry, force the spirits

although the image of the house begins as a dark, threatening entity, it becomes a symbol of the
harmony created by the union of two families.

Religious symbolism has a significant role in Cloudstreet. It is impossible to read the novel without
some kind of religious sense being foregrounded in the events and characters. Indeed, 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 house the Lambs and the Pickles share has a past embedded in the Stolen Generations. A
magic realist device employed by Winton sees the haunting of the house by two dead women:
the widow who used the house as a refuge for Aboriginal girls, and the Aboriginal girl taken from
her family who committed suicide. In addition, No. 1 Cloud Street is variously described as this
great continent of a house, the characters are aware that it doesn't belong to them and it is a
place that Rose explores. We can look the house as an allegory for the history of the
colonisation of the continent of Australia.
Throughout the narrative, characters struggle to find a definition of home, but Quick and Roses
decision at the close of the story, not to live in a tiny house in a bland suburb but to rejoin their
tribethe two families in Cloud Streetcan be seen as an optimistic depiction of a reformed
national space a gesture towards a world that is more supportive and just.(7)


Family / relationships: The main theme of Cloudstreet is the relationships that enter the
house and those that grow, are formed and are reinvented inside it. The novel was written to
reflect a time when Family values were much stronger than these days; it is a nostalgic view
at how families used to be. This is emphasised by Quick and Rose who represent typical
society, wanting to leave home and be their own family, yet desiring to come back, to be a
village, a new tribe, the Lambs and Pickles. Oriel loves her family, and is sick of losing so
much of it. She shows sadness when Hat marries and leaves. Dolly shows the same
sadness when she loses Ted, only in a very different way. Lester is a the epitome of familial
values, constantly putting his family first and telling Quick that what he lives for is his family.


The House: It is represented as a continent unto itself. Cloudstreet is the world of its
inhabitants. The people that live inside it are very introverted, stressed by the fact that, even
though both had previous partners, Quick and Rose ended up together, strengthening this
withdrawn attitude. The house itself is thought of as a living breathing house (pg 134). It
exudes an ominous feeling of dissent towards its inhabitants, almost as if to say you arent
welcome here. The spirits of the house, that of the two women who died in the library, are a
symbol for the lack of belonging that the two families. Right from the beginning, both families
only believe that Cloudstreet is a temporary thing: the Lambs looking to move on and the
Pickles, or at least Sam, looking to sell. Neither family feels at home until the very end. A
horrible incident took place in that house, and terrible events shaped the lives of both
families: Sam losing his hand, Joel and his home, and the Lambs losing half a son. It isnt
until the final vestiges of these incidents are cleared that the house can fully heal and allow
the family to feel welcome. The house is also likened to a ship or boat which helps bring the
concept of the house to that of the river, the two major images in the novel.

Light: Light is a common form of imagery and symbolism in many writing styles. Winton uses
it in a unique way however: Quick glowing and Beryl fading. He uses light to physically show
a characters feelings and thoughts. Sams arm sparking is a physical indication of his feeling
the shifty shadow


Cloudstreet, the house, could be interpreted as a metaphor for Australia. It hints at the indigenous
people who were dispossessed by British colonization whose land the great continent of a house is
sitting on.