Catastrophes In Tim Winton's Cloudstreet

Authors often raise many issues within their novels. Tim Winton portrays this in his novel Cloudstreet. A book which tells you a story of two families forced to move to the city because of two separate catastrophes which the encounter. The Picklesfamily who, face the death of their uncle Joel and the shock of their father Sam loosing his fingers in and accident, likewise the Lamb family are challenge by the trauma of the accident when Samson (Fish) is miraculously brought back to life after a fishing incident, then the Lambs move to the city they then become the tenants of the Pickles family in their large run down mansion. From 1944 to 1964 the two families share experience and over many years they eventually form a bond and sense of belonging …show more content…
Hence the class of people can be marginalising more than others. For example Sam Pickles belief in the "shifty shadow of God" (page 10) which signifies luck hand how Sam put his faith in it day to day hence "He loved to gamble' (page 11) to measure his luck, and on the other hand Sam is juxtaposed by Oriel strong faith in God and the bible, because of this oriels work ethic pays off as she and her family are always working hard running their shop keeping it in order "... lambs going at it night and day singing, working, laughing, shifting boxes..." (page 76), reward them with success as "God helps those who help themselves" (examination of class work sheet) and sense of belonging for all of their family is established as they all communicate well with each other. Conversely, the Pickles family don't help themselves and Sam the father is always out gambling and Dolly the mother is always under the influence of alcohol thus affecting the rest of her family as money is not "what you don't drink, the old man gives to the bookies." (page 162). This indicates that the Lambs are prepared to work for what they have and see that it is the only way to get ahead in life. Also Oriels believes in "stickablitiy"(page 54) and hard work which is symbolic of her faith and belief in God and the bible because the bible teaches people to make and honest living …show more content…
The God-fearing Lambs "Lambs of God" (Sandy Forbes, With love, from a time when life was simpler. Canberra Times, 13-4-1991, p.88) make many sacrifices which is symbolic of the sacrifice of lamb for their religion mean and the name is also has religious connotation to it, thus benefits them as they have good work ethics. This ideology is epitomises by the whole family as they all are apart of the business at one stage or another, hence forming a tight family bond, hence the Lambs have family values of work ethic, respect and belonging, therefore their attitude to life is modest, assertive and hard working "They'll know there're Lambs; they know to treat others with a mixture of pity and respect. And what's more, they'll always come back with change." (page 28). Winton Represent the Lambs as being hard working as they work twice as hard when competing businesses try to steal some of their customers. "...G. M. Clay- Ex 2nd AIF BUY HERE...she meant business...planned to finish Clay in summer with Lester lamb ice cream" (page 148-151), and therefore the family is rewarded with healthier financial. Thus Winton privileges this class in his text as he represents their strong family values. The reader then is positioned to feel that if they were in the same situation of having a good money flow from the family shop, they then wouldn't take it for granted and would put the hard yards in to make the best