Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Cloudstreet, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Chance, Choice, and Personal Responsibility
Family vs. Independence
Trauma and Guilt
Religion and the Supernatural
Shared Humanity
Summary
Analysis
In 1940s Australia, a girl named Rose Pickles gets the feeling that something terrible is about to happen. Her brothers, Ted and Chub, are playing on the seashore at sunset, and she calls for them to come inside. She doesn’t think she can take any more bad luck, as her family has already lost their home in the past year and they now live in a pub owned by her uncle Joel. But she nonetheless feels like an unfortunate event is imminent, and she recalls how her father is usually the one who feels dark premonitions like this. She looks out at the darkening sea and wonders if he’s getting a bad feeling as well.
Rose’s foreboding in this moment is the first mention of the strange luck that seems to hang over the Pickles family. This is also an early sign that Rose feels deeply connected to her family and to her father especially, even when he’s miles away. Their apparent ability to sense bad luck is a central part of their connection to each other, and their differing views on luck create conflict later in the novel.
Themes
The following morning, Rose’s father, Sam Pickles, wakes up in his dormitory hut and feels what he calls “the Shifty Shadow of God” lurking. This shadow is how he visualizes the arrival of good or bad luck, which he can feel in his body like instinct or a sixth sense. Usually when he senses the Shifty Shadow, he knows better than to get out of bed until he feels that it’s passed him by. But today, he assumes that the strange luck belongs to someone else, and he goes about his morning as usual. He works on an island where he and his coworkers mine guano for phosphate.
This first mention of the “Shifty Shadow” confirms Rose’s suspicions that her father might be sensing the arrival of bad luck. It also implies that this ability is more than just superstition; both Sam and Rose had the same bad feeling at nearly the same time, after all. Regardless of how accurate Sam’s premonitions are, this scene establishes him as a character who’s deeply connected to luck and reliant on it.
Themes
Sam dwells on how he somehow noticed the smell of his long-dead father Merv after waking up this morning. Merv was a water diviner, finding water sources using nothing but a simple dowsing rod. He also gambled on horses, and this is one pastime that Sam still holds onto. While he never became a jockey like his father wanted him to be, Sam still gambles and pays close attention to the Shifty Shadow, constantly on the lookout for signs of his luck changing. Despite this, he’s been on a losing streak for a while, and his current job on the island is a consequence of recently losing everything he owned through gambling.
Sam’s memories of his father provide more context for Sam’s connection to luck. The fact that Merv made his living as a water diviner hints at the possibility that he might have possessed a genuinely supernatural gift that he passed on to Sam. On the other hand, neither Merv nor Sam became wealthy through their gift of intuition. This implies that their ability to sense luck is either inconsistent or imaginary. Either way, Sam makes no attempt to escape from his father’s legacy, accepting that relying on luck is his lot in life.
Themes
As he starts the work day, Sam reflects on how depressing and sometimes hellish this island is. He tries to ignore the whining voice of his coworker Nobby, who makes the dull work duller with his unpleasant attitude. Sam starts a winch to summon an empty barge, staring into the water and fantasizing about fishing and relaxing instead. These thoughts distract him long enough for the winch cable to catch his glove and drag his fingers into the crushing cogs. Sam screams as he loses his hand entirely; his fingers fall to the deck before his eyes.
The accident in this moment is the turning point in Sam’s life, as the loss of his fingers will define his development for the rest of the novel. The trauma of this event will continue to haunt him and will indirectly set many of the novel’s important events in motion. Ironically, Sam’s gruesome accident also proves his premonition correct; the Shifty Shadow of bad luck was lurking this morning after all. He might never have lost his fingers if he had listened to his intuition and stayed in bed.
Themes
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Sam is flown away on a Catalina plane, where two men play cards on his chest and tell him not to worry. After he’s taken to the hospital, Rose rushes home to the pub from school to fetch her mother, Dolly Pickles. Rose hears no reply when she knocks on Dolly’s door, but she hears a gasp from the other side. Behind the closed door, Dolly is having sex with the Catalina pilot who brought her husband back and broke the bad news. Not knowing what she’s hearing and forcing herself to toughen up, Rose rushes off to the hospital without fetching her mother or her brothers. She tells herself that they can find their own way.
While the moment with Sam and the men in the plane is played for laughs, their game of cards is yet another reminder of the constant presence of luck in Sam’s life. Even in this time of crisis, games of random chance are present and seemingly indifferent to his trauma. Meanwhile, the first appearance of Dolly immediately establishes that she’s desperate for independence from her husband. Her infidelity in this early scene also sets a starting point for her character development and foreshadows potential conflict later on.
Themes
Dolly Pickles attracts some attention from strangers on her way to the hospital; she relishes the fact that everyone in town has always considered her to be a beautiful woman. Her mood darkens when she reaches Sam in the hospital and sees that he's lost his right hand: his working hand. Rose snaps at her mother and brothers for their callous attitude about the incident, and she stays by Sam’s bedside after everyone else leaves. She reflects on how she loves her father despite his foolish decisions and terrible luck, but she’s still discouraged by how everything in their lives seems to be falling apart at the seams.
Dolly gets more characterization in these moments, highlighting the contrast between her behavior with and without Sam around. This indicates that she cares more about how she’s perceived by other men than by her own husband, whom she sees as a failure in this moment especially. The accident puts additional strain on their already faltering relationship, setting up future conflict. In contrast, Rose doesn’t try to run away from what’s happened, opting to support her father at his lowest moment. She feels more adult as a result, and this affects her development later on.
Themes
Everyone in the pub talks about the incredible bad luck the Pickles family seems to experience. The only lucky person in the family seems to be Sam’s brother Joel, who bought the pub and named it after Eurythmic, the racehorse he had very successfully gambled on years ago. Meanwhile, Sam glumly recovers in the hospital and tries to come to terms with his missing hand. One day, he receives a package from his coworkers, containing a jar with his severed fingers in it, labeled: “Sam’s Pickles.” Sam laughs at the sight, equally amused and miserable.
The Pickles family being known for their strange luck implies that it isn’t just their imagination. Luck—for better or worse—seems to affect them in more extreme ways than usual, as if good or bad luck is something that can be inherited. Sam relies on the good luck of his brother Joel to have a place to live, reinforcing the idea that strange luck runs in the family and that Sam must always rely on it. Sam’s laughter in the hospital highlights both his sorrow over the accident and his desperate attempts to maintain a positive outlook.
Themes
Dolly continues to see the Catalina pilot until Sam finally comes home from the hospital. She keeps herself busy to distract herself from the sight of her newly disabled husband, and she starts to resent the disbelieving looks that the locals give her. Sam doesn’t receive any worker’s compensation, so the Pickles don’t make any money. Dolly helps around the pub to let Joel know she’s grateful for him letting them live there. Rose tries to comfort her father, but Sam is set on the idea that he’ll always be unlucky, just like his father.
Dolly’s reaction to the locals is another indication that she cares deeply about her reputation, which she feels has been ruined by Sam’s accident. Notably, she never seems to consider how Sam himself is dealing with his trauma, instead focusing solely on how it affects her. While Dolly willfully avoids her husband to spare herself from sharing in his pain, Rose shows more empathy towards Sam. While this shows that Rose is more willing to embrace her family and its problems, she’s still reluctant to accept the idea that her fate is decided by random chance and the Pickles blood in her veins.
Themes
Eventually, with some urging from Joel, Sam decides to start getting outside and trying to carry on with his life despite his dismemberment. He figures that fishing is a good place to start, and he gradually learns to use a fishing pole with one hand. He and Joel fish by the sea one evening and Sam feels the Shifty Shadow lurking again. He assumes that the strange luck has its sights on Joel, who’s always had good fortune, so Sam lets himself relax and enjoy the evening. But after reeling in a massive fish in a moment of childlike excitement, Joel has a sudden heart attack and dies on the sand before Sam’s eyes. Without Joel around to let them live in the pub, Sam knows that the Pickles will now be broke and homeless.
At this second tragic turning point in his life, Sam’s misinterpretation of the Shifty Shadow once again surprises him. It’s clear that he can accurately sense the arrival of a shift in luck, but this ability ironically never seems to do him any good. Another layer of irony comes with the fact that Joel was considered the lucky member of the Pickles family, but now he’s suffered an unfortunate and seemingly random demise. This second accident only compounds Sam’s trauma and guilt over losing his fingers, as Joel might not have died if it hadn’t been for Sam’s initial accident.
Themes
