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
Earl and his wife bring Quick Lamb home to Cloudstreet on the morning of Hattie’s wedding. Before they arrive, everyone bustles frantically about the house to get ready for the big event, while Fish laughs nonstop and keeps saying Quick’s name. Lester and Oriel answer the front door to find Earl on their doorstep; he lets them know that he’s brought Quick home. Oriel immediately rushes out and pulls open the truck door to see her son, who’s sleeping and still glowing. Oriel stoically dismisses Lester’s overjoyed comments, admitting that she’s happy Quick has returned but maintaining her rushed pace as she tries to focus on one thing at a time.
Quick’s return on the day of Hattie’s wedding is a significant coincidence, as it means the household will have lost and gained a member all at once. While Hattie prepares to move away with Geoffrey Birch after the wedding—becoming more independent from her family—Quick comes back from his independent life to rejoin his family at last. Oriel’s stoic reaction to Quick’s return speaks volumes about her conflicting feelings on this morning. She’s likely just as overjoyed as Lester is to see Quick again, but as always, she considers it her responsibility to keep a level head and focus on the task at hand. She isn’t letting herself celebrate yet precisely because she knows how excited she is.
Themes
Hattie’s wedding takes place at an Anglican church, and Hattie comments on how it doesn’t seem like a “proper” church, with its fancy stained-glass windows and décor. Oriel feels strangely lonely during the ceremony, but she cries and hugs her daughter afterwards, saying that she’s losing children. Geoffrey Birch reminds Oriel that she’s gained a son, and she vaguely agrees. Oriel tells the other Lambs to behave themselves at the feast, and as Earl and his wife drive off with their pigs still in tow, Lester comments that they’re “not bad for a pair of relatives.” Oriel says that they’ll see them in heaven, and the family feels a quiet sense of happiness wash over them.
The Lambs’ comments about the fancy church harken back to their more religious days, illustrating how they still hold onto some of their beliefs and attitudes about how a church should look. Oriel’s distant interaction with Geoffrey Birch implies that in her mind, the son she’s gained today is Quick, not Geoffrey. Overall, the wedding is a bright moment of unity for the Lamb family, as they share in the joy of Hattie’s marriage and, implicitly, Quick’s return. The remark about seeing relatives in heaven shows that Oriel is still willing to express religious ideas, whether she means them literally or not. In this moment, the specifics of her beliefs are secondary to her joy.
Themes
Quick Lamb continues to glow for a week as his family tries to nurse him back to health. He’s cool to the touch, he drinks water but doesn’t eat anything, and his skin seems to have a slight iridescent sheen to it. Four days after he comes home, Lester and Oriel sit on the back porch and talk to each other like they haven’t for years. They talk about Quick, and Lester wishes he knew what to believe in. He tells Oriel that she’s gotten mean, and he wonders if the war did that to her. She tells him that everything is war, explaining how she refuses to let the currents of life carry her where they may. She’s determined to fight back against fate and improve things, and she considers life to be a constant battle for something better.
In this conversation with Lester, Oriel defines her worldview in clear and uncompromising terms. She puts herself entirely at odds with people like Sam Pickles, who seem content to drift through life and let fate and luck carry them where it may. Instead, she sees everything as a battle that can be won—a choice that can be made. Even if the trauma of her past was something that happened by chance, she views it as just another obstacle to overcome. This speech is the culmination of all of her development over the years living at Cloudstreet.
Themes
Oriel tells Lester that she doesn’t feel like a winner, despite her fighting spirit. Lester reminds her that she lives in a huge house, runs a shop, and commands great respect from her family and the community, but Oriel dismisses these accomplishments as “worldly things.” Lester asks her why she still lives in the tent, and Oriel asks him why Quick glows, or why the house itself seems to act so strangely. She doesn’t attempt to explain the strange goings-on in her life, including her own behavior.
Oriel’s mention of “worldly things” reveals that she still has some remnants of Christian faith left in her. Her dismissal of her accomplishments is also a sign that they don’t ultimately make her happy or bring her peace. Instead, she’s left wondering about the bizarre and seemingly supernatural events that affect her life. In a world full of mystery, it’s difficult for her to feel like she ever has full control over anything, even herself.
Themes
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Oriel explains how she’s always felt she doesn’t belong anywhere; she considers her own mind to be her only country, and she admits she can’t replace it with a real nation. She feels that she’s lost control of her mind since Fish almost drowned, and she tells Lester she doesn’t believe in love; she’s simply stuck with it. Laughing quietly to herself, she tells Lester that she’d live in the tent at all hours if she could, so that she could carry on fighting the real war of ideas and beliefs within her mind. Quick Lamb gradually stops glowing after a week, and he sleeps for 32 hours straight as Fish and a mysterious pale woman take turns keeping watch.
Here, Oriel expands her war metaphor to include her own mind as well. It’s possible that her experience with running G. M. Clay out of business forced her to realize that the only battle that really matters is the one in her head. Oriel’s war is one of choices, morals, and consequences, rather than fighting external threats. Ultimately, she’s fighting the trauma that’s made her feel a loss of control. The ghosts in the library continue to represent this trauma, which affects the entire family, but haunts Oriel most of all.
Themes
A week after the wedding, Sam Pickles comes home bloodied and bruised. He explains to Dolly that he owes quite a bit of money to a man from the union, and that he’s most likely in deep trouble. They hear a knock on the door. Sam grabs a fireplace poker and approaches the door cautiously, thinking it’s the man who’s come to collect his debt by force. Instead, it’s Lester at the door. Lester asks Sam about the trouble he’s in and offers to help him lie low, telling him to bring some blankets out to the truck. Rose watches the two of them leave, figuring her father must be in some bad trouble.
It’s notable that Lester offers to help Sam lie low before he even knows the details of what happened. This indicates that Lester is still willing to go out of his way to help others, even when he has plenty of problems of his own. Lester explains his motives before long, but it’s still possible that he isn’t being entirely honest and just wants to get Sam out of trouble because the two of them are friends.
Themes
Lester drives Sam out into a dry and quiet stretch of country, and their conversation gradually becomes tense. Sam initially hesitates to reveal how much he owes, but Lester eventually gets the truth out of him. Several months ago, the union paid off Sam’s debt to the bookies at the racetrack: 200 quid in total, which Sam still owes to the union. Sam explains that they’d accept the payment in full and leave him alone afterwards, and Lester tersely promises to pay off the debt collectors when they arrive, telling Sam to lie low in the beachside shack he’s brought him to. Sam asks what Lester’s getting out of this, and Lester angrily answers that he’s doing it to keep thugs away from his family. He leaves Sam in the shack with basic supplies and a revolver, just in case.
Sam’s reliance on luck once again backfires, but this time, he has a friend to break his fall. Despite his frustration with Sam, Lester is still making a significant effort to help. His excuse about keeping thugs away from his family might only be part of the reason Lester is going out of his way to take care of Sam’s debt. Although the house and its families are still divided, Lester treats Sam like a family member in this situation. Thus Lester’s anger with Sam is exactly what makes his offer to help so powerful; it shows that in some ways, Lester considers the Pickles to be a second family.
Themes
Red Lamb reflects on how she likes Beryl Lee but still feels a bit sorry for her. She notices Beryl gradually getting paler like fading wallpaper, and she assumes that Beryl’s quiet and subdued moods are a result of not having a man of her own anymore. Red thinks Beryl doesn’t know how lucky she is to not be tied down by a husband. No one has explained to Quick who Beryl Lee is, but he often notices her sitting on the end of his bed and staring at him in the morning. One morning he thinks he feels her sitting there, but he realizes it’s Oriel this time. They awkwardly catch up with each other, and Oriel asks what he saw that compelled him to come home. Quick admits he saw himself running.
Now that he’s finally conscious and level-headed again, Quick has the space to process the bizarre events that led him back home. Like his mother, Quick seems to be accepting supernatural occurrences as a given, choosing not to question how they happen or what causes them. Instead, what’s important to him is the message that his strange visions gave him; it’s less about the “how” and more about the “why.” After these experiences, Quick is no longer running from his family or trying to become completely independent. He might not know exactly why the universe led him back to Cloudstreet, but he implicitly accepts that he's meant to be there. Meanwhile, Red’s thoughts about Beryl Lee reveal that Red wants independence not just from her own family, but from traditional family structures like marriage in general.
Themes
Lon Lamb, now a young man and a plumber’s apprentice, is in a foul mood as he comes downstairs for breakfast and listens to Fish spinning bowls on the table for fun. Lester tells Lon to stop griping about the noise, but Lon calls Fish a monster who should be “put away.” Fury rises in Lester, but Fish cries out, telling Lester not to hit him and Lon. Oriel steps in and breaks up the scene, with Quick following close behind her. As Lon sulkily leaves for work, Quick catches up with Fish and his other siblings, and their joking around like old times makes even Oriel crack a smile. After checking on the pig who still lives in the backyard, Quick runs into Beryl Lee, who awkwardly introduces herself and says she’s heard a lot about him.
Quick’s happy reunion with Fish and the other Lamb siblings is a sign that Quick truly is meant to be at Cloudstreet at this point in his life. All of his struggles and visions have paid off, as he becomes happier and makes the Lambs happy just by being present again. Despite this, Lester’s anger towards Lon implies that the traumatic wounds of Fish’s accident are still fresh in Lester’s mind. However, his angry response to Lon calling Fish a monster demonstrates that Lester still loves Fish and supports Fish’s right to live a happy life in his childlike state.
Themes
Lester walks into the Pickles kitchen and lets Dolly know that Sam is lying low and safe. He tells her to send the debt collectors to him if they come calling, telling her there won’t be a fight and that he could pay off the debt with his own family’s savings. Flirting, Dolly asks him if he’s really only doing this to buy his family’s safety. Without his input, she sits on his lap and kisses him, rubbing her hands all over him. He gives into it for a few moments as they caress each other, but he’s angry with her and himself when it’s over. Dolly tells him he’d been waiting years for that, and he leaves in a huff, telling her not to use this against him.
This incident highlights the fact that Dolly is still fundamentally unhappy with Sam as her husband, even so many years after his accident. Sam’s latest gambling troubles have only made this worse, and her infidelity is her way of escaping from a marriage she feels trapped in. Lester almost surrenders to the same impulse, as Oriel has been aloof and emotionally distant from him for years. But ultimately, Lester can’t escape from his marriage in the same way that Dolly can, as his guilt prevents him from betraying Oriel.
Themes
In the beachside shack, Sam feels his stump tingle and knows that the Shifty Shadow is about; he can feel it stronger than ever, and he feels sure his luck is about to take a turn for the better. He hears a car approach and prepares the revolver, but it’s only Lester at the door. He tells Sam that he’s brought the money, and Sam tells him he has a plan. Sam doesn’t want to just turn in the money to the debt collectors; he wants to gamble with it at the two-up game later, as he seems to know for sure his luck will hold fast. Lester is exasperated at this idea, but he knows he’s going to hand over the money anyway, and he’d feel too guilty to tell Sam no after what happened with Dolly.
Two different factors create dramatic tension in this moment: Sam’s all-or-nothing gamble, and Lester’s secret concerning himself and Dolly. Normally, Lester would be more inclined to push Sam towards a more responsible decision, but Lester’s sense of guilt once again compels him to act differently. Lester’s willingness to let Sam gamble with the debt money is also a sign that Lester is still looking for something to believe in. It's true that Sam’s luck has held strong once or twice before, but ultimately, remorse over the encounter with Dolly is the main reason Lester gives Sam free rein with the money.
Themes
As they set up the shop that morning, Beryl and Elaine talk about Lester’s absence, which Beryl noticed by looking into his room earlier. Elaine is afraid she might end up like Beryl herself one day, depressingly lonely but still dependent on others. Quick lies in bed with Fish pressed up against him and tries not to feel embarrassed, as he feels as though Fish has forgiven him for running away. Fish mentions that Lester left, and he says that “everyone goes.” Before long, Rose looks outside and notices Lester arriving in the truck, without Sam. Dolly meets him on the front porch and he tells her that they’re all probably going to be in deep trouble by the end of tonight. Dolly remarks that people like him aren’t used to being in trouble.
Oddly, Beryl Lee represents the conflicting themes of both family and independence in this moment. While Beryl is surrounded by people she relies on, she’s also separate from them, in her own lonely world. Her casual mention of peeking into Lester’s room indicates that she’s keeping an eye on him, possibly for suspicious reasons. Meanwhile, Dolly’s remarks to Lester are laced with bitterness, as she teases him for having morals in a world that doesn’t seem fair anyway.
Themes
Lester goes to bed with the curtains closed and sleeps until noon. He doesn’t get out of bed when he wakes up, as he’s still reeling from how he got into this mess and gave Sam all that money. He listens to the noises downstairs in the kitchen and thinks to himself that he misses having children; he wishes he could still mess around with them and make them laugh. Quick soon lets himself into Lester’s room and asks if he’s alright. The two of them have a subdued but friendly conversation. Lester admits he lent a lot of money to Sam and is afraid Oriel already knows, and he tells Quick about his recurring dream where his father carries him over dark, rushing water.
In this moment, there’s nothing standing between Lester and his growing sense of guilt. Between the incident with Dolly and the money he gave to Sam, he feels as though he’s let everyone down, including himself. His nostalgic reflections on making his children laugh only make him feel worse in the present, highlighting his sense of failure. His conversation with Quick lightens his burden somewhat, as they bond over the difficulty of comparing themselves to Oriel. Sharing their pain and bewilderment with each other seems to make both of them feel a bit better, reinforcing the theme of shared humanity.
Themes
Quick runs into Beryl as he leaves the room, and she tells him she’ll go in to see if Lester needs anything. Lester is nearly undressed as Beryl enters, and he quickly covers himself and irritably asks what she wants. He’s always respected her and her hard work, but he wonders why she’s stayed at Cloudstreet for so long. Beryl tells Lester that she knows about what happened between him and Dolly. Lester furiously tries to deny that Beryl knows anything about it, but it’s no use. He tells Beryl that he’s broke if she intends to blackmail him, but Beryl simply wants him to stop seeing Dolly, as Dolly’s a “low woman” and Oriel deserves better from him. Lester says that’s fair enough and agrees before dismissing her.
While Lester has been letting his guilt fester inside him, this is the first time that someone else has made him answer for what happened with Dolly. His anger at Beryl indicates that he still hasn’t made peace with what happened, but he nonetheless accepts her advice. This confirms that he isn’t planning on surrendering to Dolly’s advances again. With that event behind him, he can at least diminish his guilt and begin to forgive himself.
Themes
Oriel watches Beryl by the window and wonders why Beryl has been growing so pale and withdrawn lately. It seems like Beryl might fade completely if she keeps this up, and Oriel guesses Beryl still longs for a man’s company. Oriel swears she can see the trees and the sky through Beryl, as if she’s nearly transparent. She tells Beryl to take a break, but Beryl insists she’s fine. Meanwhile, Sam wanders happily around Kings Park with the roll of money in his pocket, still feeling lucky and cheerfully anticipating the two-up game tonight.
Beryl becoming semi-transparent is another example of the blurred lines between reality and the supernatural. This is a feature of many works of magical realism, where strange and supernatural events are framed as commonplace, blending seamlessly into the narrative. In this case, Beryl’s loneliness and trauma aren’t just making her pale and withdrawn; they’re literally causing her to fade away. This imagery makes Beryl’s struggle stand out more, and supports the possibility that Sam’s lucky feelings might have real consequences.
Themes
Beryl enters Lester’s room once again and lets him know that she’s leaving Cloudstreet for good tonight. Confused and bewildered by all the day’s strange events, Lester asks her why, and she tells him she has feelings too. He assumes she has feelings for Quick, but she admits she’s actually been attracted to Lester all this time. It’s become too much for her, and she’s decided to move to a convent and become a nun. She had been watching Quick because she wanted to ask him questions about religious subjects; she assumes he saw some things after she saw him glowing. Beryl tells Lester that she loves the church and, in a way, she’s getting married again, keeping promises to it just as Lester keeps his promises to Oriel.
Despite being surrounded by people who appreciate her, Beryl reveals that she doesn’t feel she belongs in the community of Cloudstreet. But rather than living a lonely, independent life on her own, she’s choosing to join a new family. The community of the church might give her the comfort she needs to move past the trauma of losing her husband, while keeping her away from the guilt she feels about her attraction to Lester, or any other man. Beryl’s choice introduces Lester to the idea that a person can find happiness and inner peace in religion, even after a great tragedy.
Themes
Oriel wishes Beryl the best and tells her that she’ll always be welcome at Cloudstreet. The Lambs have a huge dinner with her before she leaves, and Lester gives a toast to Beryl, telling her how grateful they’ve been for her help and how they’ve come to consider her part of the family. Beryl gives her blessing before Lester drives her away. When he returns, Oriel surprises everyone by telling them she’s going prawn fishing, despite the cold weather and prawns being out of season. Everyone says they’re too busy to go with her, but she eventually convinces Quick to tag along. He mutters about this being silly, and Oriel tells him that if everyone else in the house can be silly all day, surely she’s allowed to be silly for one night.
The Lamb family’s toast to Beryl Lee is a sign that they’re willing to expand the definition of family to include people who aren’t related by blood, but by shared values and friendship. With Oriel in such a strange mood, it's difficult for Quick to resist the chance to reconnect with her after all these years. Now that he’s accepted the fact that he'll always be a Lamb, he’s eager to spend time with his mother and find out what she’s thinking. Significantly, this is also the first time Oriel herself has suggested going to the river. This is a sign that she might finally be willing to let herself relax, at least for a short while.
Themes
Out on a boat in the cool, dark water of the river, Oriel and Quick talk about the guilt that they share over Fish’s condition. Quick becomes angry at his mother’s questions and assumptions about how he feels, and he’s surprised and a little frightened at her sudden openness. The two of them discuss the matter like adults, as they never really have before. Oriel knows that Quick blames himself for failing to save Fish, and she insists that she knows what survivor’s guilt feels like. She asks Quick what’s wrong with her, and she wonders if she’s been a bad mother.
This conversation gives both Quick and Oriel the opportunity to share the weight of their trauma with each other. Oriel’s openness indicates that—just like Quick—she’s tired of running and hiding from the issues that have been gnawing at her for years. In this moment, she’s ready to face reality, and assumes that Quick will tell her the truth. While Quick is uncomfortable with this idea at first, he soon becomes just as candid as his mother. Both of them find that talking openly about their guilt is frightening, but also refreshing.
Themes
Quick admits that Oriel doesn’t have enough fun, and that she’s bossy because she always seems to know the correct way of doing things. She laughs and agrees with him, apparently glad that he sees things the same way she does. She tells him that the strong are here to look after the weak, and the weak are here to teach the strong. Quick asks what the other Lambs are here to teach her, but she admits it’s too early to say for sure. After Oriel dodges Quick’s question about what she’d do if she were rich, hundreds and hundreds of prawns suddenly leap into the nets. Astonished and amused by their luck, Oriel and Quick have to use most of their clothes to serve as extra bags for all the prawns they haul home.
Rather than being surprised or offended by what Quick tells her, Oriel is amused to discover that her family views her in the same way she views herself. This prompts her to double down on her philosophy of staying both humble and proud, as she embraces her role as the Lambs’ caretaker. Her comment about the weak and the strong reinforces this idea, and she seems happy to count herself among the strong, even if it makes for a difficult life. The sudden arrival of prawns is yet another supernatural event that reflects the family’s emotional state. The river took Fish’s mind and traumatized the Lambs, but now it’s giving a miraculous bounty back to them as they face their past openly and honestly.
Themes
At the two-up game, the pennies fly into the air and Sam holds his breath, feeling like the only sober man in the room. He wins back the two hundred pounds he put up and quite a bit more, and even someone who hated him would have been touched by the sight of his ecstatic joy as he gets this incredible lucky break. When he comes home with his pockets full of cash, it feels like he, Dolly, and Rose are fresh new people for a moment. Oriel invites the Pickleses over to the Lambs’ kitchen to share the prawn feast, and Sam winks at Lester, reassuring him that the gamble paid off. Meanwhile, in the library, Fish talks to a ghostly shadow girl until Quick calls him down.
This moment of unbridled joy shared between the two families of Cloudstreet marks a sharp departure from the tension and division that have defined the house for years. Everyone’s luck seems to smile on them at once, especially Sam’s. The bounty brought about by the families’ luck brings them together and reminds them that they’re not so different from each other. This is the first time since Guy Fawkes Night that both families have mingled to enjoy each other’s company. However, just like on that night, a sense of lingering trauma remains in the background. The presence of the ghosts at this happy moment foreshadows that there are still disturbances and difficulties in the families’ future.
Themes
