Cloudstreet

by

Tim Winton

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Cloudstreet makes teaching easy.

Beryl Lee Character Analysis

Beryl is a lonely widow who lost her husband in World War II. She confides in Oriel at the Anzac club, saying that she sensed Oriel was a Christian woman. Moved by Beryl’s story and wanting to feel useful, Oriel opens her home to Beryl, who lives there and works in Oriel’s shop for several years. Despite her grief, Beryl is kind, reserved, and principled, though she eventually finds herself too tortured by her romantic attraction to Lester Lamb to remain at Cloudstreet. She decides to become a nun, as she considers it a new “marriage” to the church. The Lamb family has one last dinner with Beryl before she leaves, letting her know that she was appreciated and that she’ll be missed.

Beryl Lee Quotes in Cloudstreet

The Cloudstreet quotes below are all either spoken by Beryl Lee or refer to Beryl Lee. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Chance, Choice, and Personal Responsibility Theme Icon
).
Chapter 7 Quotes

He’d spent years arresting people for things both mild and maniacal. He’d been to war and lived a Depression on the land, been a father and a husband, and this week, even an adulterer, but it counted for nothing because here he was with Beryl Lee on the end of his bed beggin the question: why was it that he didn’t know a thing about the underlying nature of people, the shadows and shifts, the hungers and hopes that caused them to do the things they did?

Related Characters: Lester Lamb, Beryl Lee
Related Symbols: Cloudstreet
Page Number: 291
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Cloudstreet LitChart as a printable PDF.
Cloudstreet PDF

Beryl Lee Quotes in Cloudstreet

The Cloudstreet quotes below are all either spoken by Beryl Lee or refer to Beryl Lee. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Chance, Choice, and Personal Responsibility Theme Icon
).
Chapter 7 Quotes

He’d spent years arresting people for things both mild and maniacal. He’d been to war and lived a Depression on the land, been a father and a husband, and this week, even an adulterer, but it counted for nothing because here he was with Beryl Lee on the end of his bed beggin the question: why was it that he didn’t know a thing about the underlying nature of people, the shadows and shifts, the hungers and hopes that caused them to do the things they did?

Related Characters: Lester Lamb, Beryl Lee
Related Symbols: Cloudstreet
Page Number: 291
Explanation and Analysis: