Lester Lamb Character Analysis in Cloudstreet

Lester is Oriel's husband and the father of Quick, Fish, Lon, Hattie, Red, and Elaine. At various times in his life before the events of the novel, Lester was a constable, a military man, a musician, and a vaudeville performer. Like his wife, Lester was a deeply religious Christian until his son Fish drowned and came back to life with his mind permanently impaired. This disappointing “miracle” causes Lester and his wife to lose their faith in God, as both of them dearly miss the clever and lovable boy Fish used to be. Regardless, Lester strives more than anyone else to continue loving Fish despite the boy’s condition, reprimanding the other Lamb children when they don’t treat Fish with respect. Inwardly, Lester still finds Fish's childlike behavior painful to watch at times, but Lester’s development as a character is driven by his desire to find something to believe in, whether it’s God or just common decency. Lester gains a new sense of religious faith by the end of the novel, but he admits to Quick that his ongoing perseverance is fueled entirely by love for his family, and their love for him in return. These bonds are eventually expanded to include the Pickles family as well, and he's glad for the extra company. Although he feels outshone by his wife, Lester is a constant source of love, humor, and dependable friendship for the denizens of Cloudstreet.

Lester Lamb Quotes in Cloudstreet

The Cloudstreet quotes below are all either spoken by Lester Lamb or refer to Lester Lamb. 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

I only believe in one thing, Les, Sam solemnly uttered. Hairy Hand of God, otherwise known as Lady Luck. Our Lady, if she’s shinin that lamp on ya, she’ll give you what you want. There’s two other things people say are worth believin in—the Labor Party and God, but they’re a bit on the iffy side for my money. The ALP and the Big Fella, well they always got what I call a tendency to try an give ya what they think ya need. And what a bloke needs most is to get what he wants most. Ya with me?

Related Characters: Sam Pickles (speaker), Lester Lamb

Page Number and Citation: 109

Explanation and Analysis:

He wondered what he’d done to turn Quick away. He secretly hoped for an end to it like the return of the son in the story and it made him wonder if he wasn’t still half believing. Those Bible stories and words weren’t the kind you forgot. It was like they’d happened to you all along, that they were your own memories. You didn’t always know what they meant, but you did know how they felt.

Related Characters: Lester Lamb, Quick Lamb

Page Number and Citation: 164-165

Explanation and Analysis:

The blade turns and turns, slow, slower and Lester thinks—is this all there is to it? Just chance, luck, the spin of the knife? Isn’t there a pattern at all; a plan?

Related Characters: Lester Lamb

Related Symbols: Cloudstreet, The Spinning Knife

Page Number and Citation: 181

Explanation and Analysis:

Oriel reared with sudden passion: No you don’t. You know about boats. You can’t steer if you’re not goin faster than the current. If you’re not under your own steam then yer just debris, stuff floatin. We’re not frightened animals, Lester, just waitin with some dumb thoughtless patience for the tide to turn. I’m not spendin my livin breathin life quietly takin the good with the bad. I’m not standin for the bad; bad people, bad luck, bad ways, not even bad breath. We make good, Lester. We make war on the bad and don’t surrender.

Related Characters: Oriel Lamb (speaker), Lester Lamb

Related Symbols: Cloudstreet

Page Number and Citation: 254

Explanation and Analysis:

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 and Citation: 291

Explanation and Analysis:

Lester Lamb Character Timeline in Cloudstreet

The timeline below shows where the character Lester Lamb appears in Cloudstreet. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Religion and the Supernatural Theme Icon

...to the river in their truck on their way to go prawn fishing. Oriel and Lester Lamb have six children: three boys named Mason, Samson, and Lon; and three girls named... (full context)

While Oriel, the girls, and young Lon stay on the beach, Lester, Quick, and Fish walk a large net out into the river and gather prawns. Oriel... (full context)

...river, Fish has somehow been pulled down into the water without making a sound. When Lester hears his wife calling for him, he turns around so quickly that he drops the... (full context)

...she tries beating the life back into her son, imploring God to bring him back. Lester joins his wife in desperate prayer as their other children watch in silence. In his... (full context)

...Fish into town, wild and ecstatic after the miracle they’ve just witnessed. People watch as Lester knocks on the doors of the local church, eager to announce the good news to... (full context)

The Lambs arrive at Number One, Cloud Street. Lester awkwardly introduces himself to Dolly at the front door, and it isn’t long before all... (full context)

...so on. Whoever it points to when it stops spinning is the knife’s answer, and Lester and the children joke that “the knife never lies.” After this game, Oriel asks Lester... (full context)

One night, Oriel and Lester lie in bed and reflect sadly on Fish’s condition, Quick’s depressed mood, and their own... (full context)

Despite their general distrust of doctors, Lester and Oriel take Fish to a doctor to have him examined, hoping to shed some... (full context)

Some time later, Lester hurries home to announce the good news to the rest of the Lamb family: World... (full context)

...used its bladder to help heal her blisters after she’d been burned in a bushfire. Lester also recalls his memories of the old war days, when he was a musician. (full context)

On Quick’s 12th birthday, Lester makes him a cake and spells Quick’s name on it in icing. As they sit... (full context)

The Lamb family carries on with their lives at Cloudstreet. Lester joins the army band as a tuba player, and since Tokyo is being bombed, Quick... (full context)

...despondent, hardly ever wanting to get out of bed after what he saw. His father Lester often sits on the edge of his bed and tries to ask him about what’s... (full context)

Oriel wakes up the next morning to find that Lester has gotten up before her and left the house early, which seems very unusual. She... (full context)

During the previous night, Sam had reached out to Lester as the two of them stood on their respective sides of the backyard. They talked... (full context)

Sam and Lester go to the racetrack, where they enjoy themselves and become closer friends. At first, Lester... (full context)

...keeps himself busy as he wonders where his father is. The day wears on and Lester doesn’t return; Oriel grows more and more tense. Meanwhile, Rose tries unsuccessfully to fetch her... (full context)

Cloudstreet is quiet when Sam and Lester finally return that night. Rose has already brought home Dolly, who’s asleep on the bed.... (full context)

The next morning, Quick notices that Lester is in a cheerful mood. Lester tells the family that they should all come with... (full context)

That afternoon, Lester buys a boat on impulse. It isn’t long before everyone realizes that the boat is... (full context)

...at Cloudstreet, Oriel angrily washes dishes in the kitchen and almost contemplates murder, furious with Lester for all the foolish decisions he’s made in the past couple of days. Nervously, Lester... (full context)

Lester drives out in the truck in the early evening to look for Quick and Fish,... (full context)

...over the once-clever Fish now acting like such a child. They drift off to sleep. Lester finds them at dawn, with the boat having run aground in the shallows at Nedlands.... (full context)

...along with the Lamb children and enjoys the cheerful noise of it all. But when Lester sets fire to their Guy Fawkes effigy made of flourbags, Fish starts crying and tells... (full context)

...for it to roll around in. Fish giggles and grants the pig’s request, and when Lester comes outside to stop Fish from wasting water, he also hears the pig speak. Unlike... (full context)

On a tip from Sam, Lester buys a horse with the intention of setting up a delivery cart for the shop.... (full context)

When Lester returns home, he finds Oriel silently setting up her tent in the Lamb half of... (full context)

Lester Lamb has started to work at the Anzac Club, where he plays music and tells... (full context)

...asks her about her husband’s battalion, and she quickly steps out after telling him that Lester’s only service during World War II was in the band. She hears Clay’s wife laughing... (full context)

Angry and emboldened more than ever, Oriel pushes Lester and her children to work harder in the shop. She reminds herself that “the good... (full context)

Lester struggles to coax Fish into going outside and becoming active again, as Fish is still... (full context)

At Lester’s insistence, the Lambs once again visit the riverside to go fishing and enjoy themselves for... (full context)

...other dearly; he laughs at her jokes, and she’s always overjoyed to have him around. Lester starts setting aside some money for their potential wedding. (full context)

As Lester and Oriel work at the Anzac Club one night, a sad-looking woman approaches Oriel and... (full context)

...her choice of husband. But she also knows she had truly fallen in love with Lester, as she watches him sleep and sorts through her grim thoughts. Despite all the pain,... (full context)

...one day to reassure the Lambs that he’s alright, but no one speaks of it. Lester starts to feel old age creeping up on him, and Geoffrey proposes to a delighted... (full context)

...daughter pregnant and now Ted is obligated to marry her. The man advances threateningly, but Lester steps out of a doorway brandishing a large meat cleaver, unintentionally scaring the man away.... (full context)

In the kitchen one night, Lester once again recalls the memory of riding on his father’s shoulders as they trudged through... (full context)

...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... (full context)

...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... (full context)

...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... (full context)

Oriel tells Lester that she doesn’t feel like a winner, despite her fighting spirit. Lester reminds her that... (full context)

...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... (full context)

...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... (full context)

Lester drives Sam out into a dry and quiet stretch of country, and their conversation gradually... (full context)

...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... (full context)

Lester walks into the Pickles kitchen and lets Dolly know that Sam is lying low and... (full context)

...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... (full context)

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... (full context)

Lester goes to bed with the curtains closed and sleeps until noon. He doesn’t get out... (full context)

...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... (full context)

Beryl enters Lester’s room once again and lets him know that she’s leaving Cloudstreet for good tonight. Confused... (full context)

...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... (full context)

...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... (full context)

...for him to imagine why. In the summer, Quick finds the same old boat that Lester bought—the one that Quick and Fish tried to row all the way home in. While... (full context)

Lester accompanies Quick on the river some nights, and Quick is grateful that his father is... (full context)

...so loudly at Rose’s admission that Quick can hear him from the backyard. Quick tells Lester the news as the two of them unload last night’s fish from the truck, and... (full context)

...wonders if he’s the one who’s bringing all this misfortune on the people around him. Lester visits him at the police station one night and shows him a massive fish he’d... (full context)

...to hate her. Nonetheless, Dolly implores Rose to visit her again tomorrow, just to talk. Lester also encourages a second visit, warning that Rose’s hatred is self-destructive, and he couldn’t stand... (full context)

...who starts eating and becoming healthy again. Quick and Rose spend more time together, and Lester gets them a car. Rose is pregnant again by Christmas, and she imagines a brighter... (full context)

Sam, Lester, and Oriel meet in the Lambs’ kitchen one morning, all of them seeming to have... (full context)

...the kitchen table upon hearing that the killer has been sentenced to death by hanging. Lester and Oriel get upset with Quick as they overhear this; Lester says that the killer... (full context)

One morning, Lester dresses for a fishing trip but secretly heads to a cathedral instead. He feels a... (full context)

...go driving out in the country and make it up as they go along. Meanwhile, Lester drives up to the new house that’s been built for Quick and Rose. He drops... (full context)

...Every member of the Pickles family and the Lamb family gathers for the meal, and Lester says Grace with genuine thankfulness in his voice. (full context)

...admits that the house has a hold on them now. Sam decides to stay, and Lester raises a toast to both families and to their big old house at Number One,... (full context)

...are in their own bright and happy world that day by the river. Sam watches Lester play the accordion and feels the breeze on his face, feeling like the luckiest man... (full context)

Lester Lamb Character Analysis

Lester Lamb Quotes in Cloudstreet

Chapter 4 Quotes

Chapter 5 Quotes

Chapter 7 Quotes

Lester Lamb Character Timeline in Cloudstreet