Cloudstreet Essay - HSC Assessment

Cloudstreet Essay

How does Winton raise the mundane to an epic level in “Cloudstreet”?

·         40 minute in-class essay with 1 page of typed notes

Tim Winton’s raises the mundane to an epic level in ‘Cloudstreet’ through the complex amalgam of intertwining ideologies that include post-modernism, Christianity, Aboriginal spirituality and the working-class lifestyle. The way in which this is produced in the text is through the intricate relationships between the novels characters and their situations, by which they are characterised by the aforementioned ideologies that permeate the text. Furthermore Winton elevates the novel to the extraordinary through the judicious interplay of physical and the spiritual elements. Winton’s prolific application of these two dominant themes prevalent in the ‘Cloudstreet’ raises the mundane to an epic level.

Winton’s eclectic range of ideological influences within the text connects different audiences with the text so as to appeal to a larger societal collective. Whilst major philosophies such as Christianity, Aboriginal spirituality and the working-class lifestyle make a strong impact on the interpretation of the novel, none of the ideologies are privileged over one another, yet they are interdependent with each other, proposing a post-modernist perspective as well. The river, for example, brings together both Christian and Aboriginal beliefs, with Christians using the river as a source of cleansing of sins whilst the river symbolises water, life and fertility for Aboriginals. Thus the novel values both interpretations unique to Christianity and Aboriginal culture. The river is an important meeting place throughout the novel and to a greater extent, so is family, belonging and place, which is validated by the blackfella, ‘this isn’t your home. Go back to your home mate’. Thus the tradition of Christian community and the importance of place in Aboriginal culture, both coincide to create a rich ‘paratext’ (French critic Gerard Genette) for the novel to be immersed in.

The working-class lifestyle is also prevalent in the way the characters live their lives. The resilience of working-class people and appreciation of ‘battlers’ is showcased through ‘sergeant-major’ Oriel’s puritanism and hard work ethic – ‘it’s all war … everythin. Raisin a family, keeping yer head above water. Life. War is our natural state.’ Added to this are the seemingly unrelated inclusion of events such as Beryl Lee, the Pentecostal pig and Sam’s cockatoo, whose connection to the main plot is minimal, validating a working class view of experience where one isn’t always in control of life, but subject to the flow of experience. From a post-modernist outlook, it can also be seen as an outlook on life which rejects coherent and systematic narratives as the most appropriate reflection of human experience. The value of working class experience is particularly highlighted in the celebratory ending of the novel with ‘how we’ve all battled in the same corridor time makes for us’. Through these diverse range of philosophical influences, a signature snapshot of a unique post-WW2 time period of Australian society is effectively conveyed, proving that ‘Cloudsteet’s’ value goes beyond the story, raising an ordinary novel to the pinnacle of extraordinary.

One of ‘Cloudsteet’s’ most significant aspects is the interweaving of the physical and spiritual. While the novel is in itself realistic, it also presents a transcendental view as well. In chapter two, when Lester, Quick and Fish are prawn-fishing in the sea, they are described as ‘walking on water,’ with Lester’s head seeming ‘illuminated’ and ‘free of his body’. This somewhat paints a picture of them as angels and followers of Jesus (who Biblically walked on water). Then, as the prawn ‘net goes slack,’ Fish goes down into the sea. Subsequently, it switches from the omniscient third person narrator to the perspective of Fish, who states that ‘all his life and all his next life’ he will remember the ‘dark, cool plunge where sound and light and shape are gone’. Underwater, it is a completely different world for Fish where he has a ‘faint idea of light,’ and while his soul is ‘torn away,’ and his ‘darkness melts into something warm’. As he comes back into reality, he screams and his ‘darkness and pain’ return. Oriel intercepts the destiny of Fish by ‘bringing him back’ and though the Lamb’s perceive this as miraculous, Fish will forever resent his mother. Note that whilst Fish’s drowning, the sky is described as the ‘colours of darkness, starless, mute’. Later in the novel when Quick and Fish are in a boat, Fish is ‘flying’ with his ‘arms out like he’s gliding’ on water and how that the sky is now ‘packed with stars’ and is ‘above and below’, everywhere to be seen. This ‘river scene’ and Fish’s constant desire for ‘water’ deduces that the idea that water is heaven for Fish and he’s craving to reunite both parts of himself back together.

The river is a recurring motif throughout ‘Cloudstreet’. Through the conventions of magic realism and surrealism, the river forms the focal setting where many important events occur. The ‘blackfella’ walks on the river and persuades Quick to rejoin his family, fish ‘that shone like money’ swarm into Quick’s boat in a scene of magic realism and Fish and Quick are embraced by the stars on the river. In a deeper sense amid these surrealistic events, the river is also symbolic for the lives of the two families. As a river meanders and curves through a landscape, likewise do the lives of the Pickles and Lambs throughout the novel. In the Bible, ‘the river’ correlates with the renewing of life as sins are washed away in the act of Baptism. Though when Fish drowns, ‘not all of Fish Lamb … come[s] back’. Thus whilst one half of the Fish is trapped in the spiritual realm, the other half is still free to wander the physical realm. At the beginning of the novel, the families are somewhat rundown and derelict, but by the ending of the novel ‘Cloudstreet’ becomes a ‘home for their hearts’ and a place of belonging. At the closing of the chapter Fish ‘burst[s] into the moon, sun and stars,’ thus signifying the unification of both his physical self with his spiritual self, completing the full circle. Together ‘by the river’ the two families celebrate love, family and acceptance. Hence the seemingly ordinary river portrayed in ‘Cloudstreet’ can be accentuated as a transcendental river for the miraculous and renewal.

Together with the blending of diverse ideologies, realism and mysticism is astutely commingled by Tim Winton in ‘Cloudstreet’ to create a magically realistic novel. Though simplistically, the story is about two average families struggling to rebuild their lives after separate disheartening events, beneath this is a strong undercurrent that conceals a combination of numerous complex ideologies, as well as the transcendental and the mystical; such as the river. Thus through both the myriad of ideologies, stark realism and transcendentalism, Tim Winton’s Cloudstreet transforms the mundane into the epic.

 1116 words