The symbolism of the house in Winton’s Cloudstreet is employed to play a part as an element of the physical and supernatural landscape through which characters are exposed to a higher spiritual realm.
These physical tragedies trigger explorations of spiritual substance through which characters ponder the meaning of life. On the other hand, the Pickles endure the loss of father Sam’s fingers in a fishing accident. The Lambs have a catastrophic experience as family member Samson ‘Fish’ Lamb nearly drowns, only to be brought back to a partial existence where “it’s like Fish is stuck somewhere… Like he’s half in and half out” (69). Disastrous circumstances unite the Lambs and Pickles. The novel traces the journeys of self discovery of central characters. Cloudstreet is a story which revolves around two families who share a house situated at “Number 1 Cloud Street” (43). Winton employs the symbols of the house, the Aboriginal Blackfella and the water to present the landscape from which his characters, particularly the Lambs, are “totally affected” and consequently are brought to “apprehend God” and find their personal understanding and peace. Winton avoids direct association with any particular form of spirituality but instead refers to one which transcends all religions. Many Christian biblical references are interwoven throughout the novel, however, “rather than ‘religious’, ‘numinous’ is a safer word to use … for though they reflect his personal quest for the highest ideals in life and focus on the spiritual attitude of those who recognize a controlling power, they are not expressed in terms of any conventional religion. The characters of Cloudstreet are thus exposed to a supernatural dimension and their spiritual journeys bring them to “find meaning in the chaos of existence”3. When writing his novel, Winton “wanted to include both realms because that is true realism: the supernatural and the natural accepted as one thing, as inclusive” because he believes “that everything that lives is holy and somehow integrated”2.
Elements of Cloudstreet have been derived from Winton’s personal life, experiences and beliefs such as his sense of family, his Australian upbringing, and in particular his comprehension of the spiritual realm. Winton is an Australian author born in 1960.
Spirituality is presented in Tim Winton’s novel Cloudstreet as a greater force “beyond the mere physical”1.
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