Topic Two:
‘The fate of the characters in Cloudstreet is determined as much by luck as by their own will’ Do you agree?
The novel Cloudstreet by Tim Winton, focuses on the diverse lives of the Pickles and Lamb families, whose fate is believed to be determined by their luck and will. Throughout the novel the characters are faced with questions such as ‘what chance do they have to make sense of their lives?’, which plays an important part in determining their ‘fate’. However each character struggles individually, at one point in the novel and places the centre of the problem on the inconsistency of luck and will, as well as their own personal faults.
The Pickles family, who’s life is centred around the believe…show more content… The Lambs place faith and fate in the hands of God, however after fish’s tragedy the Lambs have a turning point with God. When prawning down by the river Fish becomes entangled in the net, and would have drowned if it wasn't for Oriel, who begged God to “bring him back”. Oriel refused to let her son die, taking it upon herself to play the ‘role’ of God. Although Oriel was seen to perform a ‘miracle’, “not all of Fish Lamb came back”, and Quick seemed to know this before anyone else did. Quick feel immensely guilty for not being able to save Fish, and this is apparent throughout the novel as he constantly refers to the fact that it “should have been him, not Fish”. Quick falls into depression and surrounds himself with sadness, thinking that he doesn’t deserve to be happy. Often referring to himself as the “lost Lamb” Quick struggles to find a place where he is free of guilt long enough to truly be himself. In an attempt to rid the guilt and find himself Quick leaves Cloudstreet, only to return a few months later. Quick tries to redeem himself, buy becoming a policeman like his father to atone for not being able to save Fish, and combat the evil that is on his walls. From this Quick learns that “its just us and us and us”
The characters in Cloudstreet learn from their own struggles that luck and fate will be inconsistent, however it is up to them and their own will to determine
