Tim Winton's values
This is just a sheet we were given at school
Winton’s preference for the country and less inhabited coastal land of north Perth
- acknowledges the impact of the Aust landscape while overseas (“the land had affected us”)
- idyllic times at Geraldton for Rose (p19); life for the Lambs at Margaret River (p26);
- Quick’s enjoyment of Roo shooting (p197)
2. Family – Winton professes to a sense of belonging and home. “I knew I was unconditionally safe”
- “good hard working people who don’t mince words”
- Lambs strong family ethos; description of family scenes with happiness and unity; Rose’s desire to return to Cloudstreet (p418-9); opening and closing episodes.
3. Gender Roles – likes to squander the high weeks of summer with family; his grandparent with sympathy for the men who were failed farmers, failed policemen, failed merchants
- the women ran the family, iron women
- a non-stereotypical masculinity
- none of the four main characters of Laster, Oriel, Sam and Dolly conform to stereotypes of traditional male/female roles e.g. Sam is poor provider as is Dolly’ Oriel really runs the Lamb household not Lester; Lester dances sings, bakes (p77) clash between Dolly and Oriel.
4. Spirituality – Christianity became a major influence on Winton’s imagination, the stories, the sense of community; apprehended God through the landscape “the church community was a place where I felt loved and looked after”
- the church lets the Lambs down but it’s harder to escape than you think e.g. Oriel has the bible in her tent; they still sing hymns
- spirituality is also privileged in the ghosts in the Library, the Blackfella, the stolen children
5. Community; the destruction of culture through developments and urban sprawl. This according to Winton threatens community and is “stripping the guts out of our culture”. “I worry about our national shrinking heart”
- Opening and ending of the novel privilege values about cloudstreet and the importance of community. After twenty years Sams decision not to sell the house.
- Rose and Quick’s sterile home in the new suburbs is abandoned in favour of cloudstreet. – Rose is depressed away when not at Cloudstreet and has anorexia
6.Eqlitarianism; Winton shows a strong commitment to the battler ethos represented by the two families. This is a contrast with the values represented by Toby Raven, , Rose’s first lover, a fake intellectualist
- this is also evident in the tenacity of the battler to survive and the inequalities that Winton sees in Aust. Society toady. Also note his love of slang and vernacular that are so much a part of social class and provide much of its colour, stories and humour
- note the way in which Lamb’s shop becomes a hub for much of what goes on in the house; Oriel describes life as a war.
