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Chapter 1
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Cloudstreet, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Chance, Choice, and Personal Responsibility
Family vs. Independence
Trauma and Guilt
Religion and the Supernatural
Shared Humanity
Summary
Analysis
One night, in another town, the Lamb family rides 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 Hattie, Red, and Elaine. Mason is eleven years old and everyone calls him Quick, because he’s “as unquick as his father.” Samson is a bit younger, and everyone calls him Samsonfish or just Fish, because he's witty and alert. Fish is considered much sharper and smarter than Quick, but everyone—including Quick—seems to love him. The Lambs (mostly Lester and Oriel) are deeply religious Christians.
The initial description of the Lamb family tells the reader most of the crucial information about them. While this first impression focuses on their serious piety, their behavior and their nicknames for Mason and Samson reveal that the Lambs also have a more jovial and lighthearted side. Even at this point, when the family is at its most cohesive and religious, the Lambs still come across as a wild and chaotic bunch. Nonetheless, the Lambs’ Christianity remains an important factor in their lives for the rest of the novel.
Themes
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 darns clothes on the beach, not minding her family’s poverty as much as her husband does. She’s proud of her family despite their lack of wealth, and she never lets old material go to waste. The boys bring their first netful back to the beach, where they separate the prawns from the other fish and junk they’ve caught. They head back out with the net to catch more, but as they walk into the deeper waters, Oriel sees something that startles her. She calls out to Lester in alarm.
Oriel’s attitude about the Lambs’ poverty gives the first glimpses into her personality and views on life. In an ironic but arguably pious fashion, she wears her lack of wealth as a badge of honor. She prides herself on her ability to make ends meet and take care of her family without the need for excessive wealth. This is also an early indication of her deep love for her family, who she depends on just as much as they depend on her. The symbol of the river makes its first appearance to the Lamb family in this chapter, seeming peaceful at first but quickly causing a crisis.
Themes
Out in the 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 lantern he’s holding into the water, leaving the three of them in semidarkness. Fish is trapped under the net and drowning, unable to come up for air. In a panic, Lester and Quick try desperately to pull the net up and get it off of Fish, but it’s no use. Eventually, they pull the net all the way back to the shore. They drag Fish onto the beach, with him still tangled in the net.
Fish’s drowning is a major turning point in the lives of the entire Lamb family. Their fear and panic in this moment reflect their sudden lack of control over the situation: a potential source of lingering trauma in the future. Lester and Quick’s inability to pull Fish up to the surface fills them with a lasting guilt, as they assume the worst and blame themselves for not saving him.
Themes
Oriel immediately kneels down and starts pounding Fish’s chest to get the water out of him, despite everyone assuming that he must be dead. She prays aloud while 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 semiconsciousness between life and death, Fish feels like his soul is being pulled away from him. He hurries towards an opening in the darkness all around him, but then he starts moving backwards into the shadows again. He feels ashamed and afraid, like his entire being is turning to filth. In his head, he screams.
At this critical moment, the Lambs’ faith in God is suddenly and unexpectedly put to the test. But Oriel’s desperate prayer as she pounds her son’s chest isn’t just a plea; it’s a demand. If a higher power had planned for Fish to die in this moment, Oriel isn’t willing to entertain the possibility, instead trying to impose her will on reality to save her son. This sheds more light on Oriel’s relationship with religion, as she believes it’s ultimately her responsibility to take care of her family regardless of divine intervention. Fish’s traumatic near-death experience is an indication that Oriel is violently forcing him back to life when death might have given him peace.
Themes
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Fish coughs up water and seems to be alive. The noise of the Lambs’ joyful shouting drowns out the miserable, disappointed groan that Fish lets out as he awakens. The Lambs immediately drive 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 anyone and everyone who will listen. But as he sits back in the truck bed with his sisters and holds his resurrected brother, Quick knows that Fish is no longer fully himself. Something crucial has been lost, and Fish will never be the same.
The Lambs shouting over Fish’s miserable groan is a perfect representation of their misunderstanding of the “miracle” that’s just occurred. In this moment, the family takes Fish’s resurrection as a sign that God is on their side. They feel vindicated as their faith seems to be proven worthwhile. But tragically, Fish’s condition after he comes back to life seems to indicate that the Lambs are celebrating more than they should be. Fish’s return might not be a miracle, but a traumatic event that will drastically change the course of the Lambs’ lives.
Themes
