Earl Blunt Character Analysis in Cloudstreet

Earl is Lester Lamb’s cousin. He lives on a farm in Margaret River with his wife, and the two of them are stern and humorless, hardened by the intense difficulties of the Great Depression. Quick lives with Earl for about a year after running away from Cloudstreet and ending his kangaroo hunting days. Earl’s dry, strict, and overly serious attitude makes Quick wonder if his own family could have ended up like Earl, had they stayed on their own farm in Margaret River instead of moving to Cloudstreet. Earl and his wife eventually take Quick back to Cloudstreet after Quick inexplicably starts glowing.

Earl Blunt Character Timeline in Cloudstreet

The timeline below shows where the character Earl Blunt appears in Cloudstreet. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...hometown of Margaret River, where he’s hired as a truck driver by his father’s cousin Earl Blunt. Earl and his wife are tough and humorless people, hardened by the Great Depression,... (full context)

Quick works for Earl for a year, telling himself that he’s recovering but secretly feeling lost, miserable, and homesick.... (full context)

Quick spends most of his free week cleaning and fixing up Earl’s old boat, and towards the end of the week he sets out with it to... (full context)

In the morning, Earl and his wife find that Quick is glowing like a light bulb, and he seems... (full context)

Earl and his wife bring Quick Lamb home to Cloudstreet on the morning of Hattie’s wedding.... (full context)

...vaguely agrees. Oriel tells the other Lambs to behave themselves at the feast, and as Earl and his wife drive off with their pigs still in tow, Lester comments that they’re... (full context)