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Oriel is the matriarch of the massive Lamb family. She's Lester Lamb’s wife and Quick, Fish, Lon, Hattie, Red, and Elaine’s mother. Throughout the novel, Oriel is the tireless engine that keeps the household afloat, throwing herself into her work and compelling her family to follow her lead. She’s the driving force behind Cloudstreet’s shop, and while several characters call her bossy, it doesn’t upset her to agree with them. Oriel takes pride in her work ethic as well as her strong sense of morality and duty, whether to God, her country, her family, or even herself. However, beneath her stern exterior, Oriel is a secretly lonely and uncertain person, wracked with feelings of inadequacy and survivor’s guilt from her traumatic childhood. When Oriel was a girl, a fire destroyed her home and killed everyone in her family except her father, whom she had to care for herself after the incident. This gave her a strong sense of self-reliance, but when her son Fish nearly drowns and comes back with brain damage, now unable to perceive her, she loses much of her confidence, and even her faith in God is shaken. Oriel re-examines her faith and her place in the world during her 20 years at Cloudstreet. However, her development is mostly internal, as she rarely shows vulnerability in front of her family. She views all of life as a war to be waged, and she constantly fights back against the idea that people can't change what fate has given them. Oriel is determined to do things properly and this makes the people around her insecure in themselves, but her bustling pace and harsh attitude are tempered by her deep love for her family, the one thing she feels powerless to change.
Oriel Lamb Quotes in Cloudstreet
The Cloudstreet quotes below are all either spoken by Oriel Lamb or refer to Oriel Lamb. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 3
Quotes
She wondered if it wasn’t really the way things were, everything just happening by chance in this sorry world. That knife spinning. She thought about her poor dead brother and the ashes and bones of her mother and sister, of Fish, the farm and every other bad turn that led to this night in a strange street and a makeshift kitchen.
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Chapter 7
Quotes
Oriel reared with sudden passion: No you don’t. You know about boats. You can’t steer if you’re not goin faster than the current. If you’re not under your own steam then yer just debris, stuff floatin. We’re not frightened animals, Lester, just waitin with some dumb thoughtless patience for the tide to turn. I’m not spendin my livin breathin life quietly takin the good with the bad. I’m not standin for the bad; bad people, bad luck, bad ways, not even bad breath. We make good, Lester. We make war on the bad and don’t surrender.
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The strong are here to look after the weak, son, and the weak are here to teach the strong.
What are we here to teach you, mum?
Too early to say.
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Chapter 10
Quotes
Rose remembered the way she took command of a situation in a dozen crises—when Dolly was sick, when she herself was hurt, and she couldn’t think why the very strength of that woman’s actions felt so unforgivable. Her kindness was scalding, her protection acidic. Maybe it’s just me, thought Rose, maybe I can’t take it from her because my mother never gave it to me. What a proud bitch I am. But dammit, why does she always have to be right and the one who’s strong and the one who makes it straight, the one people come to? Why do I still dislike her, because she’s so totally trustworthy?
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Oriel Lamb Quotes in Cloudstreet
The Cloudstreet quotes below are all either spoken by Oriel Lamb or refer to Oriel Lamb. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 3
Quotes
She wondered if it wasn’t really the way things were, everything just happening by chance in this sorry world. That knife spinning. She thought about her poor dead brother and the ashes and bones of her mother and sister, of Fish, the farm and every other bad turn that led to this night in a strange street and a makeshift kitchen.
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Chapter 7
Quotes
Oriel reared with sudden passion: No you don’t. You know about boats. You can’t steer if you’re not goin faster than the current. If you’re not under your own steam then yer just debris, stuff floatin. We’re not frightened animals, Lester, just waitin with some dumb thoughtless patience for the tide to turn. I’m not spendin my livin breathin life quietly takin the good with the bad. I’m not standin for the bad; bad people, bad luck, bad ways, not even bad breath. We make good, Lester. We make war on the bad and don’t surrender.
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The strong are here to look after the weak, son, and the weak are here to teach the strong.
What are we here to teach you, mum?
Too early to say.
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Chapter 10
Quotes
Rose remembered the way she took command of a situation in a dozen crises—when Dolly was sick, when she herself was hurt, and she couldn’t think why the very strength of that woman’s actions felt so unforgivable. Her kindness was scalding, her protection acidic. Maybe it’s just me, thought Rose, maybe I can’t take it from her because my mother never gave it to me. What a proud bitch I am. But dammit, why does she always have to be right and the one who’s strong and the one who makes it straight, the one people come to? Why do I still dislike her, because she’s so totally trustworthy?
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