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Summary
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
A large group of people has a picnic by a river. They seem happy and well-fed, enjoying one another’s company like one enormous family. An outside observer might think that they’ve been this close and carefree for many years. One man wanders away from the group and walks excitedly down the jetty to stare at the shimmering surface of the water. He's always loved the water, and now he’s on the verge of submerging himself in the river and reaching some sort of enlightenment, or even transcendence.
At this point, it’s unclear who these people are or when this picnic is taking place. The specifics become clear later on, but this moment introduces the central theme of family, the ever-present symbol of the river, and the possibility of spiritual or supernatural events. The enormous family is vaguely described but clearly happy together, and the man in the river is somehow seeing beyond what ordinary people can see. These images give the reader a brief glimpse into the ideas that the novel will explore.
Themes
