PRAC. ESSAY By Crystal Crofts May ’03 Discuss the representation of class in Cloudstreet A class discourse operates as a way of grouping people according to their economic and social status. With class, comes a certain cultural code, being formed by society in which communication between individuals & or groups takes place. It contributes to a general cultural assumption that enables texts to create meaning.
Tim Wintons’ novel “Cloudstreet” shows class representation, though not necessarily as the feature theme but is very much included in the overall plot. Cloudstreet is the story of two families struggling to make ends meet in a run down house in Perth during the twenty years after World War 2. The focus of class in the novel is more on the valuing of poverty over wealth, not literally being “rich” or being “poor”, but the ideology of which generally accompanies these positions of economic stature. It attempts to show the reader that ultimately, goodness itself resides with the innocent, the unsophisticated and the non-intellectual. All of the main characters in question, being on the lower end of the economic scale appear to have these qualities, however they are also noted for all of the good characteristics of the working class Australian, with the ever present larachanism. The birth of Wax Harry being an excellent example as it echoes perfectly the style of writing, emphasising the humour and larachanism, being the typical Australian personality.
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Larachanism refers to the strong Australian style in dealing with adversity, in the use of humour, the lack of respect for authority and authority figures. The lara chan being more particularly a masculine quality, the joker with a good heart, always supporting the underdog, always fair, honest and dependable to his mates. It reflects the laconic nature of Australian society and most importantly, it is the epitome of the working class. Cloudstreet explores the Australian idiom of the working class through the creation of its central characters, the Pickles and the Lambs. It’s heavily enriched by the Australian jargon, which makes it more than a melodramatic family saga, as Winton undermines the tragic moments of the book with grotesque humour to prevent them from being sentimentalized. There is the constant concept of “Us and Them” throughout the story, which reinforces the marginalisation between classes.
In “Flatfoot” quick makes reference to this by “The MP’s and Business Barons and Old school boys lived there and the station was open to keep watch on those bludgers’ property.” Old school is referring to the private schools of which only the selected and socially accepted were able to attend, or in more simple terms, the people who had a large amount of money and the “right” upbringing. He also uses the word “Bludge r”, meaning a lazy person who does nothing and lives off of other people and generally avoids exerting themselves at all costs. This shows that he believes the leaders of their country to have these qualities, which are not typically characteristic of what a leader should be. This is supported by roses’s tate ment of “Pig iron Bob”, referring to Prime Minister Robert Menzies who was perhaps overly fond of and loyal to the crown. He was selling Australia’s’ pig iron to Japan, at a time (Just after the second world war) when the Australian people were against this as they had only just finished a war with the country and in supplying them with iron, it enabled Japan to create steel and from that, build war ships and machinery which was definitely not a good idea. But in summary, he had his priorities wrong in regards to the people, and acted none the less.
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Marginalisation becomes strongly apparent in the way that Toby’s’ friends regard rose. “Early in the evenings, when she was feeding them all, they showed an interest in her and once a woman painter suggested she go to night school to improve herself”, this is clearly stating that his friends see themselves as being above her, they were taking an interest in her as if she was merely an object put there purely to amuse them. Also in saying that rose should make an effort to “improve herself” by going to night school, they are stating that she obviously was not good enough in the first place, and therefore implying that they are, and in doing so, enforcing the barrier between the classes once more. Although Toby was not necessarily upper class but considered himself to be on a more intellectual level than others and therefore by all standards, should rightfully be. “Toby read the London newspapers and talked of escaping Perth for a real culture… .” he was always trying to be something that he was not, thinking that he was better than everyone else and constantly trying to prove it.
In fact this was probably a major contribution to the attraction to Rose as he considered her to be below him, therefore in going out with her, he was proving to others that he was better than someone. He didn’t believe that Perth was good enough when compared to other cities such as Sydney, London and Paris. In a way he was refusing to face the facts and living in a dream like state, never actually living the reality. This is going against all of the characteristics of the stereotypical Australian lari chan, whose main trait being accepting what life gives to you and make the best of it. It always seems as if those with worldly goods look down on those without, whether in disdain or in pity the fact remains that they believe themselves to be better than others and in doing so creating an intangible barrier enforcing a cultural code defining the difference between particular groups in society.
However, seeing as the upper class was supposedly the best, it would be assumed that they would have the better attitudes, values and beliefs. When in fact it is not this class that these apply to as we discover in the novel, it is in fact the working class who hold these morals. The ultimate value in morals being the heart as apposed to the brain and it appears that the working class are more able to use their heart in their lives than any other class, as any other class would most likely think of the benefit to themselves before acting for someone else.
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