Instant Access To 100,000+ Essays!

Meaning is gained from a literary text at both a literal and also a symbolic level. Literary devices are the most direct way in which an author reinforces the themes of a novel. Cloudstreet by Tim Winton is a novel where not all meanings are understood at a literal level. In the novel, one of the most significant literary devices used by Winton is symbolism, which plays upon the aesthetic sensibilities harbored by the text’s audience and provides insight and deeper understanding to the themes of the novel. The house on Cloudstreet itself, the river, the symbolic representations of the Lambs and Pickles families and the Aboriginal man contribute to meaning as Winton uses symbolism to make a comment on the racial policies of Australia in the 1950s, as well as to endorse love, family, and spirituality in the search for fulfillment in life. The house in Cloudstreet is deeply symbolic. It is the place where the Lambs and the Pickles share their lives for most of the novel, and thus assumes great symbolic importance in the novel. One of the most important parts of the house in terms of symbolism is the library, and Winton uses this to present his views on the racial policies of Australia in the 1950s. A lady who deemed herself the