For the Pickles, many of the problems in achieving family unity stem from Dolly Pickles, as a result of her alcoholism and promiscuity. In the character of Dolly Pickles, Winton demonstrates the problems a family has, when one member is unable to fulfill their role in the family, in this case Dolly's role as a mother and wife. Dolly shows an inability to act as a maternal figure to her children, instead she regularly gets drunk and offers sexual favors to many and varied random men. Dolly's ignorance of her role as a mother, to be at home nurturing her children, leads Rose to feel a bitter hatred toward Dolly, "Hating you is the best part of being alive." Thus, it is blatant that Dolly's inability to act as a mother, creates significant tension and disharmony in the family, and this has a negative rippling effect. This severe family disharmony is something that is implicitly challenged within the text by Aboriginal values. Aboriginal culture emphasizes the importance of family unity.
This is evident in traditional Aboriginal cultures where the unity of the family and extended family is valued, as it enables the individual qualities of family members to enhance the overall standard of living. It is indeed Rose, the most traumatized character as a result of family disunity that reflects upon the importance of belonging to the "tribe." As a result of her marriage to Quick and attaining the love and support of another family, Rose finds that she can begin to forgive her own family and embrace Aboriginal values of family unity within the "tribe". "Rose found soft parts still left in herself, soft parts in Dolly as well, and in a way she figured it saved her from herself." Rose's sense of belonging within the Lamb family as a result of her marriage to Quick enables her to be able to see the importance of family and forgive her mother. Previous to her marriage Rose is encompassed by a bitter hatred for her mother and her opportunity to belong to a family saves herself from the dark feelings within her.
