Cloudstreet by Tim Winton explores the relationship between family and identity. Winton does this showing us his views on families. Over the twenty years, the family members develop strong bonds between each other and also themselves. To show us this he has used the actions of the characters and the closeness or distance of the family and how they impact the development of our identity. Winton shows us that love is important, that families may not always have love or "stickability", that family will always be there for you, parents will influence how you may turn out and also that eventually in the end, a some sort of loving relation will occur. He uses these concepts and links them to the way we turn out, our personalities, the religious values we adopt, and our identity. .
Families are a natural grouping in life; they consist of two parents and children. This holds true for both sides. Winton also places emphasis on togetherness, the family members being together helped themselves as well as each other. In the sub-chapter "Stickability", the Lamb family work together at their new shop, with " Lester and Quick off to the markets across the rails- (Page 58) to buy new stock, Oriel barking orders and the Lamb Girls " rattling the till, climbing the ladders, shaking out tuppeny measures of jubes- (Page 59) Here we see the Lamb family working hard together, it brings happiness to Lester, which is evident in his singing and the lines "Nothing seemed to suppress his good spirits in those weeks" (page 59). This shop also establishes their name and is soon named " a regular feature of the street, a pedestrian intersection, a map point." (Page 59) Through this place, the Lambs become an identity to their community. .
The Pickleses on the other hand, were mostly dysfunctional and unhappy, and this is simply because "They didn't have stickability." They are initially conveyed as an unhappy and dysfunctional family.
