A House Divided But Standing
The house is divided between two families with differing ideals, histories, traditions and assorted differences and similarities that must be shared and within which one family impacts the other whether through design or chance. Or, in other words, on a cosmic scale, the house is our home. Planet earth. Or any other communal geography which must be shared for the equal benefit of survival.
"The great continent of a house"
While the divided, but share house is an all-encompassing metaphor, it is intended to work much more specifically. The phrase “great continent of a house” could be applied to any continent, of course, but considering the story being told here is peculiar to the way that world history impacts upon Australian characters, it is safe to assume the continent is direct metaphorical referent to the author’s homeland.
Chance and Fate
Chance. Randomness. Luck. Whatever you want to call it, it is a presence throughout the novel. Such a vital presence, in fact, that it takes on many metaphorical identities depending upon the interpretation. The ever-present invisible figure always lurking in the background may be metaphorically personified as “Lady Luck.” It may be spiritually endowed as “the hairy hand of God.” Sometimes, even its metaphorical form is nebulous: “a shifty shadow.” This intrusive jester can sometimes be felt if not necessarily seen as a “creeping chill.”
The Nedlands Monster
The Nedlands Monster was a real-life serial killer who terrorized Perth briefly. His appearance in the narrative is more profound and expansive for what represents metaphorically, however. Perth had enjoyed the comfortable belief that it was immune to the darkness of a world becoming more modern, but less civilized. The Nedlands Monster is the metaphorical loss of innocence forcing the city into real world and denying its ability to pretend otherwise.
Language
Cloudstreet is an interesting novel in that it makes a metaphor of the very language used to tell the story. At certain points, the text lacks conventional punctuation which normally serves to guide the reader to shifts in meaning and perspective. The central theme of the novel is the impact of outside forces beyond one’s control on one’s own best efforts to chart their own destiny and define their own identity. Without punctuation, sentences flow into each other with the potential to create new meaning neither expected nor intended. The effects is a realization that language is always at heart metaphorical in that parsing meaning is extremely dependent upon context and connotation for the intent to be effectively conveyed.
