Cloudstreet Characters
...It represents moral demise and blatant disregard for human life, synonymous with the moral demise that had accompanied Perth becoming a city. Winton, over 10 years ago, wrote in response to the degree of economic growth and business development occuring in Perth, that: 'it's been accompanied by a moral decline in public leadership, an ethical looseness, and a contempt for accountability...Out slip honour, trust, public duty'. The changes that occurred in Perth altered in a sense, it's social fabric. The mint where Sam Pickles works in Cloudstreet is now a museum; Bairds has long since folded; and the Ambassador Cinema has stopped running movies. The mint in particular is representative of an older set of values that existed: 'The men who worked on the hosca...the silly old bugger couldn't walk in through the gates of a morning.'(pg 392). Cloudstreet, set in the post-war era, captures some of the values that kept people united before these massive changes occurred in Perth: loyalty, love, family and a tight sense of community. Cloudstreet is a historical text in that it portrays an 'Australia' that no longer exists. The historical references in the story are subtle. These references include the Nedlands Monster; Quick's teacher, Mr Krasnostein, speaks with Quick about Hitler, Hisroshima and the camp of Belsen. Further reference...