FISH THE NARRATOR
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Cloudstreet can be viewed as Fish's story, from the beginning of the
prologue to the very last pages of the book. It is his journey of selfdiscovery. As Lester is startled from Oriel's shout of alarm from the
shore, he then drops the lamp into the water, thus would explain the
delayed time period in which Fish could have been rescued. It is at this
stage where the physical and omniscient Fish are separated.
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The physical Fish is then resurrected back to life by his mother, however,
once brought back, appears to have had brain damage, leaving him
intellectually disabled. He desires to see water and be with water again,
so that he may once again be whole. The spiritual Fish is the intelligence
of the story, the voice that narrates the story and becomes one with that
of the river. Although appearing to be the most inarticulate character in
the narrative is actually the one who is most articulate.
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He can be described as being a holy fool, one who seems to be out of
touch with reality but who is actually the person with insights and
understandings beyond immediate reality. Fish is transcendentally
telling the story. The whole story could be considered one that flashes
back through fish's mind before death.
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He is a transcendental, highly omniscient figure. For the next twenty
years, the physical Fish lives as if 'stuck somewhere...half in and half
out.' The narrator for Cloudstreet is the spiritual Fish. The most direct
way in which an author reinforces the themes of a novel is through the
use of the narrative techniques.
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The right choice of point of view for a story is crucial, as it is essentially
the voice that tells the story. This point of view gives the reader the
realism and intimacy or first person while still allowing an insight into the
views and experiences of the other characters in the novel.
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The omniscient narrative voice by Fish Lamb, along with other aspects of
the narrative structure contributes to the understanding of the text. It in
turn gives the reader insight into the characters’ inner thoughts and
feelings, the unique setting is given a sense of mystery to it through its
personification, and the relevance of each of the events depicted in the
novel are made clear through Fish’s narration.
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Cloudstreet is written using a paradox. Although Fish is intellectually
disabled he is the main narrator in the book. Once favourite, who after
the accident became “stuck somewhere… like he’s half in and half out”.
“Not all of Fish had come back” and in his half state of life he’s become
a spiritually liberated and insightful being.
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The narrator shifts between a third person omniscient observer to first
person, which could be said to be the voice of fishes half that didn’t
come back after the first drowning, which then addresses us in second
person.
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Most of the book is written in third person
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Winton uses multiple narrators; an omniscient, stream of consciousness
and interior monologue.
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Fish resembles characters in biblical narratives who’s intellectual
handicaps mark them as having been touched by god. Fishes ability to
communicate in tongues with the pig in the backyard is represented as
the miracle it is, elevating him to a status beyond the temporal world
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Fish had to stay and become the saviour of the families, where the
spiritual Fish is left to oversee the happenings of the novel, narrating it
to the reader.
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