PhD Thesis on Social Stratification

The extract from the article "Social Stratification in Cloudstreet" only serves to enrich my understanding of the context of, and values inherent in Cloudstreet. Social Stratification is defined as the development of horizontal status groups in society. The focus of this discussion will revolve around gender groups, as the issues raised concerned with gender in Cloudstreet can be found in abundance within the text and the text delves into the relatively unexplored (during the context of which the text is set), contemporary, emerging household ruled by a matriarchal figure. In order to understand the way in which gender and other related values in Cloudstreet are portrayed firstly an understanding of the context of the novel must first be understood.

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Set in post war Western Australia, in Perth over a twenty year time period the reader is able to watch as the isolated, innocent, parochial country town that valued loyalty ("The men who worked on the hosco knew he wasn't worth his day's pay any more but they wouldn't see him laid off until the silly old bugger couldn't walk through the gates of a morning.") lose its innocence as it grows and social networks breakdown. Evidence of the negative attitude toward the changing city can be found in the text, an example of this would be "the old buildings went and the ugly towers grew." The author Tim Winton states, "the Nedlands monster murders of the 1960's had more influence on Perth people's lives than the war did, in a strange way. Suddenly people started locking their doors and sleeping on their verandas."

Perth became a city. The reason for this most likely was that Perth was a marginalized area, both geographically, politically and socially and as a result local current affairs affect the majority of the population to a greater extent than a typical east coast town of the same time. During this time the stereotypical role of woman was that they were the homebuilders and the males were expected to be the breadwinners, going to work everyday, a patriarchal household was the norm. In the extract "Social Stratification in Cloudstreet" it was observed, Winton's constructed families do not conform to the traditional patriarchal model.

Instead, his characters have weak male figures and strong female matriarchs. "This is evident in the text and the protagonists Rose and Oriel "the sergeant major" are these matriarchs, Roses leadership of the pickles being forced upon her through neglect and Oriel's through necessity when most of her living relatives are killed in a bushfire. The male figures, particularly Sam, Quick and Lester are the weak male protagonists described in the extract.

Even when the males exert periods of momentary power, for example when Oriel accompanies Lester to the doctor and is so overcome with emotion that he must clam her down, it is made clear that Lester feels uncomfortable wielding influence i.e. "Lester's voice was shaky with momentary authority" through this the responder can see that his character much prefers to be following instructions rather than giving them. The females of Cloudstreet could even be said to have the masculine characteristics (aggressive and hard) and the male protagonists of the text encompass traits that are traditionally feminine (the men are intuitive and psychically aware).

The pinnacle of Oriel's masculinity being displayed for the whole neighborhood when she "fights" Lon after he refuses to follow her instructions, literally battering him with her fists.

Rose also does not believe in stereotypes and her strong willed character emanates influence, this can be found when Fish "shat himself" and Quick looks to Rose to clean him up saying "Don't look at me because I'm the woman". As stated above the family structures of the two main households are matriarchal and this explores a family structure that has traditionally been a minority in society especially during the context of the text. Females may run both the two families but they still have their differences. Rose still does that which is customarily the females role i.e. cooks and cleans, where else Oriel as discussed earlier takes charge of things in a more masculine manner and commands others to do work "The woman had Lester waking, raking, caking, and baking".

As said so plainly by Sam "I'm a bloke, I work." And this tends to be the extent of the male protagonists influence over their families in Cloudstreet and as stated in the extract, "there still is the notion of the male breadwinner".

Though this is all the men tend to contribute, they're mostly following orders of their partners in regard to the everyday running of their households not wielding much authority of their own. "Child bearing is very much a female role within the working class who has neither luxury nor the education to make radical developments in family structure." Taken directly from the extract of "Social Stratification in Cloudstreet" this statement makes an assumption that the working-class are unable to have others share in the role of childbearing and the task must be left to the mother. This however is debatable. Using the same example of Rose as from the extract it is possible that Rose could have continued to work shortly after giving birth if she had left Wax Harry with either her parents or Quick's for the days that she worked. The extract in this particular issue was incorrect in stating that Rose had to quit her work to raise her baby, as the author of the article overlooked the important proletarian value of family unity.

They neglected to acknowledge the fact that the family unit would have been obligated to look after the child had Rose been unavailable to do so herself. In general the family structure for the families of Cloudstreet is an image of one unified troupe under the command of a female leader working toward the common goal of the greater good of the family. One of the issues raised in the extract "Social Stratification in Cloudstreet" was that the protagonists, albeit male or female join the labor force from a very early age, due to class values of the time.

Thus from listening to the extract it only reiterates the fact that gender stereotypes within employment can only be explored as far as class values allowed for within Cloudstreet. One value taken directly from the extract "Social Stratification in Cloudstreet" was that "Family members regardless of gender are expected to work and support the family". This value, paramount to the survival of the proletarian family denies Rose the chance to break further stereotype barriers by finishing high school and possibly attending university.

Her mother tells her "you know you'll have to leave school" due to the families socioeconomic status, and thus Rose finds herself trapped within proletarian class and gender lines, stereotyped as "another uneducated female". "Working class men are defined by their occupation". This statement from the article "Social Stratification in Cloudstreet" is correct to an extent, with an example of this being when Sam tells Lester that he works at the mint and "..sees a look of newfound respect coming to his face".

While part of the male character's social identities within Cloudstreet are based on their occupations this does not always mean that they will be viewed in this way. The characters also use common interests that they have to form their opinions of other male characters. In Sam's case, as a gambler, he often views people firstly by how lucky they are (e.g. "Joel, he's lucky," and as an after thought "and his business is good") or when introducing his new neighbor, "This is Lester Lamb, he knows a lot about horses". From this we can see that there are other ways in which people may view the working class males in Cloudstreet.

In the extract it states that males of the middle to upper class do not place nearly the same emphasis on employment that those of the working class do and this is absolutely correct. Evidence of this is when recalling Toby's different friends, Rose comes to the conclusion that some did "nothing at all".

While there is small leeway as to how you are viewed within the proletarian community as a working class male, ultimately the only way to escape being judged by your profession would be only if you were one of the middle to upper class citizens. Not only did the extract "Social Stratification in Cloudstreet" enhance my understanding of the context and values in Cloudstreet, particularly in the area of gender, allowing insight into the workings of proletarian, matriarchal household in a time where society was ruled by male dominance, it also gave me an intriguing perspective on a time that was previously unbeknownst to me. In this world where "Pigs Speak in Tongues and Angels Come and Go" (Beth Witzke), the article "Social Stratification in Cloudstreet" allowed me to reflect on the forced allocation of social groupings within society, through the contextual values within class and family structures.

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