Cloudstreet
Sam: Character Profile
1) Compile a detailed background history about each character.
· Sam's father is Merv Pickles
· Merv and Sam slept together (in the same bed)
· Merv died whilst in a drunken state in bed with Sam
· The image of his father, dead, lying next to him haunts him throughout his life.
· Merv was a gambler
· Sam inherited his (Merv's) gambling addiction
· Sam's mother didn't want Sam to be a jockey
· Sam works on the island Albohros
· Shovels guao phosphate on the island
· Has 3 kids, Chub Rose Ted
· Sam's wife is Dolly
· Dolly is unfaithful
· Dolly is often depicted as a tramp or a slut
· Sam depends on luck to get through life
· He has a larrikin attitude (She'll be right attitude')
· Sam's Mother and Father had a very shifty, empty relationship with each other.
· Many people loved Merv for his poor and foolish nature.
· Sam's mother was a simple, plain woman who was often quite ignorant towards Sam.
· Merv (Sam's father) was rarely sober.
· Sam seems to have inherited his fathers (bad) luck.
· After Merv dies Sam runs away "Leaving his mother without a son "
2a) List and discuss the personal demons and baggage of the past which accompany each character.
Sam's life was filled with demons and excess baggage. It may seem obvious to see Sam's disability (his mangled hand) as a demon but, as you look further into the situations his demons are much deeper than this. We uncover a whole new level of Sam and all of the baggage he tries to hide from the world. Perhaps the most notorious of all of Sam's demons was the inheritance that Merv passed down to him. Not talking about inheritance in a possession or monetary sense but more so in the way that Merv has influenced Sam and the things Sam has done throughout his life because of all of this.
Sam has a major problem with gambling and money in general, this ties in closely to the lifeline of his father when he had exactly the same problems. This is Sam's big demon; gambling. Both Merv
1) Compile a detailed background history about each character.
· Sam's father is Merv Pickles
· Merv and Sam slept together (in the same bed)
· Merv died whilst in a drunken state in bed with Sam
· The image of his father, dead, lying next to him haunts him throughout his life.
· Merv was a gambler
· Sam inherited his (Merv's) gambling addiction
· Sam's mother didn't want Sam to be a jockey
· Sam works on the island Albohros
· Shovels guao phosphate on the island
· Has 3 kids, Chub Rose Ted
· Sam's wife is Dolly
· Dolly is unfaithful
· Dolly is often depicted as a tramp or a slut
· Sam depends on luck to get through life
· He has a larrikin attitude (She'll be right attitude')
· Sam's Mother and Father had a very shifty, empty relationship with each other.
· Many people loved Merv for his poor and foolish nature.
· Sam's mother was a simple, plain woman who was often quite ignorant towards Sam.
· Merv (Sam's father) was rarely sober.
· Sam seems to have inherited his fathers (bad) luck.
· After Merv dies Sam runs away "Leaving his mother without a son "
2a) List and discuss the personal demons and baggage of the past which accompany each character.
Sam's life was filled with demons and excess baggage. It may seem obvious to see Sam's disability (his mangled hand) as a demon but, as you look further into the situations his demons are much deeper than this. We uncover a whole new level of Sam and all of the baggage he tries to hide from the world. Perhaps the most notorious of all of Sam's demons was the inheritance that Merv passed down to him. Not talking about inheritance in a possession or monetary sense but more so in the way that Merv has influenced Sam and the things Sam has done throughout his life because of all of this.
Sam has a major problem with gambling and money in general, this ties in closely to the lifeline of his father when he had exactly the same problems. This is Sam's big demon; gambling. Both Merv