Cloud Busting

This study guide will help you analyse the text “Cloud Busting” by Tara June Winch. We will show you examples of elements in the text that will be relevant for your analysis. In these notes, we will focus on the summary, structure, characters, setting, narrator and point of view, language, theme and message.

Presentation of the text

Title: “Cloud Busting”
Author: Tara June Winch
Published in: Swallow the Air
Date of Publication: 2006
Genre: Short story

Tara June Winch (b. 1983) is an Australian author who has received various national awards for her works. She writes about family and social issues, and she uses her own background (part Aboriginal, part European) as inspiration. The short story “Cloud Busting” is included in her first novel Swallow the Air, but was also published as a standalone story.

Excerpt

Below, you can read an excerpt from our study guide:

Discrimination

Because part of the story is set in the 1960s Australia and the main characters are Aboriginal, the text also explores issues related to discrimination and racial prejudice.

Firstly, the story explores official discrimination policies and their impact on Aboriginal women. At that time, the Australian state enforced a policy which involved taking away the children of mixed Aboriginal and white descend. These children were raised in state institutions with the purpose of integrating them into mainstream, white Australian society.

As the story notes, this had led to many women feeling “messed up, climbing those walls, trying to forget”.

Furthermore, Aboriginals were forcibly removed from where they were living and placed in Aboriginals only areas...