Structure

“Cloud Busting” by Tara June Winch is an autobiographically inspired short story that explores issues related to discrimination against Aboriginals and to friendship.

Title

The title of the short story, “Cloud Busting”, refers to a childhood habit that the narrator and her brother had. They would go to the beach and try to break a cloud by joining their hands together and imagining that they can produce a rainbow: “We hold each other’s hand; squeeze really hard to build up the biggest rainbow and Bang! Shoot it up to the sky, busting cloud suds that scatter, escaping into the air alive.” (p. 192, ll. 46)

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Beginning

The short story begins with a rather long exposition presenting the narrator’s memories of her childhood. It focuses on her and her brother’s activities as children: going cloud busting, collecting clams, and diving into the ocean: “We go cloud busting, Billy and me, down at the beach, belly up to the big sky. We make rainbows that pour from your heads…” (p. 192, ll. 1-2);

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Middle

The middle of the short story focuses on the story told by the narrator’s mother. She first introduces the context of the story – where they lived and their situation—which functions as the exposition of the internal story:

All my brothers and sisters had been put into missions by then (…) So Old Mum and me were sent to Goulburn from the river, to live in these little flats. (…) Mum was working for a real nice family, at the house cooking and cleaning… (p. 193, ll. 31-34)

The intrigue which sets the development of the rising action is the arrival of a salesman in Goulburn: “Anyway, all the folk women were sitting up there this hot afternoon when down on the path arrived this white man, all suited up.” (p. 193, ll. 42-43)

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Ending

The ending of the text returns to the frame story, to the narrator as a child. The resolution is symbolic, as the child narrator reflects on her mother’s story:

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