Rose was always the one who had to bring Dolly home from the pub. Because she spent so much time drunk and at the pub, Rose was forced to play the role of the mother in the family. It was Rose that would cook the meals; she stopped Sam from committing suicide. One thing that Rose enjoyed was school, which she was forced to leave to go find a job in the city, the family needed money, "Keep me in school There's no money, love. We haven't got a nail to hang our arses on". The reconciliation between Rose and her mother begins when she is living in the city, Dolly is found and returned to Cloud Street, Quick takes Rose to visit her mother. When Rose first talks to Dolly, she lets go of all of her anger, "You stole from me. My childhood, my innocence, my trust. You were always a hateful bitch. You beat us and shamed us in public. I hate you for all the reasons you hate your self, and I wanted to kill you for all the reasons you wanted to kill your self. Everything, you stole from me. Even when I was a teenager you competed with me, your looks against mine, Shit, even my grief you steal from me. You can't imagine how I hate you". Dolly begs Rose to return, just so they can talk. When Rose comes back, Dolly, for the first time, shares her feelings and emotions with her daughter. Dolly lets Rose know why she was drinking and why she was such a poor mother, "My mother was my grandmother. My father was my grandfather The second oldest sister, the one that made me feel like rubbish all my life, that one was my mother". Dolly's drinking was a way of blocking out her childhood memories.
Another theme of Cloudstreet is the sense of diversity within both the local community and the wider Australian community. For there to be a functional community a variety of needs and interests are to be met. In Australia, a multicultural society, the needs of the Aboriginal inhabitants need to be catered for, their tribal ways need to be balanced against the white European democratic society, as well as the needs of immigrants, which flooded, to Australia during the post war years.
