Thus there was a sort of negative karma, a spirit of death that became part of the library due to it being the site of a tragic death, as "The house was boarded up, and held its breath". Also, the spiritual darkness of the house can be seen in how an Aboriginal man who enters the library immediately flees the house, even leaving the firewood he was about to sell as "Lest saw his eyes suddenly widen something clicked in the man's throat. Lester, stunned watched him hold his pink palms out as soon as he was back over the threshold he turned and ran". Therefore Winton communicates his disapproval of the racial policies of Australia in the 1950s through the use of the library as a symbol for the tragedy of the "stolen generation". .
Besides this, the library, as well as the house in general is used by Winton to affirm his values of love and family. Earlier in the novel, we are introduced to a Rose Pickles who has had to assume the role of a mother in the Pickles family due to Dolly's alcoholism. This upbringing has hardened her, and this can be seen in how even when she is making love for the first time with Toby, her hardness has been ingrained into the "recesses of her heart" and also in how she hates her mother. As we can see, Rose is truly unhappy, and unhappy in life. Besides this, the character of Quick Lamb is also indicative of how human beings can through circumstances in life feel anguished and homeless. When Fish drowns, it is Quick who blames himself for the tragedy, for he feels it should have been him who drowned, not Fish. Besides this, his "misery pictures" reveal how the pain and despair present in the world has caused him to have a sense of homelessness, for his search for meaning and fulfillment in life take him to the country, and back still unfulfilled. Thus, when Rose and Lamb make love in the library, "their sudden love remains in the room, hanging like incense".
