From the very first lines of Cloud 9, we're smacked over the head with ideas about the family and how families are supposed to behave… at least according to Clive and his old-fashioned beliefs. He loses no time in telling us that he is the father and therefore leader of his family. His wife and kids totally have to do whatever he says, at least according to him. It's good to be King Clive.
Little does Clive know, though, that there's lots of stuff going on behind his back that doesn't quite fit into his idea of the perfect family. Through Clive, Churchill questions and criticizes traditional, male-dominated views about the nuclear family.
Questions About Family
- Do you have any sympathy for Clive and his views in this play? Why or why not?
- Is Churchill throwing out the idea of the nuclear family altogether in this play, or does she suggest that certain aspects of it are worth salvaging? Use quotations from the text to support your answer.
- How does Churchill's presentation of "the family" as a theme change between Acts 1 and 2 of this play? How are families structured differently in each act? Why do you think Churchill makes this shift?
- How do Clive's ideas about himself as a symbolic "father" extend beyond his own family? Why does Clive feel entitled to tell the people around him what to do? Use evidence from the text of Cloud 9 to support your answer.
Chew on This
Churchill has more sympathy for Clive than a first reading of Cloud 9 might suggest.
In the shift between Acts 1 and 2 of Cloud 9, Churchill shows us that the nuclear family is ultimately a tool of male oppression and that the world will be better off when it's gone.