Characters
The characters on which the short story “Closer” by David Malouf focuses is Amy and her Uncle Charles. In what follows, we will help you characterise the most important characters in the story:…
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Amy Morpeth
Amy Morpeth is one of the main characters in the short story and also the narrator. At the time of the narrative, she is nine years old.
Outer characterisation
The following quotation reveals important elements regarding her outer characterisation, such as her age, her siblings, and her education:
My name is Amy, but in the family I am called Ay, and my brothers, Mark and Ben, call be Rabbit. Next year, when I am ten, and can think for myself and resist the influences, I will go to school like the boys. In the meantime my grandmother teaches me. I am past long division. (p. 10, ll. 16-20)
As you have seen, Amy has two older siblings and she is home-schooled by her grandmother. She also lives on her family’s dairy farm (p. 11, l. 24) and she enjoys the life there. Her family members are Pentecostals (a form of Christianity that takes the Bible as fact).
Inner characterisation
Her inner characterisation reveals that the girl is innocent and naïve, as she takes the Pentecostal codes literally and doesn’t question her family’s beliefs:
We’re Pentecostals. We believe that all that is written in the Book is clear truth without error. Just as it is written, so it is. Some of us speak in tongues and others have the gift of laying on hands. This is a grace we are granted because we live as the Lord wishes, in truth and charity. (p. 10, ll. 10-15)
When she talks about her Uncle Charles, Amy reveals that she has unknowingly adopted her family’s ideology concerning sin and homosexuality. When she talks about the way sinners are punished by the Lord, Amy seems rather naïve, struggling to repeat her family’s beliefs and believing them to be the absolute truth:
He lives in Sydney, which Grandpa Morpeth says is Sodom. This is the literal truth, as Aaron’s rod, which he threw at Pharaoh’s feet, did literally become a serpent and Jesus turned water into wine. The Lord destroyed Sodom and he is destroying Sydney, but with fire this time that is slow and invisible. It is burning people up but you don’t see it because they burn from within. (p. 10, ll. 25-32)
Despite being influenced by he…
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Uncle Charles
Uncle Charles is the second most important character and the focus of the story.
Outer characterisation
The man’s outer characterisation reveals that he comes from a Pentecostal family, that he has three siblings (James, Matt, and Helen) and that he currently lives in Sydney. Because he came out as gay to his family, he has been banished and forbidden to connect to them anymore.
Although his family considers him a sinner – someone who will be burned from the inside by God’s vengeance – his appearance reminds the narrator of an angel. The man is tall, has “beautiful locks” (p. 12, l. 27), “the whitest teeth” (p. 12, l. 29), and sparkling eyes (p. 10, l. 24). Furthermore, his entire body seems to “glow” (p. 13, l. 9) and to have a “sheen…
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Grandpa Morpeth and Grandma Morpeth
Grandpa and Grandma Morpeth are Amy’s grandparents and Charles’ parents. Their outer characterisation is not present in the story, but their inner characterisation is relevant for the way in which they relate to their son, Charles.
On the one hand, Grandpa Morpeth is the head of the family. He is the one whose decisions everyone must obey and the one who has banished Charles from the family land when he came out as gay:
Since then he is banished, he…
