Language

The language in “Closer” by David Malouf  is often influenced by biblical references and a formal, biblical style of speaking, suggesting the influence Amy’s upbringing has over her. As the story progresses, we get to see Amy dealing with more complex concepts, such as love, evil, and death:

But I don’t understand about love any more than I do about death. It seems harder than anyone can bear to stand on one side of the fence and have Uncle Charles stand there on the other. As if he were already dead, and death was stronger than love, which surely cannot be. (p. 15, ll…

...

References and allusions

Given that the story is told from the point of view of a nine-year-old Pentecostal girl, most of the text is dominated by biblical allusions and Pentecostal concepts, like “speaking in tongues” (p. 10, l. 13) or “laying on hands” (p. 10, l. 13-14). Speaking in tongues is a Pentecostal phenomenon which makes people speak in languages that they do not know, while laying on hands refers to the ritual of being able to invoke divine healing from the Holy Spirit. The latter is what Amy hopes to do for her Uncle Charles to make him “whole” (p. 17, l. 12).

Some of the biblical allusions mentioned in the story are the destruction of the city of Sodom, the parting of the Red Sea, or the reference to Aaron’s rod:

He lives in Sydney, which Grandpa Morpeth says is …

...

Similes and metaphors

Several similes and metaphors are employed in the story. First, the city of Sydney is metaphorically associated with Sodom (p. 10, l. 26), in an attempt to show Grandpa Morpeth’s conviction that his son lives in a city of sin. Sodom is also…