Themes

The main themes explored in “Closer” by David Malouf are the theme of parent-child relationships and the theme of religio…

...

Parent-child relationships

This theme is illustrated by the relationship between Grandpa and Grandma Morpeth and their sons: Charles, James, and Matt.

At first, we find out that Charles was banished from the family because he came out as gay in front of his parents and siblings. His father, the head of the family, decided to forbid him to approach the family farm. His mother, however, suffers in silence because she secretly wishes she could see her son and connect with him:

My grandmother says nothing. She was in labour for thirty-two hours with Uncle Charles, he was her first. For her, it can never be as if he had never been born, even if she too has cast him out. I heard my mother say this. My father told her to shus…

...

Religion

The short story “Closer” by David Malouf is deeply influenced by the theme of religion. Amy, the narrator of the story, comes from a Pentecostal family and is taught to take the Bible’s teachings literally without questioning them:

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)

As Amy talks about Sydney burning like the biblical Sodom and about other biblical episodes, readers get the impression that the girl is innocent and that she only repeats what her family has taught her. Amy does not understand that her uncle…