Language
“Streamlining” by Muli Amaye is conveyed using a combination of narration and dialogue. The author focuses on what Jocie is thinking during the car ride with her brother to their mother’s house. When Jocie and her brother converse, the colloquial language of the brother is meant to suggest the differences between the two siblings: “ ‘So, like, nobody gets buried these days, yeah. We gotta look after the earth’s resources, innit?’ ” (l. 1)
The language of the short story is also humorous and ironic. With the help of irony, the author conveys Jocie’s frustrations about her brother and mother: “Her brother wasn’t a bad person. He just didn’t know he was irresponsible; the word wasn’t in his vocabulary.” (ll. 26-27); “It wasn’t his fault he’d been born with a penis.” (l. 31)
Similes, figurative language, repetitions, rhetorical questions, and symbols contribute to giving the story additional meanings in a creative manner.
Imagery
Imagery is occasionally used to create mental images of the characters and their actions, and to help transport readers into the atmosphere of the story: “It was braided neatly, not too big not too small.
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Similes
A series of similes have a descriptive role in the text and help the author convey more about the action and the characters.
To convey the idea that Jocie’s brother Brandon still looks and acts like a child, the author uses three relevant similes:
“He looked out of place in her Tigra. Like he’d squashed himself into a child’s pedal car…” (l. 21)
“…like he’s a teenager from the ghetto!” (l. 47)
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Metaphors and figurative language
On several occasions, the author also uses metaphors and figurative language. For example, in the following passage, the author uses figurative language to describe Jocie’s feelings of anxiety as if they had a will of their own, separate from Jocie’s:
The feeling of dread was working its way through her system. It started in her bladder area - her root chakra according to Anna - then...
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Repetition
To suggest Jocie’s frustrations with her mother preferring her brother and always finding excuses for him, the following repetitions are used: “If he turned up in a creased shirt, it was his girlfriend’s fault. If his hair wasn’t neat, it was the barber’s fault. If he had a hangover, it was his mates’ fault.” (ll. 23-25)
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Symbols
The story is not highly symbolical, as the plot and theme are quite straightforward and easy to identify. The few elements that are symbolic in the story are the car, the house, and the traffic lights.
Jocie’s car is symbolic of mobility, protection, and control. The car is something that Jocie can control, unlike her relationship with her brother and mother. The fact that Jocie delays getting out of the car when she reaches her mother’s...
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