Children in Malouf Essay -- essays research papers

Children take center stage in a lot of maloufs stories, but the memory of childhood is a deeper, more resonant thread throughout this collection. Pre – adolescence, particularly the ages of nine or ten, carries enormous weight in the writer’s imagination. The light from his Brisbane childhood often illuminates his narrative, and the remembered landscape often illuminates his narrative, and the remembered landscape fills in the background, but it is the child’s worldview that is the dominant concern. Malouf has talked about â€Å" the kind of fluidity of your perceptions at that time which are mostly un-judgmental†, although he acknowledges the incredible strength with which convictions are held. Most of the important questions about relationships and their foundations have begun to surface, yet the child is banished from the adult world at the same time, instilling in them a sense of mystery about the milieu of grown-ups and an awareness of the boundary t hat exists between childhood and adolescence. Maloufs younger characters exhibit many of these qualities, while the adults try to recapture the untrammeled joy of discovery they remember from their youth. â€Å"Closer† and â€Å"Blacksoil Country† are both told from the child’s point of view. Although Jordan, the ‘child’ in the latter story, is discovered to be a 150 –year-old ghost, he shares Amy’s fierce loyalty to her family, despite any objections they may have their elders’ behavior. Both children are driven to heal familial wounds: ...