In Julia Copus’ “An Easy Passage”, growing up is presented as a time of
intense vulnerability, caused by the liminality between childhood and
adulthood. This is effectively established in the initial line where it is
stated that the subject is “halfway up” the house she is attempting to
return to, as well as “half naked” and “half in love” with her friend waiting
for her below. While used in the initial context of the subject being “half
up the house” with the house being an extended metaphor for the safety
of childhood is used in a tangible yet symbolic way, the repeated
quantifier “half” becomes interesting when applied to more abstract
notions such as “love”, as these are impossible to quantify and make the
label almost ironic. This may be Copus commenting on the difficulty of
expressing emotions as a teenager, or simply expanding the semantic
field of measurement and distance also seen in “far” “most far from”
“long” which establishes a sense of isolation and liminality for the subject.
This liminality leads to an intense vulnerability, displayed in the reflections
of the woman across the road who “gazes up at a pale calf” “thirteen if
she’s a day”. The likening of the subject to a “pale calf” displays her
innocence and vulnerability, as well as having sacrificial and biblical
connotations further displaying the danger she experiences. Additionally,
the description of the girl as “thirteen if she’s a day” shows a shift in
narrative voice from the detached, seemingly omniscient speaker to a
woman who embodies the cliches of adulthood and symbolises the poor
treatment and judgement of young girls often endure at the hand of older
women. Another example of the vulnerability caused by liminality is
evident in the subject being perched “on a square of petrified beach”. This
is a clear example of Copus’ skill in wordplay, as the pun “petrified beach”
when reading “petrified” as turned to stone it is reference to the hot
asphalt beneath her feet, while if reading it to mean frightened it displays
the danger of growing up because of the liminality previously mentioned
and the fear which comes as a result of this. However, this offers a
nuanced presentation of growing up, as her “bikini” bare “toes” and
“fingertips” are not suitable for the “shade of the house” nor for the
“electroplating factory”, but only for the “square of petrified beach”
displaying the liminality of growing up as not just a place of danger but of
refuge. Furthermore, the description of “shade of the house” implies
refuge but also darkness, while the “electroplating factory” displays the
inevitability of growing up, as it parallels the girl’s “silver anklet” which
appear like a “flash of armaments” in the sun through the references to
metal. Once again, Copus ingeniously employs nuance in the
description of a “silver anklet” as it could be read as an example of the
