What metaphors are used in The Beautiful Room Is Empty by Edmund White?

The term "coming of age" has been somewhat modified, when used to describe the process of homosexual men coming to maturity, openness, and a sense of true identity. In those circumstances the process is called "coming out," or short for "coming out of the closet", with closet being a metaphor for where homosexuals keep their feelings and desires. When a homosexual person "comes out,", he comes out of the closet and out of shame, out of denial, out of self hatred, and above all out of a place of acceptance of being put into the closet by society's perceptions and attitudes.