Evelyn

“Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit” by Jeanette Winterson


“Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit” by Jeanette Winterson is a semi-autobiographical novel about a girl growing up in an environment of obsession and religious extremism. This study will focus on how the author’s use of characterisation, word choice and imagery shows how this environment, which her mother brought her up in, makes an impact on Jeanette’s life.

Jeanette and her mother do not properly function socially within the public but instead within the confines of their own, religious community. From the very beginning Winterson shows through characterisation of her mother the snobbery which he has against certain people whom she considers heathens. Jeanette’s mother is seen to try to protect Jeanette from these people, as is shown from her attempt to stop her daughter from going to school, which she calls “the breeding ground”. This use of language makes the children seem like germs or animals through her eyes, and this opinion is in turn impressed on Jeanette. In the novel, Winterson provides no evidence to suggest that, as a child, Jeanette has ever socialised with children. All of her friends are within the church and share similar principles as her mother. Because of this, at school she has great difficulty communicating with the other children - owed a lot to the prominence and unintentional offence of her beliefs - and she is insecure. “It was clear and warm and made me happy. At school there was only confusion.” Winterson uses a blunt comparison with simple language to show the contrast of the cosy environment of the church to the complicated life Jeanette leads at school.

The idea of Jeanette’s mother sheltering her from the people and things that she considers impure is continued throughout the novel, and this ties in with the key theme of sexuality. The puritanical side of Jeanette’s mother is very evident in this area in particular. In the novel, she does not talk about sex other than when it is necessary for her to convey a negative idea of what she sees as a sin to her daughter. “we heard strange noises, like cries for help…My mother looked horrified. “They’re fornicating,” cried my mother, rushing to put her hands over my ears.” This is an example of her mother’s disgust at the thought of sex, her trying to hide her daughter from it, and Jeanette’s resulting naivety.

Crucially, her mother describes homosexuality as “unnatural passions”, when in fact there is evidence to suggest that she herself was once in a sexual relationship with a woman. “When I sat by her looking through the photograph album…she always stopped at the two pages called ‘Old Flames’….at the bottom of the page was a yellowy picture of a pretty woman with a cat…‘I don’t know why I put it there,’…Next time we looked, it had gone.” Winterson is implying that Jeanette’s mother herself may be in denial of her sexuality. She does not have an intimate but rather a convenient relationship with her husband and it seems merely a formality of having both a father and mother for her adoptive daughter. The church may also be a convenience for her, in the way of her being able to hide her sexuality.

The extremity portrayed of her mother’s negative, and perhaps hypocritical views on homosexuality make life difficult for Jeanette. When she herself begins to discover that she is gay, she is given the dilemma of accepting who she is, which would oppose what she has always believed in, or staying amongst the church community and struggling with her identity. This is evident firstly when she is confronted by the pastor at church about her relationship with Melanie, another girl at the church.
““I love her.” “Then you do not love the lord.” “Yes, I love both of them.” “You cannot.””

After her first relationship has been discovered by the church, Jeanette is unsure as to whether she is in the wrong and should repent for having felt this way for Melanie. The author uses a demon that Jeanette sees around her as a metaphor to convey this idea. “ “I want you to decide what you want.” And the creature hopped up on to the mantelpiece….“Demons are evil, aren’t they?” I asked, worried. “Not quite, they’re just different, difficult.” The demon in this instance is not seen as something evil, to be fought by Jeanette like she has been taught by her mother, but something that she has to deal with. By the demon saying that demons aren’t really evil, a change in her attitude is seen. This is an important turning point in the book, where the author is trying to represent Jeanette’s maturity – she is growing up and beginning to think more for herself and question the principles that she has always accepted in childhood. The demon that Jeanette sees is also an orange demon, which links back to the title, as her mother calls it “the only fruit”. Other fruit being - “Demon fruit, passion fruit, rotten fruit”. There is also imagery, such as “a wash of angry orange paint” to reflect this idea of evil and demons earlier in the book. Nearing the end of the book, however, once Jeanette has tired of the church people’s hatred for her “evil” and left the church, she sees oranges in a different light. “The only thing that worried me was the thought of having to work on a fruit stall. Spanish Navels, Juicy Jaffas, Ripe Sevilles.” Here, she is distressed at thought of having to work with the fruit, which her mother had identified as pure.

Winterson has crafted a novel that depicts effectively the effects on the life of a girl growing up amongst such extreme beliefs. They are, in turn, often detrimental to her and oppose her sexuality, a large part of her identity. The text shows how Jeanette grows up and begins to develop her own values and ideas, and not just believe in what the adults around her have taught her. This shift in the mind from the less questioning, more impressionable child into that of someone with opinions and values developed of their own accord is one that many readers can relate to. The novel, ultimately, portrays a heroine, she does not compromise her sexuality and live a lie for the church, though she loves her mother and she has spent years in her way of life, she will not deny her identity.