Oranges are Not the Only Fruit can be interpreted as a coming of age novel or as a post modern text, which deconstructs the divisions between fact and fiction, reality and fantasy and masculinity and femininity. How far do you agree with the

The final chapter begins with a myth whereas others appear in the middle and the end of the previous chapters; the allegory in the final chapter explores the story of “Winnet Stonejar” which is a part anagram of Jeanette in a fantasy world; her name is Jeanette Winterson but respelled, suggesting the fairytales and myths are linked to the author. The final chapter is highly fragmented with very long myths; the story of Winnet and the story of Perceval take up most of the chapter suggesting Jeanette has move backed into her imagination. The chapter reflects Jeanette’s life; raised to preach by her mother to become a “missionary” yet her sexuality is uncovered by falling in love with the wrong person and finally exiled (from the church). The fairytales and myths are a writing technique in which Winterson expresses Jeanette’s feelings, “that no emotion is the final one” referring to her emotions about school for example; in the chapter Deuteronomy we realise that fiction convey more emotional truth than fact breaking up the divisions between fact and fiction and reality and fantasy. It has been suggested that the fairytales and myths help the reader understand the world in its difficulty and changeability, “everyone who tells story tells it differently, just to remind us that everyone sees it differently” however the fairytales/myths in fact confuse us since they appear unpredictably and so help to deconstruct the barriers between fiction and non-fiction.

The tale of the Prince and the maiden in Leviticus does not fit traditional fairytale stereotypes and conventions. Gender roles have clearly been subverted, the woman or maiden is very “wise” which is not a traditional convention, “she was very wise too, being well acquainted with the laws of physics”. She also has much more power and control over royalty, “if you want to chat, you’ll have to come back later…” In traditional fairytales, the woman/princess would be dependent on man and would accept his hand in marriage, however in Jeanette’s tale, it is the complete opposite. One would also expect the prince to be handsome, charming and brave, however in the fairytale is only referred to as “quite pretty”. In addition, this fairy tale does not end with a happily ever after but with the death of the woman/maiden. As well as gender subversion “she was very wise too”, the language is different, being more colloquial and modern, “this geezer…”

The multiple narratives with the fairytales mirror Jeanette’s incompatible identities and help the reader understand the many-layered nature of Jeanette’s world by deconstructing the divisions between fact and fiction, reality and fantasy and masculinity and femininity.

After reading the chapter Deuteronomy we begin to realise the inclusion of the fairytales/myths in the novel forces the reader to question the nature of storytelling; the various tales in the novel all force one question, which fairytales and myths have their foundation in reality and carry truth or fact. The answer is to understand that no story can ever be fixed as fact but they all are relative truths “Some people say there are true things to be found, some people say all kinds of things can be proved. I don’t believe them.”

Jeanette Winterson has successfully subverted gender roles not only in the fairytales but also in the narrative. The stereotype that women are weaker than men has been changed; Jeanette is a strong person who as well as her mother is not dependent on men. In addition, women run the church, all the events are organised by women and even a bathroom being fitted by Jeanette’s mother, all this one would expect a man to do, “my father liked to watch the wrestling, my mother liked to wrestle.” Throughout the novel, Jeanette’s father is barely mentioned, only referred to as “her husband”, Winterson does this to create a successful subversion of gender roles; Jeanette’s mother takes on the main, father-like role. The change in gender roles contrasts with society; men were more dominant and so would go out to work and socialise, whereas women would remain at home.  Role reversal, as in ‘Oranges’, is an element of postmodernism which Winterson uses to deconstruct gender boundaries.

Jeanette’s mother is the most dominant woman in the novel for example she is not dependent on “her husband”, she fits a bathroom and does missionary work for women; a clear gender subversion. However In the chapter Judges when the pastor decides that Jeanette has experienced sexual confusion as a result of her church responsibilities, he explains that St. Paul believed women should have a limited role in the church, “… going against the teachings of St Paul, and allowing women power in the church.” Mrs Winterson who has throughout the novel adopts a male persona and a strong and dominant role in the church, “stood up and said she believed this was right”.  This subverts traditional gender conventions; a woman who continually takes on male roles yet still believes “the message belonged to the men”, men were always seen as more important and yet, the novel shows a woman with the equal power of a man.

‘Oranges’ as a ‘coming of age’ or Bildungsroman novel sees Jeanette as the heroine of the narrative, on a journey of self-discovery and returning home after fulfilling her search for a meaningful existence within society. However is still argued whether ‘Oranges’ is actually a Bildungsroman. Bildungsroman is the growth process from childhood to maturity, though such process is not clear in the novel because it is difficult to determine how old Jeanette is throughout the novel. The novel begins with Jeanette being really young about seven and ending past her teens, but the way she changes throughout is evident. Jeanette's acceptance of herself is the clearest change. At the beginning of the novel, she entirely accepts her mother's understanding of the world, “she was Old Testament through and through”. As Jeanette grows to understand the world for herself, she begins to form her own opinions, “I began to develop my first theological disagreement”. By the end of the novel, she constantly summarises the events in her life by speaking about them through her myths and fairytales. Jeanette's motivation to understand the world herself differs from when she was a child. Traditionally, Bildungsroman is the growth process, the moral and social shaping of personality of a young male protagonist which Winterson subverts to explore the mother-daughter relationship.

Gabriele Griffin reads ‘Oranges’ as a lesbian Bildungsroman with a “focus on the mother-daughter relationship”. She argues that ‘Oranges’ in many ways is similar to the “archetypal plot of the Bildungsroman.” However Laurel Bollinger finds Winterson’s use of the Bildungsroman genre to be misguided. In “Models of Female Loyalty: The Biblical Ruth in Jeanette Winterson’s Oranges” she states that “Bildungsroman allows its male protagonists to eventually leave the mother figure, but that the women are often left within the family structure and its relationships, and allowed to sink into dissatisfaction.” I believe female protagonists are prevented from reaching maturation as fully and as profoundly as male protagonists, as females have always been made to stay within the family and home, whereas men have been allowed to flourish in the outside world.

She also states that the fairytales, with their passive female characters, is unhelpful for developing the strong mother-daughter relations she finds necessary to lesbian identity. Jeanette returning home in the chapter Ruth is an aspect of the Bildungsroman genre, however her return is not a glorified, there isn’t a sense of victory and fulfilment, “I will go into the parlour and hope for the best … ‘Hello Mum, it’s me’ … ‘Come and look at this, it’s specially for the electronic organ’…”

Laurel Bollinger does perceive Jeanette’s final trip home as a sign of her maturation. She sees the blurring of the lines between fact and fiction, and between the text and its intertexts, to be a effective post modern strategy though it is not clear why she does not perceive the incorporation of the outlines of Bildungsroman and fairytale structures as effective post modern strategies, as well. I agree with Bollinger’s argument, that ‘Oranges’ is a misleading Bildungsroman since conventionally, the male protagonist would leave the family however this is not true in ‘Oranges’ since Jeanette returns home.

Intertextuality is the process through which a post modern author introduces one or more texts from ‘outside’ to comment upon or play with the ‘current’ text, such post modern characteristic interprets ‘Oranges’ as a post modern text. Jeanette Winterson uses Intertextuality within ‘Oranges’ with references to the Bible, Frankenstein and Jane Eyre. The way she incorporates these Intertextual references is different, a unique writing technique. These references are conflicting dialogue illustrating Jeanette’s conflicting ideals, the bible being the main Intertextual text. Every chapter in the novel is named after the chapters in the Old Testament, which does suggest that the corresponding chapter is linked to the biblical chapter. For example, the biblical chapter of Judges is a time in the history when several different leaders ruled over Israel, not always with great success. For Jeanette, this chapter describes the multiple judges that rule over her life, i.e. the church. Laurel Bollinger suggests these biblical allusions are most important because they structure the novel, though used in a complex way involving parody. In the chapter Genesis, religious references dominate this chapter, “no Wise Men”, “Sacrificial Lamb”. Winterson describes Jeanette's adoption with imagery and language from the bible. Jeanette compares her birth to the birth of Jesus, “she followed a star…” appearing arrogant to compare herself to Jesus. Jeanette Winterson mocks both the bible and her mother’s arrogance and hypocrisy, "bitter that Mary got there first" comparing Jeanette’s mother to the Virgin Mary.

It can be argued that ‘Oranges’ is autobiographical however there are only some elements, which suggest this; others make it clear it is not. It would be more understandable if the narrative of ‘Oranges’ were to be interpreted as semi-autobiographical or even as a meta-fiction. Winterson considers the thought of everything not being true in the chapter Deuteronomy; she thinks and contemplates the subject of history and storytelling, “People like to separate storytelling which is not fact from history which is fact. They do this so that they know what to believe and what not to believe. This is very curious.”

No one can ever write a true history that is just based in fact. All history should be considered with doubt because it is just a story someone wrote that may or may not be factually true, “history should be a hammock for swinging and a game for playing, the way cats play.” Winterson's emphasis on the non-factual basis of stories has already been seen in the novel, the fairytales/myths within the narrative have been placed to provide a contrast to Jeanette's life story. These tales generally appear to be completely fictional. By creating such clear fictional stories, Winterson is pointing out the constructed nature of all stories. The reader realises that Jeanette is making up the narrative of her early life, in the same way that she makes up the story of the “prince” and the maiden. Though the reader cannot confirm the truth of her history and it is apparent there are no clear facts to support her work of fiction. Suggesting it is difficult to deconstruct the divisions between fact and fiction using post modern characteristics. Jeanette Winterson juxtaposes post modern elements to create depth, causing readers to look deeper for answers.

The combination of fact and fiction, reality and fantasy and masculinity and femininity pushes traditional conventions to the limits. Jeanette Winterson does successfully subvert traditional conventions, using post modern characteristics and subvert the traditional male-centred narrative of social conventionality to sustain her narrative. By doing so it helps us to deconstruct the divisions between fact and fiction, reality and fantasy and masculinity and femininity. However I personally believe it is all in the reader’s power to deconstruct these divisions and look deeper into the meaning behind the allegories and the novel itself; Winterson uses different genres and writing techniques to aid the reader throughout the novel and help the reader to stop and rethink about issues raised.

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Bibliography

Internet:

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Books:

• Oranges are Not the Only Fruit: Jeanette Winterson
• Heavenly Love?: Lesbian Images in Twentieth-century Women's Writing: Gabriele Griffin
• Models for Female Loyalty: Laurel Bollinger
• The Novels of Jeanette Winterson; a readers guide to essential criticism: Merya Makinen
• York Notes Advanced; ‘Oranges are Not the Only Fruit’ – Jeanette Winterson: Kathryn Simpson

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