Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson explores themes of homosexuality and relationships affected by difference. Throughout this novel, it is clear that symbols are present that carry the overall meaning of this piece. Jeanette, the protagonist, discovers that she is a lesbian, which is complicated by the fact that she comes from a strict religious background. The symbol of the orange is regularly mentioned in the novel, from beginning to end. Readers can easily see what the orange represents: the dogma and structure by which she should, ideally, live her life. We see again and again that the symbol of an orange only appears when Jeanette reaches a difficult time in her life, showing that oranges represent the life she is meant to lead, but ends up going in another direction. Jeanette also references fairy tales in this novel, which also represent Jeanette's journey to escape her mother's views. Ultimately, the symbols present in Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit effectively represent Jeanette's exploration for a life of liberation rather than one limited by religion. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essay Oranges are first introduced to the novel when Jeanette's mother, who defends Christian values ​​and refuses to contradict them , tells Jeanette that “[Oranges are] the only fruit” (Winterson 39). In the book, when Jeanette is in the hospital, it says that her mother always sent her a letter with some oranges. His mother has only one opinion about fruits: oranges were the only ones worth eating. Likewise, his mother had only one view on life: to live according to God's will. She raised her daughter to be a missionary and sees no other way to live than to live the life God would have her live. She sees people as good or bad; there is no middleman. Throughout the novel, readers can see how her mother dedicates her life to the woman she believed to be her creator; she paid tribute to him for the positive things that happened to him. She says in the novel: "Listen to what the Lord did for me this week. [I] needed eggs, the Lord sent them. [I] had a colic attack, the Lord got them removed [I] always prayed two hours a day” (Winterson 32). only fruit to eat, oranges As Jeanette's mother, she tries to impose her belief system on her daughter because she wants her daughter to be "a missionary child, a servant of God" (Winterson 14). At the beginning of the novel, readers can see how religion dictates their entire lives; it is part of their daily thinking and activities. Jeanette's mother imposes a repressive system that prevents her daughter from doing anything. ungodly Oranges are treated the same way Just as religion is used throughout this novel to navigate life and direct their journey, oranges are offered when Jeanette is in a state of confusion and uncertainty. When Jeanette is in the hospital and her mother leaves her to go home, Jeannette thinks, “What was she doing? I started to cry. My mother looked horrified and, reaching into her purse, gave me an orange. I peeled it. to comfort me” (Winterson 36). It seems that orange is similar to religion for the family; it's like an anchor, something that stabilizes them and makes them feel safe. DuringFrom this particular scene, readers realize that Jeanette's mother keeps oranges in her bag, just as she always carried a Bible with her. Oranges, like the Bible, seem to be a source of comfort, an element of a life that provides feelings of security, warmth and familiarity. When Jeanette starts going to school, she begins to realize that other people are different and have different beliefs, unlike her own. This makes her defensive of her religion, protecting and defending it. In a particular scene, the children have to write down what they did during the summer and present it. Jeanette says: “It was all the same. Fishing, swimming, picnics, Walt Disney” (Winterson 49). When it's her turn to present, she tells her class about her religious camp. The class laughs at her account of what happened and Jeanette tells her mother that she no longer wishes to go to school, to which her mother responds, "You have to." Here, have an orange” (Winterson 51). . At this point in the novel, Jeanette still lives in the world of "oranges", in which she lives confined to a single way of life (and still only eats one fruit). However, she also begins to learn more about other people and other ways of living. It is from these examples that readers can see how these oranges symbolize the life that Jeannette's mother wants her to live, under the dominant ideology that serves God. He represents his mother's values, beliefs and system that must be followed. Oranges are considered the only fruit by her strict mother who offers her daughter oranges all the time, but does not help in any other way to satisfy Jeanette's emotional needs. However, as the novel progresses, this begins to change. Jeanette begins to discover a life outside of religion and begins to fall in love with a girl named Melanie, whom she welcomes into her church. When the church discovers this, they mount an intervention. As Jeanette sits in a room, she begins talking to an imaginary "orange demon", which is probably an orange. On page 138 it says: “Leaning on the coffee table was the orange demon. “Everyone has a demon, as you so aptly observed,” the [orange] began” (Winterson 138). Orange and Jeanette talk about demons and whether they are evil or not, to which Orange responds that demons are not evil: "They're just different" (Winterson 138). At this point, Jeanette begins to accept that there is something other than religion in the world. When she was young, her ideals were those of her mother. Today, she begins to form her own ideas and interpret the world in a different way than her mother. The way Jeanette speaks to this orange demon makes it seem like she isn't afraid of the demon, and that maybe not all demons are necessarily evil like her mother would have her believe. When the church members come to force Jeanette to repent of her sins (lesbianism), she immediately agrees. However, she refuses to leave this demon behind: he is always there with her throughout the chapter. This shows that she lied to the church members about her repentance; she is more courageous since she chooses to live her own life rather than the one the Church wants her to lead. Additionally, her independence is shown through a quote when her mother gives Jeanette oranges. Jeanette says: "The skin was stubborn, and soon I was left panting, angry and defeated. What about the grapes or the bananas?" (Winterson 144). At this point, we can see Jeanette's views change drastically, moving from a divine worldview to a more secular and independent one.Oranges are seen again and again as representing the strict and authoritarian world that Jeanette's mother imposes on her daughter. In one case, Melanie, the girl who shared a relationship with Jeanette, was fired for having an inappropriate relationship with Jeanette. Mélanie chose the church over Jeanette, agrees to move away and refuses a relationship with Jeanette. On page 155, when Jeanette sees Melanie again at the bus stop, Melanie offers Jeanette an orange, in which Jeanette responds that she does not. This not only shows Jeanette refusing an orange, but also everything that the orange represents, which is spirituality and the rules that her mother wants her to live by. Oranges are not the only symbol that represents Jeanette's journey from a life that respected her mother's dogmatic views on her own life. The chapters of this novel include interesting fairy tales that show how Jeanette evolves from a world with only oranges to a world full of various fruits. In the first chapter, Jeanette talks about her family and how her mother hopes she becomes a missionary, a child of God. She then refers to a fairy tale, in which a princess meets a hunchback who tells her that she “wished to die, but could not because of her many responsibilities” (Winterson 13). The hunchback asks the princess if she can assume her responsibilities, to which the princess responds in the affirmative. At this point, readers are still unaware of what this fairy tale means or symbolizes. However, once we read further, we can see how this refers to the religious life that Jeanette and her mother lead. Her mother sees herself as having many responsibilities, such as composing songs for the festival or preaching the word of God. Like the princess, Jeanette's mother left her old life to devote herself to a life of responsibility in the service of God. Like oranges, it symbolizes the only way to live. In chapter 3, Jeanette hears a story from her pastor regarding perfection and how a man lived his life perfectly before his fall. Jeanette disagrees with her pastor's idea of ​​perfection and imagines a myth in which a prince seeks a perfect bride. He wrote a book, one chapter of which deals with “the need to produce a world filled with perfect beings.” A perfect breed. An exhortation to determination” (Winterson 80). He finds a woman who meets his standards of perfection, but she is smarter than him and refuses to marry him. He discovers that the woman “was indeed perfect, but she was not perfect” (Winterson 83). The woman claims that what the prince is looking for, that is to say absolute perfection, does not exist. In response, the prince beheads her. This myth suggests that Jeanette does not agree with everything her pastor says. This suggests that she cannot be “perfect” in the eyes of her mother or her church. At the end of this myth, the prince is offered oranges, which again represents a resolute outlook on life. Another myth comes into play when her mother and church members discover that Jeanette is a lesbian. Her world begins to change dramatically, as she discovers that she still loves God and the Church, but she also loves Melanie. The church members claim that this can't be the case, because if Jeanette loves Melanie, that means she doesn't love God. In this chapter, Jeanette imagines a man named Sir Perceval and how he lived comfortably in Camelot. Likewise, Jeanette lived comfortably in her mother's house, surrounded by religious people and a church that was like an anchor for her. However, in the myth, Percival says that he cannot stay in Camelot because then he will not find this.