Fruit Of The Lemon Character Analysis

Minorities often encounter certain acts of violence force because of their identity. Some individuals identify as more than one of these minority groups. Being a White lesbian women is going to produce different interactions from others than being a Black heterosexual women would. In order to understand these relationships, one must take into account all aspects of these identities and how they interact with each other, rather than trying to understand them seperately. These identities intersect with each other and form the concept of intersectionality. In Andrea Levy’s novel Fruit of the Lemon, we follow, Faith’s, the protagonist, journey to self awareness. Faith is put under certain intense situations that further demonstrate her multiple …show more content…
After speaking with Henry, Faith sees a woman eating a doughnut and is then introduced to her as Lorraine. Lorraine randomly bursts out that she is dating a person of color and tells Faith that she lives with him. This event exemplifies Faith’s identities of race and gender. Lorraine feels as though there is nothing that her and Faith have in common other than the fact that she is dating a man. Lorraine assumes that Faith is a heterosexual women and feels as though they can both connect on the concept of dating. The concept that women were supposed to like men and men were supposed to like women furthered Faith’s gender identity and the sexual expectations of society. Furthermore, Faith is a Black female and Lorraine finds that they can also connect on the fact that she is dating someone that looks like Faith. Additionally, because Faith is Black, she is probably expected to fancy Black men. However, this categorizes Faith as only a “Black female” and reveals that these identities could not be separated. In societal views, a Black female is supposed to heterosexual and also should be attracted to people of the same race. Had Faith been of a different gender or race, their interaction would not have been the