Food is an important motif in Jeanette Winterson’s novel Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, frequently used as a physical manifestation of a character 's religious perspective or relationship with other characters. Sandwiches are a common symbol employed in the book to convey characters’ differing views about religion and its purpose in life. The sandwiches that Jeanette herself consumes are a reflection of her transition from relying on her mother’s interpretation of religion on her own to forming her own ideas about God and the Bible. Winterson uses sandwiches in her novel to convey the differences and conflict between Jeanette’s complex, religious world view versus Jeanette’s mother’s dichotomous interpretation of the Bible as the ultimate
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The way Jeanette’s mother prepares her sandwiches is representative of her polarized view of the world and her strict religious code. When Winterson describes the way Louise cuts her daughter 's sandwich, she writes: “She cut the bread firmly, so that only the tiniest squirt of potted beef oozed out” (21). Louise 's clean-cut sandwich is a symbol of her clearly defined and firm religious world view. Louise has never viewed the world as messy, but instead as separated into two distinct categories: good and evil. She sees the Church and God as inherently good, and sin as inherently bad. She is never questioning in her love of God and the Bible as the ultimate, objective source of truth and history, and often uses Bible stories to teach Jeanette life lessons. Her her firmness in her religious beliefs, represented by the neatly cut sandwiches she prepares, is evident …show more content…
In Deuteronomy, Jeanette expresses her beliefs about the importance of individuality in terms of sandwiches: “Here is some advice. If you want to keep your own teeth, make your own sandwiches” (95). When Jeanette is a child, her mother feeds her the nondescript sandwiches she prepares, ignoring Jeanette’s complaints about their taste and therein rendering her opinions futile. When Jeanette described a sandwich her mother makes for her, the only word she uses is “horrible” (21). Jeanette’s immediate repulsion by something her mother prepares for her is ignored by Louise, forcing her to accept the reality that her mother’s words are final and that her mother’s beliefs, God and the Bible, are the ultimate truth. As Jeanette grows up and into her sexuality, she simultaneously forms her own ideas about the meaning of the Bible and extent of Godly love.. She claims that the consumption of the sandwiches other people prepared for her as a child figuratively causes her to lose her teeth, an indispensable part of her body that enable her to both speak her mind and digest what she takes in from the outside world. As Jeanette’s mother controls what goes into Jeanette’s body, both in food form and idea form, Jeanette loses these abilities that teeth symbolize.
The way Jeanette’s mother prepares her sandwiches is representative of her polarized view of the world and her strict religious code. When Winterson describes the way Louise cuts her daughter 's sandwich, she writes: “She cut the bread firmly, so that only the tiniest squirt of potted beef oozed out” (21). Louise 's clean-cut sandwich is a symbol of her clearly defined and firm religious world view. Louise has never viewed the world as messy, but instead as separated into two distinct categories: good and evil. She sees the Church and God as inherently good, and sin as inherently bad. She is never questioning in her love of God and the Bible as the ultimate, objective source of truth and history, and often uses Bible stories to teach Jeanette life lessons. Her her firmness in her religious beliefs, represented by the neatly cut sandwiches she prepares, is evident …show more content…
In Deuteronomy, Jeanette expresses her beliefs about the importance of individuality in terms of sandwiches: “Here is some advice. If you want to keep your own teeth, make your own sandwiches” (95). When Jeanette is a child, her mother feeds her the nondescript sandwiches she prepares, ignoring Jeanette’s complaints about their taste and therein rendering her opinions futile. When Jeanette described a sandwich her mother makes for her, the only word she uses is “horrible” (21). Jeanette’s immediate repulsion by something her mother prepares for her is ignored by Louise, forcing her to accept the reality that her mother’s words are final and that her mother’s beliefs, God and the Bible, are the ultimate truth. As Jeanette grows up and into her sexuality, she simultaneously forms her own ideas about the meaning of the Bible and extent of Godly love.. She claims that the consumption of the sandwiches other people prepared for her as a child figuratively causes her to lose her teeth, an indispensable part of her body that enable her to both speak her mind and digest what she takes in from the outside world. As Jeanette’s mother controls what goes into Jeanette’s body, both in food form and idea form, Jeanette loses these abilities that teeth symbolize.