her sexuality. That Winterson does not want to novel to be exclusively targeted at queer women does not mean the novel did not impact many young women who were struggling with the same circumstances as the protagonist of Oranges. Lesbian fiction is put in the lesbian subgenre of fiction when it deals with lesbian women.
In this chapter I will outline the significance of four key lesbian characters in Oranges: Jeanette, Melanie, Katy and Miss Jewsbury. I will use the story as background to explain their actions and motives and evaluate whether their identities are similar or different from the stereotypes mentioned in chapter 1.
In Oranges the main focus is on the protagonist, Jeanette. The novel is told from her point of view, following Jeanette …show more content…
Therefore, the Church fails to recognise her love and only strengthens Jeanette’s rebellious opinion towards the values of Christianity. And despite her not willingly repenting, the church forces her to. By the pastor’s orders Jeanette undergoes prayers directed at her from the community, an exorcism and being locked into her room for thirty-six hours without any food. She eventually repents. Jeanette admits in her narrative that she just wanted to get it over with as she did not eat for two days (139). This shows that Jeanette refuses to take the punishments from the church seriously, she keeps distancing herself from her beliefs. She is accepted back into the community and devotes her time to bible studies and preaching, until she meets her second love, Katy, at one of the church’s missionary weekends. Her new relationship is both similar and strikingly different to her relationship with Melanie. Katy is a new convert during their weekend in Blackpool, this again presents a new face for Jeanette outside her inner circle of religious equals. But Katy, unlike Melanie, does not condemn their relationship once their relationship is exposed. Jeanette protects Katy for prosecution and takes the blame on herself. Jeanette’s relationship with Katy was a healthy relationship, but doomed to fail under supervision of the
In this chapter I will outline the significance of four key lesbian characters in Oranges: Jeanette, Melanie, Katy and Miss Jewsbury. I will use the story as background to explain their actions and motives and evaluate whether their identities are similar or different from the stereotypes mentioned in chapter 1.
In Oranges the main focus is on the protagonist, Jeanette. The novel is told from her point of view, following Jeanette …show more content…
Therefore, the Church fails to recognise her love and only strengthens Jeanette’s rebellious opinion towards the values of Christianity. And despite her not willingly repenting, the church forces her to. By the pastor’s orders Jeanette undergoes prayers directed at her from the community, an exorcism and being locked into her room for thirty-six hours without any food. She eventually repents. Jeanette admits in her narrative that she just wanted to get it over with as she did not eat for two days (139). This shows that Jeanette refuses to take the punishments from the church seriously, she keeps distancing herself from her beliefs. She is accepted back into the community and devotes her time to bible studies and preaching, until she meets her second love, Katy, at one of the church’s missionary weekends. Her new relationship is both similar and strikingly different to her relationship with Melanie. Katy is a new convert during their weekend in Blackpool, this again presents a new face for Jeanette outside her inner circle of religious equals. But Katy, unlike Melanie, does not condemn their relationship once their relationship is exposed. Jeanette protects Katy for prosecution and takes the blame on herself. Jeanette’s relationship with Katy was a healthy relationship, but doomed to fail under supervision of the