Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit Blog #7

As the book is starting to come to an end, we finally see Jeanette deal with the conflict between her religious background and her homosexuality. This whole time Jeanette has been trying to be both things at the same time, a religious follower and a lesbian, but she finds that this is just not possible. At the end of the chapter, Jeanette leaves her mother which is a big deal on her journey. It’s interesting that the chapter ends with her saying that her first day away from her religious life was, “not judgement day, but another morning” (Winterson, 281). This makes it feel like Jeanette made the right choice and that she is realizing that her homosexuality is not causing the end of the world, and that it is fine to live her life like this. Overall, this chapter feels like it was inevitable as I think we all got the feeling that Jeanette couldn’t be a true follower of God and a lesbian, the Church at the time just wouldn’t allow it. This also makes the book feel even more like the Hero’s Journey since Jeanette has been exiled from her home and must find her own way. And as many of the other chapters included, there is a fantasy story in this chapter as well about Camelot and Sir Perceval, who is looking for the holy grail. While I wasn’t sure what the connection was at first, I would think that they are both Hero’s Journeys and Jeanette is in a way looking for her own holy grail.

I will focus on the imagery again for this chapter since there seems to be a good amount of it. First is the story of Sir Perceval and how “Last night [he] dreamed of the Holy Grail borne on a shaft of sunlight moving towards him. He reached out crying but his hands were full of thorns and he was awake” (Winterson, 276). This quote seems to show that looking for something endlessly in life might end in disappointment, just as Sir Perceval thought he had the grail in a dream only for it to be thorns that hurt him. I think Jeanette might be looking for her own holy grail in life, whatever that may be. Personally I would think that Jeanette’s holy grail is being comfortable as herself and free from the persecution that she faced with her mother and the church. I think that Jeanette is realizing through these stories that the quest for her own holy grail will not be without disappointment and hardship. There may be times where it seems like she has found her holy grail, only for it to hurt her in the end. Both Jeanette and Sir Perceval are on their own hero’s journey for what they want most in life and are learning more about themselves along the process. One last interesting image from this chapter is Jeanette’s fear about what she will do once she leaves, and she says “the only thing that worried me was the thought of having to work on a fruit stall. Spanish Navels, Juicy Jaffas, Ripe Sevilles” (Winterson, 277). Once again, oranges are mentioned and Jeanette fears that she will be faced with oranges in the future, in a way meaning that she is afraid of being reminded of her old life.

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