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Oranges Aren’t the Only Fruit: Ruth Chapter Review

Response 1:

Alas! We’ve made it to the final chapter! This book has pretty much made me feel a whirlwind of emotions, not that I’m complaining about it really. In fact, I pretty much enjoyed this book. Sure I had to create this blog and blog my thoughts and emotions originally, but in the end, I did find this experience entertaining and this book, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, was really good! Reading the last chapter of any work of literature always makes me feel bittersweet if I’m being honest, this also applies to this wonderful book. At the start of the chapter, I was extremely upset to read that Elsie had died. I genuinely grew attached to Elsie’s character. Sure, everyone should comfort loved one’s with open arms despite their sexuality and sexual orientation, and this should be the new norm. Yet out of every single character in the story, Elsie was the only one who welcomed Jeanette with open arms, comforted, and tried their best to support her despite knowing full well that Jeanette was a lesbian. I found it interesting that the chapter title for this chapter was titled “Ruth” since the Biblical Book of Ruth focuses on the topic of being exiled and the relationship between a daughter and her mother. Sound familiar? Should be because this chapter also focuses on Jeanette and her being “exiled” in a sense and her relationship with her mother. Even now I find it upsetting that people could be ostracized and “exiled” for being who they are and loving who they want to love.

Response 2:

Everyone that was present during the final chapter, “Ruth”, all seemed to have gone through changes yet have stayed the same in a sense. However, I think Jeanette’s mom has gone through the most changes yet has somehow still stayed true to her character the most. In fact, Jeanette’s mother said the title of the book, “‘after all,’ said [her] mother philosophically, ‘oranges are not the only fruit.’” (pg. 143) Throughout the story, Jeanette’s mother has always offered Jenette oranges in order to provide comfort for Jenette whenever the world around her seemed like it changes drastically, in a way this was her mother’s way of showing that she cared and loved Jeanette as her own. However, towards the later chapters of this book, the symbolism of oranges shifted to represent heterosexuality and what the church seems righteous in their eyes. I think this because whenever homosexuality was brought up, people of their church would offer Jeanette an orange, which symbolizes them forcing their heterosexuality mindsets onto Jeanette hoping that she would somehow miraculously become straight; spoiler alert, she’s still a lesbian. In a sense, oranges represented how they were the only fruit like how heterosexuality should be the only sexuality that should be accepted. This quote helps show that while her mother was pretty much closed-minded and saw the world in black and white at the beginning of the story, her mother has begun to open up her mind to other concepts and new ideas that the world has to offer. Sure she’s still over-enthusiastic and devoted to her religion but she now knows that there isn’t just one way to look and view the world around her-- oranges aren’t the only fruit.

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Oranges Aren’t the Only Fruit: Judges Chapter Review

Response 1:

Reading this chapter made me nervous and feel second-hand anxiousness about what would become of Jeanette. Despite reading about Jeanette’s world falling apart and everything around her changing, I’m glad that Jeanette seems to come to terms and has accepted her sexuality. In my opinion and perspective, in this chapter, Jeanette seems to not only have come to terms with her sexuality but has come to understand that is a part of her who she is and can’t change or help who she loves and comes to have feelings for. I think was shown when she was ready to shoulder all the blame and take the blow for her and Katy being caught. I think this part shows just how she’s unapologetically open about who she loves and that she’s ready to open up her world to concepts outside the world she’s always known. On another note, I officially dub Elsie as best girl and my new favorite official character (sorry Mrs. Rothwell and your cravings for cake). I love how she’s always known of Jeanette’s sexuality, debatably, probably even before Jeanette herself was even aware of her own sexuality. Despite this, “... she looked after [Jeanette] by giving [her] what [she] most needed, an ordinary time with a friend.” (pg. 110) Sadly, there’s not enough Elsie’s in this world. People that are part of the LGBTQ+ community are still humans and deserve to love anyone they choose to love just as much as everyone else. No one should ever be shamed and denied the right to love. On yet another note, my favorite quote was “if there’s such a thing as spiritual adultery, my mother was a whore.” (pg. 112)

Response 2:

While so many things happened in this chapter and we read Jeanette’s very world and everything around her change, I think Jeanette’s opinion on the outcome of her fate was beautifully written, “it was not judgment day, but another morning.” (pg. 114) While it’s perfectly normal and people tend to feel like their whole world is falling apart when an extremely significant change occurs, Jeanette compares her moving out of her house “another morning”. A reason why I think this is significant to point out is because of the fact that for all her life, her whole world, all she’s ever known has been the world and lifestyle her mother made her live by, her religion. As stated in the previous post and earlier, at this point, Jeanette has started to and has officially accepted the fact that she is in fact a lesbian. With this being said I want to point out that in a sense, Jeanette’s world has always been closely linked to her identity and her religion. Her world, for as long as she could remember has always revolved around her religion, which in turn played a huge role in her identity. Due to homosexuality being a massive taboo, this caused her to be shunned by the community she’s always known. Despite two parts of her identity conflicting with one another, she agreed to leave the world she’s always known and venturing out to the outside world, she’s symbolically opening up her world and letting other aspects that aren’t related to her religion in; her world is expanding and growing. This quote helps show that, in a way, her life, her world, isn’t ending-- it’s just another day.

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Oranges Aren’t the Only Fruit: Joshua Chapter Review

Response 1:

This chapter, in my opinion, was extremely overwhelming and I found myself needing a break since this chapter talked contained quite a sensitive topic for me. At first, I thought this chapter would be heavily focused on Jeanette learning more about her identity and sexuality. However, while, in a sense, Jeanette definitely learned more about who she was, yet this chapter was more focused on consequences and lessons being learned in my opinion. At first, I was confused as to why Winterson wrote about finding out her biological has come. After further thought, I realized that this visited help spark a change in Jeanette’s world. I think Winterson wrote about her biological mother coming because, for the first time, her mother allowed someone from the outside world into their home. After this, the events written after this made me feel overwhelmed with the amount of change Jeanette was going through, both with her world and the realization of her identity and sexuality. I found myself emerged with Winterson’s writing and felt enamored reading about Jeanette going through the phases of her first love and how she described her love for Melanie. Reading the part where the church humiliated and forcibly outed them as two girls who “... have fallen under Satan’s spell” (pg. 86) was absolutely horrifying. Despite this, I admired how Jeanette still refused to deny her feelings for Melanie. I think Jeanette and Melanie’s last night together was pretty heartbreaking yet beautifully written and I genuinely feel like this capsulated the bittersweet ending of one’s first love along with the conclusion of “forbidden love”. Their relationship started and blossomed in secret, the dark, and it ended in the dark of night.

Response 2:

The quote that stood out to me the most in this whole chapter was when Jeanette told Melanie that “[she] loved [Melanie] as much as [she] loved the Lord” (pg. 85). The reason why I thought this quote was so powerful was because up until now, Jeanette’s whole world, everything she’s ever known was her religion. Jeanette’s identity has always pretty much revolved around her religion since not only did it play such a massive role in her life, but it was also such an important part of who she was. Throughout the story so far, whenever Jeanette had problems she usually turned or wanted to turn to her religion as a source of comfort. The fact that she compared Melanie that she loved her equally as much as she loved the very Lord she worships just shows just how much she cared for Melanie. Despite knowing that loving the same gender was seen as taboo and forbidden in her religion, she still confessed these feelings aloud. As I mentioned earlier, for Jeanette, her whole world was her religion, her religion has been pretty much all she’s known. Her religion is part of her identity, who she was. By comparing her love for Melanie to her love for her Lord, even going so far as to claim that both loves are on equal ground, she is symbolically accepting her sexuality as a huge factor of her identity. As stated earlier, her world played a huge part in her identity, so this could also symbolize Jeanette opening up her world to new aspects and experiences.

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Oranges Aren’t the Only Fruit: Deuteronomy Chapter Review

Response 1:

This chapter was pretty interesting and vague in my opinion. I found it interesting that Winterson took a break from retelling her childhood in order to break the fourth wall and interact with what I would assume are the readers. I’m still confused as to why she took a break from the story, the “recollection” of her childhood since things like this are usually written at the end or beginning of a book. However, I still do find this approach and writing style extremely interesting. The reason why I say “recollection” of her childhood is because I genuinely believed that this was an accurate autobiography, a retelling of Winterson’s childhood. However, what I got from this chapter is that no matter how hard she tries, something happened that no one can stop-- time. Since time has passed, her memories of the past aren’t accurate so she “clawed it, chewed it, rearranged it…” in order to form the story we are reading today, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit. Something interesting that I want to point out is that what Winterson says is true and I’ve never really thought about how sometimes our realities could be someone’s fiction. Everyone experiences and goes through different experiences, we all are entitled to our own opinions and different perspectives. With this in mind, a group of people could experience the same event at the same time together yet have completely different perspectives and recollections of how the event happened. Everyone could also have different recollections of the same events due to having different emotions attached to the memories, and I think this chapter perfectly sums up this idea.

Response 2:

The title of this chapter is Deuteronomy, which is a book that sends the main message of requiring people to listen to God and to love Him with your whole being; your heart, soul, and strength. With response 1 in mind, I’d like to point out that just like how people could have different recollections of the same events, people have different ways of expressing their love and feeling the love. Everyone has different opinions on God. I believe that “it’s a way of explaining the universe while leaving the universe unexplained, it’s a way of keeping it all alive, not boxing it into time.” (pg. 79) I feel like this quote relates back to the title because while people turn to religion to explain everything that’s happening around them, the events that are unexplainable, people have an explanation. In a sense, this quote can be connected to the title because the bible doesn’t have an ending since it’s just a bunch of books that teach lessons (no offense) it allows a lot of wiggle room for speculating and understanding. In a sense, like this quote, while trying to come up with an explanation for events that are unexplainable, the Bible leaves the universe unexplained so that people in the future could further examine the Bible so that they could speculate and try to make sense of the teachings written in the Bible. Tying this back to my initial response, everyone has different opinions and perspectives. This quote helps connect to the title because while everyone has a similar understanding of some events, some people can and will tend to love God differently than others.

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Oranges Aren’t the Only Fruit: Numbers Chapter Review

Response 1:

As of now, this chapter is my absolute favorite chapter, I simply adore this chapter. The way this chapter was extremely humorous and lighthearted at first, it reminded me of what a first love would typically be described as, lighthearted and confusing. Knowing that this story is a coming to age story of a girl growing up in an extremely religious environment and realizing that she isn’t straight I definitely found the begging interesting. Personally, I’m a bisexual woman who just so happens to be a hopeless romantic. Growing up I dreamed of having the perfect marriage, ironically I no longer wish to get married. I always fantasized about finding the perfect husband that I was madly in love with, yet after some time my fantasies shifted to finding an amazing woman to fall in love with. Seeing that even in her youth Jeanette never was interested in men and often dreamt of having a marriage with a husband resulted in her marrying someone horrible was entertaining, to say the least. Especially when she spent a while comparing men to pigs. My favorite part in this whole section was her summary of ‘Beauty and the Beast’. Towards the rest of the chapter, I found myself feeling intrigued by the fact that despite showing zero interest in anyone, even going as far as having horrible dreams of marrying different men that didn’t appeal to her, the first time she seemed interested in someone was Melanie and “... her eyes [that] were a lovely grey…” (pg. 70) Reading this part made me smile and gush over the possibility that Jeanette could possibly experience her first love and sexual awakening, and at first, I honestly found it refreshing until I remembered that Jeanette’s whole world has always been an extremely religious environment.

Response 2:

With that in mind, I would like to analyze Melanie and Jeanette’s environment and their potential feelings for one another. First, Jeanette comes from an extremely religious environment, and that for as long as she could remember, her religion has pretty much been her whole world and has always been a huge part of who she was. It’s no brainer that when it comes to religion, homosexuality, and going against your typical heterosexual couple norms, is seen as taboo and frowned upon. In their religion, they were taught what “unnatural passions…” (pg. 75) were and “not all of [them] were sure what he meant, but all of [them] knew it was dreadful. [Jeanette] glanced across at Melanie; she looked she was going to be sick.” (pg. 75) Their religion teaches them that “unnatural passions” are bad and that they were to be feared. Secondly, with this in mind, I’m sure that both girls were aware of their feelings to some degree, but assumed that what they felt was the “unnatural passions” they were taught to fear. Due to their religion and what they were taught, they were in denial and unable to understand what they felt, so they settled for “...[reading] the Bible as usual, and then [telling] each other how glad [they] were that the Lord had brought [them] together. [Melanie] stroked [Jeanette’s] head for a long time, and then [they] hugged and it felt like drowning.” (pg. 78) With all of this in mind, I think this quote was not only beautifully written, but it helps sum up Jennette’s feelings and situation even before she was aware of the troubles that will come. The sense of drowning meant that as they embraced each other, glad to have met, they couldn’t help but unconsciously feel guilty since they were unknowingly going against the teachings they were taught.

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Oranges Aren’t the Only Fruit: Leviticus Chapter Review

Response 1:

If I’m being honest, this chapter confused me. After reading that Jeanette had her first disagreement about the nature of God and religious beliefs, it transitions into a story. I found the transition very interesting, it helps explain what the story ahead will be about. I also really like the story. I feel like everyone really wants to be perfect yet no one can settle on what perfection actually means. Just like the short story mentioned in the chapter, Leviticus, just like the prince, people go out of their way to find “perfection”, the “perfect” person. I have always personally have found people’s faults and imperfections to be perfect. I feel like flaws make everyone unique in their own ways and that each person’s uniqueness, individuality, makes them perfect. I personally felt and thought so many different things towards the quote, “‘Perfection,’ he announced, ‘is flawlessness’”. (pg. 53) Personally, growing up, I’ve always questioned the idea of perfectness. If everyone desires to be perfect and to obtain a level of perfection, why is it that no one can actually come up with a unified definition of what perfection means? Thinking about it now, everyone has always had a different definition of what perfection was. Sometimes people’s ideas of what perfection is sometimes tended to contradict other people’s own definitions of what perfection was. Some people think that perfection was being flawless, having no faults. Other’s think that perfection was when the subject at hand is full of faults that create a “perfect” balance. It made me think of what perfection means, and I honestly think perfection is filled of contradictions that helps it feel as if it was full of life.

Response 2:

About half this chapter was dedicated to some sort of story. I think that this story was about a prince going on a journey to find “perfection”. Despite knowing that he was looking for perfection, he still didn’t know what exactly he wanted. Well, he did know that he wanted a “perfect” woman to become his wife. Yet, he himself didn’t know what perfection was it seems. That was what I found so interesting about this story, so much time passes during the prince’s journey to find perfection. As mentioned earlier, I find the transition, “‘Perfection,’ he announced, ‘is flawlessness.’” (pg. 53) The reason why I want to highlight this specific quote is that this was what the prince was initially looking for, perfection that was flawless. As time progresses the prince meets a woman he believed was perfect, flawless. After spending a few days with her, he realized that his initial perspective of perfection was impossible. That “... perfection is not to be found, but to be fashioned, there is no such thing as flawlessness on this earth…” (pg. 59) I think these two specific scenes in this chapter are important because, in a way, this shows an aspect of Jeanette, her thought process. While everyone around her believes that to be perfect you must be flawless, it’s impossible to be flawless since humans make mistakes. The chapter title is Leviticus and the central message of his book was God requires his people to be holy, but as mentioned earlier, humans make mistakes, they sin. However, according to the book, God offers atonement for their sins. This ties back to the fact that while perfection can’t be found since it doesn’t exist, the actions you make and the unique aspects all humans hold is what makes them perfect. No human can be without flaw, so Jeanette believes that perfection isn’t about being flawless.

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Oranges Aren't the Only Fruit: Exodus Chapter Review

Response 1:

Coming in I was ready to read a chapter that was mainly focused on her school life. I found it interesting that Winterson only started talking about her school life and experiences with the school later on in the chapter. I did, however, find the whole beginning section where Jeanette becoming temporarily and partially deaf. Yes, while the situation itself was bad and I would never wish that someone would go through this, the way it was written was pretty light hearted. I found myself being extremely entertained when she first brought it up. From my perspective, and the way I read it was basically like Jeanette being like, “Oh no. Why is this world so quiet.” and everyone around going “Oh, you’re having a euphoria, you’re in a state of rapture. It’s fine.” I specifically found the quote when “.... [Jeanette’s] mother had said, ‘It’s the Lord.’ ‘What’s the Lord?’ May was confused. ‘Working in mysterious ways,’ declared [her] mother…” (pg. 24) I think this quote help sums up Jeanette’s lifestyle and the way everyone around her thinks. I found it interesting that rather than assuming that something was wrong with her health, everyone assumed she was in a state of rapture. Before now, I always wondered why the title of this novel was Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, and to finally see oranges be mentioned a lot in this chapter is making me extremely curious, especially since on page 29, Jeanette mentioned that her mom always says “the only fruit”.

Response 2:

With that being said, I find it interesting that oranges and the concept of it being “the only fruit” were brought up in a chapter where Jeanette finally enters the world beyond the world she was raised in. While her horizons are broadened, her mother is constantly offering oranges. I think that this is important because Jeanette was going through an experience that she’s never been through before. She couldn’t even sing to help give herself a sense of comfort since she couldn’t even hear. The only reoccurring part was the fact that Jeanette’s mother always provided oranges. The reason why I think this is significant is that Jeanette’s mom is constantly giving a sense of normalcy in Jeanette’s constantly changing world. The reason why I think this is because, personally, my parents always randomly offer me fruit whenever I’m studying in order to give me a sense of comfort as I’m placed under stress due to studying. I think Jeanette’s mom is doing the same thing. Despite not being openly caring, she does seem to do little acts of comfort to soothe Jeanett’s worry. A specific quote that I’d like to highlight was when Elsie said, “‘There’s this world,’ she banged the world graphically, ‘and there’s this world,’ she thumped her chest. ‘If you want to make sense of either, you have to take notice of both.’” (pg. 32) The reason why I want to connect this quote to the concept of oranges is that the world Jeanette has ever known is the world her mother tried to raise her in. The world Jeanette lives in isn’t exactly the world everyone lives in, in a sense her mother is shielding her from the “the real world” and making their religion Jeanette’s world. In a sense, at the time, Jeanette viewed not only her whole world as her religion but also she also viewed her religion as a part of her. When in situations where her religion can’t be applied in either the world around her or to describe herself, her mother tends to give her oranges when her reality seems to change.

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Oranges Aren't the Only Fruit: Genesis Chapter Review

Response 1:

My initial impression after I finished reading the first chapter of Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit? Coming in, I came in knowing that this is a story following the wonderful author, Jeanette Winterson, and her earlier life. This story mostly revolved around her extremely religious mother and upbringing and the build-up to her sexuality. Already, I knew this story wasn’t going to be light. From the way the author introduced and talked about her mom, it was obvious that she was a closed minded woman who only saw the world around her in black and white. When I realized this I started to look forward to the later chapters and events, specifically when Winterson starts to realize and come to terms with her sexuality. It’s too early in the book to “claim” a favorite character but one character that I immediately grew fond of was a briefly mentioned, side character by the name of Mrs. Rothwell. I was just entertained by how she provided comedic relief and I honestly related to her and her cake. While reading, Winterson’s retelling of her childhood was interrupted by some story of a princess who was overly sensitive and couldn’t focus due to her painful emotions so a hunchback helped her become preoccupied. I honestly didn’t understand the purpose of this, but I am hoping it will become clearer as the story progresses. I assumed that it was an analogy to either Jennette’s life or to her mother’s. When I read the part of the two women owning the paper shop, I randomly assumed that they were two lesbians and jokingly thought “this is the life I strive to have.” Later on, when the mom said that the two “...dealt with unnatural passions” (pg. 13) I repeated the thought more confidently. An implication of homosexuality aside, I also found the chapter name, “Genesis”, interesting since it was the first book of the bible.

Response 2:

So for this chapter, I will be focusing on the imagery and symbolism of this chapter’s title, “Genesis”. As mentioned earlier, I thought it was important that the chapter name was titled, “Genesis”. I also mentioned that this was considered the first book of the bible. I thought that this was the perfect title for the first chapter. Genesis was about the early history of humanity. The reason is why I think this is the perfect title is self-explanatory, this first chapter was about the early stages of Winterson’s childhood life before school. However, I would like to point out that one of the main and most iconic stories in the book of Genesis is the story of Adam and Eve; the two people that were believed to be the first man and the first woman. Towards the end of the book of Genesis, the story of Eve and Adam has been finished and they were cast outside the garden of Eden. The interesting thing about this I would like to point out is that this book ends and leads into a transitioning of the next book of the Bible, Exodus. This book contained the story of Moses and how he parted the red sea to cross over onto new land. This is important to note because the chapter is called “Genesis”, and it ends with Winterson’s mom telling her that she was required to go to school, or as her mother called it, the “... Breeding Ground” (pg. 21). This could be seen as similar to the transitioning of Genesis to Exodus since this chapter would help transition into her, similar to Moses parting the red sea to cross over new land, Winterson’s mom’s overbearing, and sheltering ways have been parted and Winterson rushed to process the information by, “... [whizzing] into the toilet and [sitting] on [her] hands; the Breeding Ground at last.” (pg. 21) With this, the chapter allows a transition onto the next chapter where Winterson will be able to cross into new land-- school.