Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit

Contemporary novels have imposed upon the love tribulations of women, throughout the exploration of genre and the romantic quest. Zora Neale Hurston’s Their eyes were watching God (1978) and Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway (2000) interplay on the various tribulations of women, throughout the conventions of the romantic quest and the search for identity. The protagonists of both texts are women and experience tribulations of their own, however, unique from the conventional romantic novels of their predecessors. Such tribulations include the submission of women and the male desire for dominance when they explore the romantic quest and furthermore, the inner struggles of women. Both texts display graphic imagery of the women’s inner experiences through confronting and engaging literary techniques, which enhance the audiences’ reading experience. Hurston’s reconstructions of the genre are demonstrated through a Southern context, which is the exploration of womanhood and innocence. Whilst Woolf’s interpretation of the romantic quest is shown through modernity and an intimate connection with the persona Clarissa Dalloway, within a patriarchal society.

Many readers who analyze Steinbeck's short story, "The Chrysanthemums", feel Elisa's flowers represent her repressed sexuality, and her anger and resentment towards men. Some even push the symbolism of the flowers, and Elisa's masculine actions, to suggest she is unable to establish a true relationship between herself and another. Her masculine traits and her chrysanthemums are enough to fulfill her entirely. This essay will discuss an opposing viewpoint. Instead, it will argue that Elisa's chrysanthemums, and her masculine qualities are natural manifestations of a male dominated world. Pertinent examples from "The Chrysanthemums" will be given in an attempt to illustrate that Elisa's character qualities, and gardening skills,

Angela McEwan-Alvarado was born in Los Angeles and has lived in many locations in the United States, as well as Mexico and Central America. She obtained her master’s degree at UC Irvine and since then has worked as an editor of educative materials and a translator. The story “Oranges” was the result of an exercise for a writer’s workshop in which the author managed to mix images and experiences accumulated throughout her life.

Oranges are not the Only Fruit starts out when Jeanette is seven years old and living with her adoptive parents in England. Jeanette’s mother is very religious, and her father is not around much. She gets pretty lonely; until she is seven years old she has been homeschooled. Her mother is so religious that she even taught Jeanette how to read from the Bible. Because Jeanette’s mother is so religious, she almost brainwashes her daughter to become a missionary. However, once Jeanette begins school things change. When Jeanette is seven years old, she loses her hearing. Her mother and the church think it is something religious when it is really just a sickness, so she is admitted into the hospital. When Jeanette is well again so goes back

Winterson’s Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit examines Jeanette’s struggle to come to terms with her sexuality and the religious community. Jeanette had developed a close bond with the church early in her life, and struggled to hold onto it amid her persecution and alienation before being essentially excommunicated from the church. Fruits and vegetables show up multiple times during Jeanette’s struggle to balance her religious identity with her secular experiences outside of the church. Towards the beginning of the book Jeanette sacrificed her individuality to fit in with her secular and religious surroundings, but Jeanette soon chooses to embrace her sexuality in the face of adversity. Winterson uses fruits and vegetables in the book to symbolize

At a very young and tender age, Janie develops an ideal view on the concept of marriage and romantic relationships, which is soon shattered by her experiences in her first two marriages. Her ideal view is shaped and created by the time she spends under the pear tree. Many an afternoon Janie would bask in it's shade, and observe the bees “sink into the sanctum of the bloom”, and watch the “thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and ecstatic shiver of the tree from the root to tiniest branch” (Hurston 11). She assumes that the flitting of the bees around the pears is “marriage” and feels as if she has been “summoned to behold a revelation” (Hurston 11). These seemingly pure interactions between the bees and the pear tree

Gary Soto was born April 12, 1952, in Fresno, California to Mexican-American parents. His grandparents emigrated from Mexico during the Great Depression and found jobs as farm laborers. Soto grew up poor in the San Joaquin Valley and learned that hard work pays off through chores, such as moving lawns, picking grapes, painting houses, and washing cars.

Barbara Kingsolver’s modern romance, The Bean Trees, tells the story of a young woman named Taylor Greer. Taylor is born in a small rural town and “gets away” so she can do bigger and better things. While driving cross-country, a woman leaves her a small child. Taylor raises names and raises this child, Turtle. She moves in with another single mom and works for Mattie, a woman who smuggles refugees. Taylor has multiple moments of lost innocence as she learns the true evils of the world, and she uses this to grow into a stronger person. In her novel, The Bean Trees, Kingsolver juxtaposes characters and settings that uphold gender stereotypes and that challenge them in order to convey the notion that those who break traditional gender roles

When Janie is sixteen, she lies under a pear tree, symbolizing her sexual awakening, which then begins her journey as she discovers what she wants in life more than anything: love. Janie’s initial idea of love is one of passion and idealism. As she experiences the unconditional “love” that the bees have for the pear tree, Janie wants the exact same thing in her life. She reflects, “Oh to be a pear tree - any tree in bloom! With kissing bees singing of the beginning of the world! She was sixteen. She had glossy leaves and bursting buds and she wanted to struggle with life but it seemed to elude her. Where were the singing bees for her?” (Hurston 11). As the tree

Oates takes us to a journey of rebellion as the protagonist sorts through self-created illusion in order to come to terms with her own sexual inexperience. Connie’s desires for attention from the opposite

Watching this interaction, Janie felt deep within her that she, too, was a part of this connection, “It connected itself with vaguely felt matters that struck her outside observation and buried themselves in her flesh” (Hurston 10-11). The interaction between the pollinator and the flower weaved into Janie’s mind, enticing her. The “love embrace” (Hurston 11) of the two lead Janie to change her view of marriage and what it meant to be in love. She realized that love is natural and should be felt with one’s whole being. Janie, now consumed by her new belief made a decision to be lead by love. This caused a series of events that entangled her in a loveless marriage, to Logan Killicks, a man she neither felt attraction to, or loved. While she felt trapped, her new belief still burned bright inside

“Southern trees bear a strange fruit / Blood on the leaves and blood at the root / Black bodies swingin' in the Southern breeze” (Meeropol 1-3). “Strange Fruit” is written by Abel Meeropol and published in 1937. Abel Meeropol is a jewish teacher; he adopted two boys whose parents were executed. When Meeropol saw an image of a lynching he got inspired to write an anit-lynching poem. It is a dark poem that creates a gruesome image to make you realize the truth of lynching.

In the novel Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, by Jeanette Winterson, most of the important, decision-making, characters are female. Jeanette, the female protagonist, is greatly influenced by her mother, a strong, overbearing, eccentric woman, and by Elsie, a prominent member of the family parish who becomes Jeanette's only friend and closest confidant. Elsie and Jeanette's mother act as polar forces in Jeanette's life, with the mother encouraging suppression of "unholy" or "unnatural" feelings and thoughts, and Elsie encouraging expression of feelings and accepting oneself for who one really is.

Women in literature have been portrayed in a multitude of ways throughout time. From goddesses to witches, and even prostitutes, women have not been limited in their representations. One challenge, in particular, is repression of their sexuality. In novels by Kate Chopin, George Orwell, and Kazuo Ishiguro, female characters live in societies that seek to regulate their sexuality. Published in 1899, The Awakening by Chopin focuses on Edna Pontellier, a woman who seeks to create a life outside her marriage by pursuing relationships with various lovers. George Orwell’s 1984, which was published in 1949, features Julia, a woman who rebels against her society by having sex for pleasure and not for reproduction. In addition, like Chopin and Orwell,

Samuel can be seen as positive male character as he is shown to be a