Essay Role of Women in Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit

The last half of the book shows the most change in Jeanette’s relationship with her mother. Since the start, Jeanette’s mother has been more concerned with the church and religion than spending time with her daughter. And in this half of the book, it is apparent that she loves the church more than her daughter. When Jeanette finally comes out, and no longer hides the fact that she is a lesbian. Her mother kicks her out, and basically disowns her. That shows the reader that her mother does not love her daughter no matter what. She only loved her when she was doing what she wanted. She wanted Jeanette to be a miniature her, and when she disappointed her, she no longer seemed to love her. However, at the very end of the novel, Jeanette goes back home to see her mother. She is welcomed into her home even though she is still very religious, but they do

Her Mother seemed to be more put together than her father at times, even getting a job at one point helping the family out. Though her mother was a hedonist and did not contain the motherly love and sacrifice for her kids, this job helped Jeanette’s future. She helped grade papers which increased her knowledge of the outside world and “...the world was making a little more sense” as she read the papers and projects of her mother’s students (Walls 205). Her parents had such an opposition to the outside world that she hadn’t gotten every aspect of

However, with her alcoholic dad who rarely kept a job and her mother who suffered mood swings, they had to find food from her school garbage or eat expired food they had previously when they had the slightest bit of money. In addition, when bills and mortgage piled up, they would pack their bags and look for a new home to live in, if they could even call it a stable home, since they would be on the move so often. Jeanette needed a dad who wouldn’t disappear for days at a time, and a mom that was emotionally stable, but because she didn’t have that, she grew up in an environment where she would get teased or harassed for it. Jeanette suffered so much, that even at one point, she tried convincing her mother to leave her father because of the trouble he had caused the family already. A child should be able to depend on their parents for food and to be there for them when they need it, and when that part of a child’s security is taken away, it leaves them lost and on their own, free and confused about what to do next.

From the initial start of story Jeanette choses to recant a memory that displays one of her deepest fears of her early adult life. Jeannette’s mother decided to be unemployed and live homeless, while Jeannette attends Barnard College and lives a more luxurious lifestyle. From the very first sentence, “I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a Dumpster... It had been months since I laid my eyes on Mom, and when she looked, I was overcome with panic that she’d see me and call out my name, and that someone on the way to the same party would spot us together and Mom would introduce herself and my secret would be out” (Walls 3). The

When we are children it’s hard not to conform to any given situation we are faced with because we have such limited resources, and we are still reliant on our parents to protect us, and keep us alive. Jeanette had no choice, but to comply with her parents demands. However, as Jeanette grew older, she was exposed to several other kids families, and she began to realize that her situation was atypical for a girl her

She has more insight to racism when she attended school and the kids began bullying her because of how skinny and unhealthy she is. Another example of racism is when a young African-American named Dinitia also begins bullying her until she sees Jeannette being compassionate to a young African-American boy. Jeannette has a new understanding with sexuality when she experiences different situations. The first example is when she is forcedly kissed and almost raped by Billy Deel, the second when she sees Erma, her father’s mother, sexually molesting Brian, and the final example is when she distracts an older man when her and Rex was at the bar. Another reason that does not happened to her or what she witnessed, but it affects her, is when she finds out that Dinitia is pregnant and is sent to jail when she stabs the person that had gotten her

Rosemary doesn’t really let it get to her head that much she even told Jeanette when Jeanette saw her in New York that “being homeless is an adventure” (Walls 255). In this quote Jeanette had offered her to stay off the streets and to not be homeless no more but Rosemary did not take it. Rosemary is stubborn at her own will she always carried pride on her shoulder like it was just some precious bag that she just would not give up. She was not really a good mother when Jeanette and her 2 younger siblings were around that age where they wasn’t able to take care of themselves. She was always worried about her painting’s and not so much of those around her.

As she grows up she starts to understand more of what is going on around her. towards the beginning of the story whenever her parents got into fights she would know the outcome of the fight and not be worried. after a while though with more and more fights happening she would begin to talk to her sister and her brother about how bad it all was. Jeanette even tried to convince her mother to leave her father “ Mom never told Dad that I'd urged her to leave him”(189 walls) This shows how negative she thought her life has gotten. Just by the way she talks to her family members shows the negative tone towards the end of the book.

She feels embarrassed because other people who aren’t like her look at her and her family like they are poor and dirty. Although she loves her family a lot, she wishes things were different at times and that her childhood would have gone better. As Jeanette grows up, she realizes that she doesn’t want to live this way anymore. She wants to become successful so that she doesn’t have to live in poverty ever again. Jeanette beings to make plans to go to New York City.

Throughout her early childhood, she ignores her father's drunken escapades, and thinks of him as a loving father and excellent teacher of the wild. It isn't until her junior year of high school that she realizes the indisputable flaws her father has. She resents Dad's drinking and how he constantly lets her and the rest of the family down yet never openly admits it or allows his flaws to be discussed. Jeannette also begins to resent her mother, whom she’s never been close to. Some cause of her resentment includes her mom’s refusal to hold down a job long enough to provide her kids with a stable food supply, especially since Rex won’t be providing like he says he will. This resentment eventually motivates her to move away from her parents and Welch. She ends up in New York City with her sister Lori in which she focuses on her studies and becomes a successful journalist. Jeannette is a natural forgiver and it shows even when she moves away from her parents, but this doesn’t stop her from being haunted by her past and with her transition from poverty into the upper-middle class. By the end of the novel, Jeannette is a symbol of the resilience and

Jeanette's parents also had different views on society which the reader sees throughout the book, give the children a hard time.

Her family regularly avoided paying rent by moving from place to place, shoplifted items, and generally lived against the society around them. At the beginning of the book, Jeanette is boiling water on the top of the stove. She turned away from the stove only to have her clothes catch fire. Her mother smothers the fire with a blanket and drives Jeannette to the hospital. Six weeks later, her father comes to visit her alone and says that she’s going to be checking out.

Jeanette Walls tells her story about her hard life while growing up with a dysfunctional family played by Brie Larson. The movie shows many instances of how her parents neglected their children, but in my opinion the movie didn’t do those instances

Both Walker (‘The Colour Purple’) and Winterson (‘Oranges are Not the Only Fruit’) present strong female protagonists who face various gender restrictions throughout the novels. For example both characters have their choice of partner controlled. In ‘The Colour Purple’ Walker constrains her protagonist (Celie) by entering her into an arranged marriage, in which she has little say as “I can’t let you have Nettie... But I can let you have Celie”. Similarly, in ‘Oranges are Not the Only Fruit’ Winterson limits her protagonists (Jeanette) freedom by dictating that “romantic love for another women is a sin”. While it could be argued that the two protagonists are presented as defying these traditional gender roles through their sexuality and newfound independence, it could also be argued that they simply behave in ways that maybe be considered unsterotypical of their gender.

     For many years society has embraced the idea that the difference between men and women were biologically determined. Thou through traditions, media, and peers we act accordingly to how others view us. Each individual has pressure placed upon them based on their gender. Our sex is determined by genetics while our gender is programmed by social customs. Some theories interpret that a women is tender and a loving mother while on the other hand men are aggressive hunters and are the dominant one of the family. People who support this theory seems to believe that men and women are happier when fulfilling the roles nature determined for them. Women are to be nurturing and men are to be providers by